’Arm yourself with soft skills to be employable’
Today, when companies are recruiting employees, they look for more than technical expertise, skills or knowledge. The one quality employers look for is how adept the aspirants are in soft skills.
Soft skills have assumed importance going by the trends of increased globalisation of business, growth in the variety of client base and growing competition from multinational companies.
For employees in the IT and ITES sectors, soft skills have assumed critical importance. A software engineer no longer works in isolation but is expected to interact with a variety of clients both within and outside the country. More employees are also sent on project assignments overseas.
They need to be sensitive to behaviour of people from other cultures and be aware of the differences. They need to understand the client if the project has to be completed successfully.
A recent NASSCOM-McKinsey study says that the Indian software industry has an average growth rate of 35 percent per year. This has created the need for professionals who are not only technically sound but also have the necessary soft skills to be effective managers.
With India becoming an important centre of the outsourcing industry, the employees here need to be able to interact effectively with customers from other countries. Good soft skills are a prerequisite in these industries.
Soft skills are however not confined to these industries, most of these skills- communication skills, interpersonal skills or time management or team player abilities are generic in nature and are equally important for employees to perform well in any industry. For instance interpersonal skills are important in the services industry where understanding the customer and respecting their point of view is important. Similarly time management is important in industries that are deadline driven.
In addition, soft skills are also related to one’s level of emotional intelligence and consequently success in one’s job. These skills, which aim at developing an individual’s personality and character, form the base of a person’s emotional quotient.
The education system in our country focuses more on developing the knowledge, analytical or technical skills of students. Little attention is paid to soft skill development.
In fact in a business environment that is becoming increasingly globalised and where good communication and personal interaction are an asset, soft skills have assumed importance.
Ms. Pallavi Jha, MD, Dale Carnegie Training, India, says that soft skills are required in every sphere of work from sales, negotiations to customer service. She said companies today are looking for employees who can talk well, handle situations with poise, negotiate well, have cultural know-how and make a good presentation. Companies no longer want to invest any time and effort in training employees in these skills. Fresh graduates making their initial foray into the job market are making efforts to hone these vital skills. This has led to an industry specialising in soft skill training of individuals, groups and even organisations.
When Ms. Jha set up the Dale Carnegie Training in India, in 2003 they were very few players in the training field.
Though she did not face the usual problems of a start up like capital (she had the financial backing of the Walchand group) or knowledge expertise which was provided by American partner, she had to cope with the issues of being a pioneer in the field of soft skills training.
She had to sell the idea to prospective clients and emphasise on the advantages of such training in order to convince them to enrol for the course.
The other issue was to get trainers who could qualify for these specialised methods of training, which follows a certain set of standards. She said, “Training was a green field then and selecting trainers was a challenge.”
She further said that soft skill training must follow a holistic approach and place focus on the fundamental skills that are necessary in negotiations, interpersonal interaction and communication at the workplace.
Today even CEOs need some coaching in soft skills because they are getting younger and come with relatively lesser experience and need some individual customised coaching to cope with the demands of their job. Even hardened and ’set in their methods’ leaders need some skill specific training to compete in today’s dynamic business scenario.
India has a huge talent pool and companies are as eager to hire, the only deterrent being their lack of soft skills. This skill gap is precisely what these training institutes hope to close making way for true growth and development of our workforce.
HEMA GOPALAKRISHNAN
faqs@cnkonline.com
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