Top 5 reasons why you need to have soft skills along with practical exposure.
Archana Nair
Monday Jun 18
‘Team Player’, ‘Works well with others’, maybe the phrases that are used on you by your mentors or teachers during your college days to describe you, however, did you know that they are also the essential soft skills required by professionals to succeed in the market?
Soft Skills – a blend of interpersonal competence, communication skills, and social intelligence, are in high demand by the employers today.
According to LinkedIn’s latest research, 57% of leaders say soft skills are more important than hard skills, but a majority of them have a tough time finding one.
The reason why fresh graduates fail to make an impression even after scoring high marks in academics is that they lack soft skills.
In fact, these are some of the most challenging skills that individuals need to master.
According to James Winebrake, Dean of Rochester Institute of Technology, Soft skills allow people to work efficiently in teams, communicate well and to think in ways that lead to innovation and creativity.
The kind of Soft Skills required by employees
So, what are the employers looking for in a fresh graduate? What could set him or her apart from the rest? The most in-demand set of skills are as follows:
- Communication skill Employers are looking for candidates who are able to communicate well within the team. If an individual lacks this skill, they will not be able to transfer the information from one point of source to the other, which will create a communication gap. Hence, this particular soft skill is of utmost importance to any employer.
- Punctuality The second most important skill required by the employers is punctuality. It displays a person’s respect for people and time. Punctuality in terms of coming to work on time, and meeting the deadlines. In order to meet the company’s requirements, employees are expected to be punctual.
- Teamwork A candidate must know how to work as a team. Many companies have a “Group Discussion” round during the interview to assess how efficiently he/she can handle conflicts and work with the team.
- Cognitive Thinking or Problem Solving This is the most vital skill that any fresher must possess. Companies always prefer candidates with a problem-solving attitude. They are on a lookout for someone can think through the issues and give logical solutions.
Soft skills bring about game-changing competencies in a person, hence also referred to as ‘Power Skills’. Candidates with such skills have a competitive edge over others.
Let’s look at the reasons why you need soft skills along with theoretical knowledge
- Hard to Learn Soft skills cannot be taught in schools and colleges since they have very little to do with on-field knowledge or expertise. They are closely linked to a person’s character. It takes conscious effort, continuous practice and a commitment to self-development. Hard skills may look impressive on your resume but soft skills will set you apart from others.
- The interaction between departments The modern workplace requires you to coordinate with other departments in the organization. Collaborating ideas and presenting it in front of team members are some of the skills that come with experience. This is why practical exposure is also extremely important for fresh graduates because it allows you to understand what is accepted in a workplace and what is not.
- Without soft skills, hard skills just won’t work Let’s say you are the topper of your batch and you are confident that you are going to crack the interview. Unfortunately, you were unable to make it through the final round and you keep wondering what went wrong? The answer to this question is simple, lack of soft skills.
- Customers demand soft skills The internet and smartphones have opened up a new arena of choices for customers. In the times where products and services are easy to find, they focus more on the services provided by a particular business. The customer service makes or breaks the deal for them. The ability to communicate effectively and efficiently is a vital factor in an organization’s success.
- Soft Skills is the future Automation and artificial intelligence will make most of the job rely on soft skills in the future. With machines taking over the delivery parts, it comes to how well the companies treat their customers. Soft skills in terms of how well the employees interact with the customers will make them stand out from the rest.
There is a lot of difference between the kind of soft skills relevant 10 years ago and today. It is important to understand this difference and to bridge the gap between the employers and candidates. It is where ikigaiHub strives to help you become more employable.
Train under real industry experts and solve real-life case studies to develop a problem-solving approach!
ikigaiHub will help you not only to gain industry exposure but also to develop your soft skills along with it. All the courses offered by ikigaiHub come with a mandatory soft skills training. It is a boot camp with one sole mission, “to create a pool of talented and employable candidates”.
Do not wander the roads in search of your dream jobs, join ikigaiHub and let the job come to you.
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