During my undergraduate years, I  interned at a National Laboratory working for a Material Scientist. Halfway into my internship I found out about other students that had higher GPAs even some with 4.0s. I asked my mentor why he selected me. He told me that fact that I had a newspaper route for seven years was impressive and it demonstrated stick ability and dependability. When I think about that story today, it is pretty notable- from the 5th grade to the 11th grade I delivered newspapers to 50 customers 365 days. I want to mention that I almost didn’t include the newspaper route on my job application because I was embarrassed and thought it was insignificant. What I learned is to never, discount any of your experiences because you do not know what employers are looking for. In this case, my newspaper route was the deciding factor that help me get the job. Your technical skills may land you the job, but I’m here to today to share with you a program that will raise awareness and to provide knowledge and tools to help you get selected for a job, help you keep the job as well as to excel in your profession- Soft Skills for STEM. 

I graduated with a Bachelors of Science degree in Physics from Grambling State University. One Physics concept that has helped me navigate my personal and professional life is Newton’s Third Law of Motion, which states “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction” meaning “there is always a response (reaction) to one’s actions”- cause and effect and the level of one’s soft skills influences these two forces. Pursuing a STEM discipline, a lot of emphasis is place on mastering the technical skills, in which soft skills can be minimized. Soft Skills for STEM program was started to raise awareness of the importance of soft skills especially in an ever changing diverse and inclusive workforce and to provide a platform to gain knowledge and tools and to continuously practice and increase their soft skills. 

It was reported that 85% of job success comes from having well-developed soft and people skills, and only 15% of job success comes from technical skills and knowledge (hard skills). These stats were extrapolated from Charles Riborg Mann Study of Engineering Education in 1918 where a survey was sent to 37,000 white male engineers asking what was the most important job quality in which 85% concluded job success comes from having well-developed soft and people skills. Even though this was a century ago, these statistics are even more relevant in a diverse and inclusive workforce compared to the homogenous workforce in 1918.

Working over 26 years in the workforce I have been confronted with many challenges. My internships prepared me technically to do the work, but I was not really prepared to deal with workplace politics and situations. Bottom line, an outcome depends on your action or your reaction to situations and challenges that arise in the workplace. The only person you can control is yourself and how you respond. Your actions or a response to a situation can advance or kill your career.

Realizing that a competitive workforce requires a diverse and inclusive workforce The Minority Serving Institution Partnership Program  (MSIPP) provide opportunities for students that attend minority serving institutions to have internship opportunities at National Laboratories. This program is effective in bridging the gap providing students experiences in applying and implementing theoretical concepts learned in the classroom to workplace as well as to provide a pipeline to strengthen and promote diversity and inclusion. The Soft Skills for STEM augments the MSIPP to help retain a diverse and inclusive workforce. 

The Soft Skills for STEM program is comprised of monthly webinars focusing on a specific soft skill topics, an annual lessons learned workshop where professionals share workplace experiences with students and the Success Lab to practice their soft skills.