<p>My d2 was/is a “middle case”. Not a STEM major, but business/accounting. But social/interactive skills way, way beyond the norm. Certainly nothing I ever taught! (she was mostly homeschooled.) She was hired by a major international accounting firm over 200 applicants, many of them Ivies/Whartons/Gtown’s, with a full one-year less of academic experience as well.</p>
<p>It worried her that she might not have the chops/academic experience needed to do the job. Turned out to be a total non-issue. Whatever she didn’t know, she knew how to ask (one of her greatest skills: she makes people feel great when they impart information to her.)</p>
<p>My limited experience of the world is that the social/interactive skills tend to be far more important in the business realm than the technical ones. I ran a publishing house with no experience whatsoever. I learned to make my competitors my friends, my vendors my partners, my salespeople family. And whenever I needed expertise I didn’t have, I was always able to buy it. </p>
<p>But I don’t know how you bottle it, and I am not sure there is academic training (LAC or otherwise) that does a lot to enhance it. (But since I am really unfamiliar with STEM training, I just don’t know.)</p>