What is the Meaning of Soft Skills?

Soft skills can be defined as virtues and facets that uphold situational awareness and enhance one’s abilities to get a job done. Soft skills are also interpersonal skills that construe an individual’s relationships with others, be it at the workplace or in an informal gathering. At the workplace, soft skills act like homage and courtesy to hard skills, in order to get a task finished with efficiency and competence.

Basic Soft Skills

1. Emotional Intelligence
2. Adaptability
3. Feedback Tolerance
4. Active Listening
5. Work Ethic
6. Team Player
7. Growth/Entrepreneurial Mindset
8. Interpersonal Relations
9. Creativity
10. Communication

Why Are Soft Skills Important for Knowledge Economies In India?

Despite being the world’s third-largest education system with 760 universities, 80% of Indian

engineers are non-eligible for any job or position in the knowledge economy. Soft skills are a

priority in the current situation as the gap formed due to its incompetency will cost India $1.97 trillion in GDP growth over the following decade.

The Requirement of Soft Skills in Employment Over the course of time, both employers and the market (of every field) have changed acutely. Employers look and want something beyond the boundaries of mark sheets and forms. A critical hiring differentiator has been discovered that seeks more from the employees. Specific (soft) employability skills are preferred that are more profitable and can help the individual in sustaining in an exceedingly demanding, complex, diverse and collaborative environment in the long run.

Following is the list of most calumniatory, in tune 21st Century skills that are demanded by

Indian employers and offices-

1. Communication
2. Self-Management
3. Customer Centricity
4. Teamwork
5. Digital Literacy
6. Problem-Solving Attitude
7. Entrepreneurial Mindset
8. Market Awareness

These are the set of skills that should be involved in the initial years of education through

experiential learning proficiency.

Companies in the modern age have started realising the sustainability effect and the substantial impingement of the perks of hiring a skilled person.

Soft skills help an individual adapt to the dynamism of the work environment and keep him/her self well updated with the trends and changes in the world, be it related to technology or industry specific. Such a person is not only capable of bringing an organisation success but also dealing with the shortcomings in a potent manner.

Previously, the HRs of an organisation looked for the 3Rs in an employee – Reading, writing and athematic. This was the set of skills avidly followed by the Indian Education System. However, with the change in the image of the workplace in India, the graduates were expected to possess more skills than these three traits.

Now a freshly graduated professional is expected to not only sink like water in his assigned role but also have independent attributes like problem-solving and decision making skills.

This may entail strategies to improve production, service, product, etc., through demonstrated creativity and flexibility in approach. Hence, being proficient in soft skills is essential for a candidate/employee to be industry-ready and job-ready, with a range of interpersonal and managerial skills to improve collaboration and productivity.

Conclusion

Soft skills are no longer just an addition to technical skills, but are now considered as “Power

Skills”. Soft skills are needed for the hour, and one can attain them by merely registering in a

workshop of two hours. These skills can only be achieved when they are introduced to students at the school level. These skills vary from person to person, and that is the reason why it requires rigorous training for each one of us to explore and then fully accomplish them.