What is soft skills ?
Investopedia defined Softskill as The character traits and interpersonal skills that characterize a person's relationships with other people. In the workplace, soft skills are considered a complement to hard skills, which refer to a person's knowledge and occupational skills. Sociologists may use the term soft skills to describe a person's "EQ" or " Emotional Intelligence Quotient" (as opposed to "IQ").
Soft skills have more to do with who we are than what we know. As such, soft skills encompass the character traits that decide how well one interacts with others, and are usually a definite part of one's personality. Whereas hard skills can be learned and perfected over time, soft skills are more difficult to acquire and change.
The soft skills required for a doctor, for example, would be empathy, understanding, active listening and a good bedside manner. Alternatively, the hard skills necessary for a doctor would include a vast comprehension of illnesses, the ability to interpret test results and symptoms, and a thorough understanding of anatomy and physiology.
What is soft skills required by employer from fresh graduates?
But before that, lets see what are the main factors that workers want in their employment:
- Rewards and recognition
- Flexible working arrangements and work locations
- Clarity of work scope, outcomes and transparency in decision-making
- Career road map which is achievable
- Access to senior leaders/ levels and not just the immediate superior
- Freedom to share views, comments and ideas/ innovation
- Opportunities for cross border exposure
- Leaders who are inspiring and great ambassadors of the company,
- Strong employer branding and
- Company with good financial performance.
The list can go on..but above lists are the most common and generic that described what employee wants. Fresh graduates will says " I want to work with reputable company that is financially stable and provide challenges to me " . Cliche as is, but that is true since am tin years ago.. When I was a kid this so called stabled 'company' is actually working for government. Stable, reasonable salary, good perk and most important has pension scheme.
But things changed after Dot com burst and Y2K with globalization and ICT. Some tasks are now can be 'digitized' , hence human can be replaced by machine. That what was described in The World Is Flat by Thomas L Friedman. However , these were the hard skills.
So what employer want form fresh grads?
Apart from good academic qualifications, they are
looking for a dynamic young graduates who always meet and exceed company's performance expectations , whom also possess the following characteristics:
- · self-reliance
- · people skills
- · continuous improvement mentality
- · decision making and freedom on the job
- · the ability to think on your feet
- · communicate and work effectively with others
- · bottom line driven
Another point that seldom being mentioned was; can handle hardship of work. Being the baby-boomer generation I have been exposed to 'school of hard knock' way of life. We 'bulldozed ' our way through the hard way by learning from your own or by mistakes. Nothing come free or being spoon fed to us. All are hard work and sweat all the way. There must be perseverance and commitment, which unfortunately not clearly prevails in the newer generation. They tend to back off (very quickly) on the first obstacle, hence changing job (as quick!). I wonder why..?
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