Soft Skills in the Corporate Arena

There is much truth in the Corporate credo: “Hard skills will get you an interview but you need soft skills to get the job.”
Soft skills are personal attributes that enhance an individual’s interactions; job performance and career prospects. They are interpersonal and broadly applicable. On the other hand, hard skills are about a person’s skill set and ability to perform certain types of activities.

Soft skills are generally associated with personality traits like:

• Optimism
• Common sense
• Responsibility
• A sense of humor
• Integrity

These skills also encompass abilities that can be practiced such as:

• Empathy
• Teamwork
• Leadership
• Communication
• Good manners
• Negotiation skills
• Sociability
• The ability to teach

Soft skills are crucial tools for success, hence, soft skills training becomes all the more relevant in a country like India where the education system does not delve into personality development. Research in fields like Sales and Marketing, Software Development, Engineering and Law, has shown that to be successful in the workplace, knowledge alone is not enough. There is a dire need to develop a global mindset, hone leadership and holistic thinking skills and develop empathy and ethical perspectives. Sitting right on top of this list features Soft Skills – a vital tool to deal with the external world and also to collaborate with the internal world: Colleagues.

Remember, whether you are applying for a service position or a technical job, it’s your combination of core and soft skills that will give you an edge over the milieu!

To give your career a boost in this ever competitive corporate jungle, sign up with the various workshops conducted by Welingkar’s weSchool as a part of their PGDM-DLP courses. weSchool workshops have particularly helped students hone their soft skill sets through Distance Learning programs where constraints of distance/time can be eliminated.