Why do core skills matter?

In this video, British Council Country Director Olayinka Jacobs-Bonnick shares the importance of core skills to bridging the school-to-work transition gap.

She says:

In Jamaica, and many countries around the world, employers nowadays are requesting that when young people come out of school, they are able to fit into the workplace straightaway. So, although academic achievement is important, it is also important to have job readiness skills, otherwise known as soft skills, and what we have found worldwide is that young people lack these skills when entering the workplace. So the Social Enterprise in Schools Programme is actually creating an opportunity for young people to develop these core skills through social entrepreneurship.

• Olayinka talks about ‘soft skills’ – do you know what these are? How do they relate to core skills?