SOFT SKILLS

INTRODUCTION
Technical and job-related skills are a must, but they are not sufficient when it
comes to finding job or progressing up the ladder. With the traditional style of
leadership becoming out of fashion professional managers expect their employees
to have something extra which we call today, soft skills.
What are soft Skills?
Soft skills are essentially people skills- the non-technical, intangible,
personality-specific skills that determine ones strengths as a leader, listener,
negotiator, and conflict mediator. Soft skills is a term which refers to personality
traits, social graces, facility with language, personal habits, friendliness, and
optimism that mark people to varying degrees.
Hard skills on the other hand re more along the lines of what might appear
on ones resume- your education, experience, and level of expertise.
Importance of soft skills
Soft skills play a significant role in ones success in life particularly in ones
profession.
Soft skills help one to excel in the workplace and their importance cannot be
denied in this age of information and knowledge.
Soft skills in the highly competitive corporate world will help you stand out in
a crowd of regular job seekers with ordinary skills and talent.
Soft skills make you the socially acceptable personality.
Job seekers are expected to have what employers call soft skills.
The ever-changing impact of technology and the style of management pay so
much attention to soft skills.
If you have soft skills, you will be the more valuable employee. So that you
can grow and learn as the business changes and grows.
Soft skills play an important part for the success of an organization. They
become absolutely essential for the success of organization and individuals.
Soft skills are as important as traditional hard skills to an employer regardless
of industry of job type. It is to be understood clearly that soft skills
complement hard skills. At the same time hard skills cannot be replaced with
soft skills.
Soft skills cannot be taught. However it can be developed through proper
training. Majority of the managers observe that they could find workers who
have hard skills but many potential job seekers lack the soft skills that a
company need.

The skills those are included in soft skills.

Interpersonal skills:

These include the ability to lead, motivate, and delegate. They are
important at every level of organizational responsibility and should always be
evident. Being the most technical person in your field is not always enough to
succeed unless you have the ability to convince others that what you are
doing is important.

Team working:

Todays world is driven by innovation leading to constant change and

success of an organization depends on its teams. Thus it has become
mandatory to train the employees in all spheres of management. Team
building is one of the crucial areas in which the employees need to be
trained.

Negotiation skills:

Maintain successful ongoing relationships with others. Influencing

positively will help you achieve more of what you want and build relationships
based on openness, trust, understanding, and mutual respect.

Communication skills:

The ability to communicate ideas to others effectively is an absolutely

essential requirement for technical, engineering, and it professional, as the
nature of industries make them dependent upon shared knowledge.

Time management:

The busy man only can manage to do many things, which seem to be
beyond the reach of ordinary people. The life of great leaders teaches us one
lesson. They have to do many things in spite of their busy schedule. The
secret therefore lies in scientific management of time.
Stress management:
The ability to cope with stress varies from individual to individual. But
the fact is that work and stress go hand in hand. Every one in every job
experiences pressure/stress. Your success in a job depends on your ability to
handle work pressure.

Practicing soft skills:

You must know to put your soft skills into use and get the most out of
them. Here are some tips for you to show your soft skills.
1. Have a positive attitude: An overall positive outlook leads to an overall
positive attitude, and that can be valuable asset in work environment.
2. Be a team player: Being a team player means not only being cooperative,
but also displaying strong leadership ability when its appropriate.
3. Communicate effectively: communication is what allows you to build
bridges with coworkers, persuade others to adopt your ideas and express
your needs.
Make good eye contact
Dont fidget
Avoid body movements that cut you off form others, like folding
your arms
Dont talk for the sake of talking; always have a point
Enunciate your words properly
Hone your grammar skills with a good reference or style manual
4. Exude confidence: To impress another person, confidence is the key. Make
sure you have the knowledge and skills to back up your confidence.
5. Develop creative skills: Creativity and imaginative thinking are valued in
any job. Try to tackle a tedious task in a way that allows you to complete it
more efficiently.
6. Accept and learn from criticism: Your ability to handle criticism says a lot
about your willingness to improve. And being able to criticize the work of
others constructively is just as important.
7. Motivate yourself and lead others: Have the courage to pursue the ideas
you have had stuck in the back of your mind.
8. Prioritize your to-do list: dont afraid to take on new tasks and do them in
a sequence.
9. See the big picture: Looking at the larger picture in your work means
seeing the determining factors of success in what you do. It also means
recognizing a risk thats worth taking, and knowing when to take it.

The most important soft skills for any field:

1. Maths
2. Safety
3. Courtesy
4. Honesty
5. Grammar
6. Reliability
7. Flexibility
8. Team skills
9. Eye contact
10.Cooperation
11.Adaptability
12.Follow rules
13.Self-directed
14.Good attitude
15.Writing skills
16.Driving license
17.Dependability
18.Advanced maths
19.Self-supervising
20.Good references
21.Being drug free
22.Good attendance
23.Personal energy
24.Work experience
25.Ability measure
26.Personal integrity
27.Good work history
28.Positive work ethic
29.Interpersonal skills
30.Motivational skills
31.Valuing education
32.Personal chemistry
33.Willingness to learn
34.Common sense
35.Critical thinking skills
36.Knowledge of fraction
37.Reporting to work on time
38.Use of rulers and calculators
39.Good personal appearance
40.Wanting to do a good job
41.Basic spelling and grammar
42.Reading and comprehension
43.Ability to follow regulation
44.Willingness to be accountable
45.Ability to fill out a job application
46.Ability to make production quotas
47.Basic manufacturing skills training
48.Awareness of how business works

49.Staying on the job until it is finished

50.Ability to read and follow instructions
51.Willingness to work second and third shifts
52.Caring about seeing the company succeed
53.Understanding what the world is all about
54.Ability to listen and document what you have heard
55.Commitment to continued training and learning
56.Willingness to take instruction and responsibility
57.Ability to relate to coworkers in a close environment
58.Not expecting to become a supervisor in the first six months
59. Willingness to be good worker and go beyond the traditional eight-hour day
60.
Communication skills with public, fellow employees, supervisors, and
customers.