# Is the lack of social skills a reason to get fired?



## GemCity (Jan 8, 2015)

I just got hired for a job a couple days ago. Everything's been great.. people are nice and I feel comfortable. I'm responsible, organized and professional. I always make sure I do my tasks exactly as I'm told and I have good skills in my field which is graphic design. However, I'm terribly scared I will at some point get fired for not having social skills due to my SA. Do you think that is likely to happen?


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## Just Lurking (Feb 8, 2007)

How important are social skills in graphic design? 
(besides the obvious of having to communicate about project details)


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## lonerchick (Feb 7, 2015)

As long as you can communicate with the necessary people you should not have any problems.


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## meandernorth (Nov 12, 2014)

If you perform well and communicate as needed, I can't see it being an issue.


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## EmotionlessThug (Oct 4, 2011)

Depends.


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## axisfawn (Mar 4, 2015)

I quit a job when I left for the country for a few months. When I returned and re-interviewed, they spent basically the whole interview criticizing my social skills. 
I told them how I'd learned from the experience and what I took away from it.
So they didn't fire me, but they definitely wouldn't have re-hired me (and kept the "too shy" comment in my company file) if I hadn't committed to making myself act more sociable.


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## thinkstoomuch101 (Jun 7, 2012)

yeah.. they'll get you on it, eventually.

I have a tendency to be kind of a mercenary at work - which is in a sense what i do. Go in, get the job done and leave - do not get involved with the politics.

I would finish my contract (3-6 months) and go.

I decided to go full-time at a couple of facilities? It's not for me.

Well, the "get the work done" attitude is fine with people at first? But soon they want to get personal, do the small talk, go out for beers, etc. for some strange reason? Though this is not part of the job description - it's an unwritten law.

when i found out that a fellow employee complained that i wasn't "friendly or social enough" and it went to HR? I left, and decided to go back to independent contracting.


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## lostinlife (Jun 2, 2010)

thinkstoomuch101 said:


> yeah.. they'll get you on it, eventually.
> 
> I have a tendency to be kind of a mercenary at work - which is in a sense what i do. Go in, get the job done and leave - do not get involved with the politics.
> 
> ...


Aw man, this is what I'm most afraid of with full time work. I also stick with independent contracting because companies don't get hung up on the fact that I come to work to just work, not get all buddy-buddy with everyone. But everyone wants to make "not getting involved in politics" a political choice too. You can't win. Try to protect yourself by having multiple income streams so you don't get too tied to one job. That way you aren't a sitting duck if they come after you for "not being social enough."


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## knightofdespair (May 20, 2014)

I've not been hired for that very reason a few times, and its dumb because the type of jobs it would be for it wouldn't even matter. Its more about giving HR a boner than actually filling the job requirements.


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## BAH (Feb 12, 2012)

No,maybe,No,Yes.


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## qwiet (Dec 6, 2014)

axisfawn said:


> I quit a job when I left for the country for a few months. When I returned and re-interviewed, they spent basically the whole interview criticizing my social skills.
> I told them how I'd learned from the experience and what I took away from it.
> So they didn't fire me, but they definitely wouldn't have re-hired me (and kept the "too shy" comment in my company file) if I hadn't committed to making myself act more sociable.


i got an evaluation at clinicals for school as something like "WAY too shy" which is a bunch of bs because i was there doing the work and interacting with the clients. i feel like people will write you off because they don't like your personality and consider you shy...and they will use that to write something bad about you. i hope karma bites them in the end


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## Imbored21 (Jun 18, 2012)

You probably won't get fired but you can guarantee people will give you **** for it.


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## axisfawn (Mar 4, 2015)

qwiet said:


> i feel like people will write you off because they don't like your personality and consider you shy...and they will use that to write something bad about you.


This is so true. I do trust that my coworkers and superiors don't mean any malice by it, though... but seriously, I am conversational and I have a good attitude. Since I've come back, I perform better than the 2 other desk girls they've hired (1 of whom was almost fired for swearing at members and the other who's had her quitting date moved up by a month after a dispute).
Sorry to bring the negativity back in here, but nothing is worse than thinking you're doing well and then being told you're not doing well.
Especially if it has to do with self-confidence. 
I hope bosses who criticize social skills are just misguidedly trying to pressure self-growth, not actually ruin careers or people's confidence with these types of comments.


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## Spungo (Jul 30, 2012)

knightofdespair said:


> I've not been hired for that very reason a few times, and its dumb because the type of jobs it would be for it wouldn't even matter. Its more about giving HR a boner than actually filling the job requirements.


Try applying for an engineering job. It's almost impossible to get hired. The person applying for the job has a very high comprehension of science and math, vocabulary used is technical, and past experiences are technical. The interviewers are usually HR people who barely finished high school, and they communicate at maybe a grade 5 level.

Question: 
Give an example of a problem you've experienced at work, and how did you overcome that problem.

Answer: 
We were trying to power a VFD, but the VFD required 48V DC input and we only had 120V AC available. We slapped together a bridge rectifier and used a variac to adjust the voltage, but the power coming out of the VFD was noisy. We couldn't figure out what was going on, so I read through one of my old textbooks to look for answers. The answer was to put capacitors between the DC wires to remove the ripple voltage. The thing worked great after that.

*blank stares*

It's also impossible to find engineers for a job. HR interviews 100 people and says none of them are qualified. Really? Not one of them? I'm pretty sure the work I do is a hell of a lot easier than the stuff engineering students do. The HR people are just idiots.


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## knightofdespair (May 20, 2014)

Spungo said:


> The HR people are just idiots.


I think this is the crux of the problem.. I've got a Master's degree, every job I've had I've stayed at for at least 5 years and done pretty well but ultimately I'm always kind of burning out because it is so difficult to bypass HR and get into a better match for where I should be in my career. Every job I've had was not thanks to HR but in spite of them.


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## Katze (Sep 10, 2014)

Just Lurking said:


> How important are social skills in graphic design?
> (besides the obvious of having to communicate about project details)


Very important, unfortunately  At least here in Germany and if you want to work as a full-time graphic designer. This means building a network of designers and clients, applying for agencies, companies and publishing 
houses. 
Trust me, I'm a B.A. graphic designer myself and I struggle with my career to this point that I'm thinking about changing it to a less social and outgoing jobs...
But as a part-time job for smaller and privat clients, it's okay, I guess...


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## Post_Punk_Proclivity (Oct 12, 2008)

It can have the tendency to make things difficult, but it also comes down to the sort of environment you're in. I think if you're more professional and good at what you do, as long as you communicate sufficiently to fulfil the requirements of your role, I doubt any reasonable person could come down on you too much for not being big on the small talk type stuff.

On the flipside, if you deliberately act unsociable with the intent to avoid conversations with people, it may become noticeable and cause you to stand out for the wrong reasons. I guess it helps to be seen as someone who at least makes an effort. If people still don't like you after the fact, then to hell with them. You can leave that place of work with your head held high and no regrets.


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## keithjm (Apr 25, 2014)

From personal experience, SA can hinder you chances for good pay raises and promotions. You may have heard the phrase, "you do not get paid what your deserve, but what you negotiate." That is, pay raises, promotions, and the rest is negotiated--regardless on how it looks. I have seen superior workers get passed over because of poor social skills.


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