Soft skills, as opposed to purely technical or job-related skills, are the only differentiators in times of crisis like these. If the present situation continues, competition will eventually become tougher as there will be too many graduates looking for fewer jobs. It is easy to find people with the same set of technical skills, but the softer skills vary from person to person and act as demarcators. 
T. Sreedhar
Unlike technical skills, where the place you train at has an important role to play, the level of soft skills that you can develop depends on the effort that you are willing to put in. Some such skills are inherent in a person, but there is a tremendous scope for adding value to yourself.
What are these soft skills? Many people refer to ‘soft skills’ as ‘people skills’ or ‘emotional intelligence’. For effective performance at workplace, companies need their employees to have not only domain knowledge as well as technical and analytical skills, but also the ability to deal with the external world of clients, customers, vendors, the government and public, and to work in a collaborative manner with their colleagues. For this to happen, you need a cluster of personality traits such as social grace, communication skills, personal habits, friendliness and optimism, all of which are qualities that play a crucial role in moulding and enhancing your overall personality.
| The importance of soft skills in professional life is such that some CEOs and Human Resource managers now say they are ready to hire workers with good soft skills and then train them for the specific job available. |
The importance of such skills in professional life is such that some CEOs and human resource managers now say they are ready to hire workers with good soft skills and then train them for the specific jobs available. Hard skills, on the other hand, are the technical abilities required to do a job or perform a task. Essentially, they are acquired through training and education programmes.
As one goes up the job ladder, managerial skills become more critical to your profession. Technical knowledge can be imparted at any stage, but managerial skills are developed over time. The sad part is that developing such skills is not part of any curriculum in schools or at the MBA institutes. This is why when big IT companies and organisations like Nasscom say that only 10% of the technical graduates are employable, what they mean is that most of them have not been able to communicate their skills and thought processes effectively.
Many people have the misconception that soft skills matter only to those who deal with clients, say, those working in the sales department. What they fail to realise is that even within an organisation, you deal with clients because ultimately you have to influence someone to get your work done. So it doesn’t matter whether you are in sales or research. What people also forget is that unlike technical knowledge, these skills cannot be serialised, that is, you do not graduate from one level to the other with time. People absorb only those traits that they like and are comfortable with.
Even when it comes to interviews, you only have one shot at a good first impression. So, things such as the way you are dressed and how you look, and your approach to greeting people and shaking hands can matter. The ‘art of conversation’ is just that, an art, and cannot be learnt in a day. The ability to develop and use soft skills can make the difference between a job offer and the enjoyment of a new employment and community environment.
- T. Sreedhar Managing Director, TMI Network
