EIDOS – Why Training

Gone are the days when a Bachelor or Masters degree would act as a passport to a dream job for a young man or woman. Nowadays, employers want more from employees, particularly those that qualify as graduates. What they want are individuals who possess a good amount of ‘soft skills’. What are these soft skills? They are aspects of one’s personality that are come to the forefront as professional assets – problem solving, teamwork and adaptability to change. The truth is, we have transitioned to a society where it is important to have knowledge but also critical to have the skills to deal with people, find solutions to problems and be adaptable in a world that is shrinking rapidly to a adopt a more dynamic and multicultural environment at the work place. According to Debbie Hance of the Association of British psychologists, “There’s a saying that hard skills will enable you to perform well in academia and in interviews, but it’s soft skills that get you the job.”

So, what are ‘soft skills’ and how might they be useful amongst the student population?

“Employers want to select, retain and promote young individuals who are dependable, resourceful, ethical and good communicators who are willing to work under pressure.”

A cluster of personal qualities

Soft skills refer to a cluster of personal qualities, habits, attitudes that have the potential to make someone a good student and compatible with the requirements of academia. Put simply, they are the ways in which you talk, you move around, listen and present yourself. They are acquired or learned behaviours, which develop as a result of ones willingness and commitment to understanding the emotions of oneself and others. Emotional Intelligence is another term used in reference to soft skills. Students who possess such skills are more adept and academic savvy. They are able to gain a further understanding of tasks and successfully engage with them, enabling them to gain more control over their learning. In addition to playing an important role in the development of students’ overall personality and performance, soft skills also amount to good skills in communication; presenting information in a clear and concise manner; team-building ability; leadership; time management; group discussions; and interviews and interpersonal skills. All of which are important for students’ academic development and growth.

Career success or lack of it affects nearly every part of your life: family, income, self-esteem, who you associate with, where you live, your level of happiness, what you learn, your energy level, your health, and maybe even the length of your life.

Some students think, “All I need for success at work is the special knowledge of my chosen career.” All that nurses need, they believe, are good nursing skills. All that accountants need are good accounting skills. All that lawyers need are good legal skills. These skills are called hard skills, the knowledge needed to perform a particular job. Hard skills, in the above case, include knowing where to insert an intravenous feeding tube, how to write an effective business plan, and what the current inheritance laws are, respectively. These are the skills you’ll be taught in courses in your major field of study. They are essential to qualify for a job. Without them you may not even get the opportunity for an interview.

But, most people who’ve been in the work world a while will tell you this: Hard skills are necessary to get a job but often insufficient to keep it or move ahead in the chosen careera. That’s because nearly all employees have the hard skills necessary to do the job for which they are hired. True, some may perform these skills a little better or a little worse than others, but one estimate suggests that only 15 percent of workers who lose their jobs are fired because they can’t do their job. That’s why career success is often determined by soft skills. As one career specialist put it, “Having hard skills gets you hired; lacking soft skills gets you fired.”

The following soft skills are necessary for work and career success:

Taking responsibility
Making effective decisions
Setting goals
Managing time
Prioritizing tasks
Persevering
Giving strong efforts
Working well in teams
Communicating effectively
Having empathy
Knowing how to learn
Exhibiting self-control
Believing in one’s own self worth

Learning these skills will help students succeed in their first career after college. And, because soft skills are portable (unlike most hard skills), they can take it with them in the likely event that they later change careers. Most career specialists say the average worker today can expect to change careers at least once during his or her lifetime. In fact, some 25 percent of workers in the United States today are in occupations that did not even exist a few decades ago. If a physical therapist decides to change careers and work for an internet company, he needs to master a whole new set of hard skills. But the soft skills he’s mastered are the same ones that will help him shine in his new career.

Therefore, as these soft skills are learnt, students have to keep asking themselves, “How can I use these skills to stay on course to achieving my greatest potential at work as well as in college?” Be assured, these (soft skills) can make all the difference between success and failure in their career.