Purpose A fast-changing environment entails several reflections about skills and attitudes required to face the increasing complexity brought by the “glocal, liquid and networked” world in which workers operate (Bauman, 2003; Clarke, 2017). In the literature, an increased attention has been devoted to the impact of interpersonal skills and personal characteristics on employability (Heckman and Kautz, 2012; Succi, 2019; Wheeler, 2016). In this context, the so-called soft skills become of crucial importance, but a lack of academic attention devoted to their development, and a deficit of companies in integrating soft skills in their selection, induction and training processes have been identified (Hurrell, 2016). The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach An exploratory study has been designed to describe the tools in use to assess soft skills, during the recruitment process and those to develop soft skills of graduates, during their first years on the job. In January 2017, two symmetrical online questionnaires have been sent to 500 HR managers and 240 graduates of a European business school, in Italy and Germany. Findings Results show that graduates and managers describe differently the use of tools to develop graduates’ soft skills. The large majority of HR managers indicate they offer formal training to young graduates and that they are involved in the performance appraisal sessions, while only 22 percent of students confirm they receive formal training and only 26 percent declare to be inserted in a performance appraisal process. Moreover, concerning the assessment of soft skills during the selection process, significant differences between Italian and German companies emerged. Research limitations/implications This research constitutes the first step to acknowledge the lack of initiatives devoted to soft skills development, despite their rising importance for the job market. Practical implications Findings allow initiating a discussion about a strategic topic in human resources management: whose responsibility is it to develop soft skills? Should graduates, higher education or companies fill the gap? The study can be extended to other types of higher education institutions, and a qualitative research could deepen the understanding of root causes of the differences identified. Social implications The impact on youth employment, reduction of labor skills mismatch and improvement of managerial practices could be interesting social implications of the study. Originality/value While previous research has predominantly focused on higher education executives and HR managers, this paper’s contribution consists in involving young graduates in the reflection on employability.

中文翻译：

---

畅所欲言：对毕业生的软技能评估

目的在瞬息万变的环境中，需要面对一些技能和态度的思考，这些技能和态度是面对工人在其中工作的“本地，流动和网络化”世界所带来的日益复杂性所必需的（Bauman，2003； Clarke，2017）。在文献中，人们越来越关注人际交往能力和个人特征对就业能力的影响（Heckman和Kautz，2012； Succi，2019； Wheeler，2016）。在这种情况下，所谓的软技能变得至关重要，但是缺乏对其开发的学术关注，并且已经发现公司在选择，上岗和培训过程中缺乏整合软技能的能力（Hurrell，2016 ）。本文旨在讨论这些问题。设计/方法/方法进行了一项探索性研究，以描述在招聘过程中用于评估软技能的工具以及在毕业生工作的头几年中用于开发软技能的工具。2017年1月，已向意大利和德国的500所人力资源经理和240所欧洲商学院的毕业生发送了两份对称的在线调查表。调查结果表明，毕业生和管理者对使用工具开发毕业生的软技能的描述有所不同。绝大多数人力资源经理表示，他们为年轻的毕业生提供正式培训，并且他们参加了绩效评估会议，而只有22％的学生确认他们接受了正式培训，只有26％的学生宣布被纳入绩效评估过程。此外，关于选择过程中的软技能评估，意大利和德国公司之间出现了显着差异。研究的局限性/意义尽管对劳动力市场的重要性日渐提高，但这项研究仍是认识到缺乏致力于软技能开发的举措的第一步。实际含义研究结果允许就人力资源管理中的战略主题展开讨论：培养软技能是谁的责任？毕业生，高等教育或公司应填补空白吗？该研究可以扩展到其他类型的高等教育机构，而定性研究可以加深对所发现差异根源的理解。社会影响对青年就业的影响，减少劳动技能不匹配和改善管理实践可能是该研究的有趣的社会意义。原创性/价值尽管先前的研究主要集中于高等教育主管和人力资源经理，但本文的贡献在于让年轻毕业生参与了对就业能力的反思。