Why Soft Skills Still Matter at Kingsmead Testing Services
In today’s fast-paced digital world, the role of a PAT testing engineer has never been more critical — ensuring safety, compliance, and peace of mind for clients large and small. And alongside technical precision, another skillset is quietly under strain: human interaction, or soft skills.
🧑💻 Generational Shift and the Challenge of Connection
Many younger engineers entering the workforce have grown up in an age of screens, tablets, and digital immersion. While tech-savvy and efficient, they may not have had the same formative social experiences older generations did; whether that’s chatting with a shopkeeper, making phone calls, or negotiating face-to-face.
This can lead to challenges in client-facing roles where small interactions — a warm greeting, a smile, a moment of reassurance — go a long way. For example where a younger engineer performs a technically flawless job, yet the client perceives their work as lacking simply due to limited communication. Perception matters, and for smaller clients especially, personable service is part of the package.
🧓 Age Bias and Misunderstandings
Older clients may, consciously or not, judge a younger engineer more harshly. A quiet demeanour can be misread as incompetence. A lack of small talk may come across as disinterest. It’s a bias rooted in generational expectations, and not easy to change overnight.
📣 Investing in Human Skills: A Manager’s Role
This is where leadership comes in. Managers must recognise that professional development is not just technical, it’s interpersonal too. Young engineers deserve encouragement and guidance to develop soft skills:
- Shadowing experienced colleagues to observe great client interaction
- Gentle coaching on body language and tone
- Empowerment to ask questions and listen, not just solve
These aren’t innate traits — they’re learned behaviours, and they’re teachable.
🌱 Bridging the Gap
We shouldn’t lament the lack of ‘old-school’”’ socialisation, but instead create environments where interaction is valued. A tech-minded engineer can thrive with the right mentorship, and a quiet personality can deliver exceptional client care when supported thoughtfully.
In PAT testing, precision keeps us safe — but people skills keep us trusted.
Wondering why or if you should be PAT testing at your premises? Read our Blog post here.
Grant Foster is Director of Kingsmead Testing Services in Buckinghamshire – www.kingsmeadtesting.co.uk.
