What exactly are soft skills?
Naresh Narasimhan, country marketing manager, Tektronix, says, “In the 21st century and going forward, three things are important ability to communicate an idea visually, ability to have a balanced point-of-view on key issues and ability to convert ideas to results.”
The concept of soft skills is not limited to just plain communication skills but it also includes aspects such as people skills.
Dr Pallab Bandyopadhyay, director-HR, Citrix India, explains: “In the broader context, soft skills would also include negotiation, decision making, reasoning and problem solving, and conflict-resolution skills required in today’s work environment.”
“While technical professionals are often selected and trained based on measurable talents and skills such as knowledge of OS or software programming skills—which are prerequisites to starting a career in engineering and technology—intangible skills such as language proficiency, ability to work with global teams and positive attitude often count in making their career a rewarding one. These intangible skills are classified as soft -skills,” adds
Sudhanshu Pandit, director-HR, Symantec India.
When evaluating a candidate on soft skills, HR professionals look at not only his ability to communicate his thoughts clearly and concisely but also his personality and problem-solving skills.
Defining soft skills, John Prohodsky, founder and principal consultant, Future Envisioned, says, “Soft skills are non-technical, interpersonal and communication skills required by an engineer to successfully solve problems and apply his technical skills.”
Throwing light on how soft skills are directly proportional to one’s personality, Rajesh Choudhary, HR head, Xilinx India, says, “Personality traits such as common sense, optimism, responsibility, integrity, attitude and behavioural competencies that include analytical thinking, result orientation and achievement, communication, teamwork, conflict management, customer orientation and attention to details come under soft skills.”
As soft skills cover all the aspects related to human behaviour, Zubin Rashid, Managing partner and head of training, ZRINDIA, believes that “Just as hard skills teach us about domain-specific skills like technology, products and processes, soft skills are about interacting with people with whom you work.” Every company looks for a different mix of
skills and experience and it is not enough just to be a subject matter expert. Communication is an integral part of soft skills.
Surinder Bhagat, country HR head, Free-scale Semiconductor, India, says, “Soft skills can also refer to a set of skills that determine how one interacts with others in a way that the company as such gets represented well. These skills are applicable to all internal as well as external fo-rums where employees are making key interactions.”
Soft skills in today’s India:
According to a recent report by employability assessment company Aspiring Minds, 56 per cent engineering graduates in India lack soft skills and cognitive skills. Non-technical aspects of engineering such as communications, relation-ships, temperament, emotional intelligence and risk management make a difference between success and failure. Understanding and adapting to the working environment is just as crucial as get-ting the job itself.
Prohodsky says, “Engineering is the application of hard sciences to solve real problems but what they rarely teach in colleges is that engineering, in addition to being a technical activity, is an economic activity and, most importantly, a human activity.” According to him, the ability to under-stand company and work team culture is the most under-appreciated soft skill. Bhagat says, “As companies become more global, soft skills are highly desirable and required in more positions now than ten or even five years ago. You may have an excellent knowledge base in engineering or technology, perhaps even a PhD, and maybe bilingual but if you have not developed good skills in communicating, inter-acting and people resource management, you have already limited your opportunities and chance of success.”
Why you should continuously improve your soft skills?
“Soft skills are applied emotional intelligence and as such, they are very important. As engineers, we are taught to think and apply the logic of maths and science. However, we are being ruled by emotions,” says Prohodsky.
Soft skills are very essential for personal and professional development of individuals. “In today’s economy, it is even more important considering a significant portion of Indian GDP comes from services sector. To support this growth in services sector, organizations require talents who possess greater soft skills along with hard skills,” notes Rajesh Choudhary. “Technical skills may take you to the door-step but it is your soft skills that will open up the door for you,” believes Dr Pallab. Adding on the growing importance of soft skills in today’s world, Vemuri says, “They (soft skills) are in demand than ever. In-creasing possibility of interactions with global peers, customers, virtual teams and cross-cultural discussions mandate employers to look out for fine-tuned, polished workforce.”
“Soft skills facilitate efficiency and effec-tiveness at work,” says Sunil Pathak, HR director, Cadence Design Systems. While flawless technical expertise is the primary necessity, soft skills are imperative to ensure high-quality contribution and de-livery.
Recently, EFY conducted an opinion survey of engineering students, fresh professionals and industry analysts through various social media platforms to understand the importance of soft skills, apart from tech know how, for a successful career.
62.63 per cent respondents believed that soft skills were important but not the deciding factor. 25.29 per cent believed that soft skills were extremely important. Remaining 12.08 per cent believed that these were important as complementary skills.
Hard skills vs soft skills— what you should focus on?
Let’s take the example of software engineers. They need to be skilled in software development and testing to be able to build, test and provide support for the applications developed by them. However, to do that successfully, they need to work in a team and interact with team members to provide the best products and services. Any misunderstanding or strife between team members would result in products and services that would not be of the highest standards. Computer programming in many languages is a hard skill, whereas problem solving and communication are soft skills.
“There are key differences between hard skills and soft skills but both are important and ideally complement each other,” says Choudhary. “It’s like IQ vs EQ. Soft skills use the emotional centre (EQ), i.e., the right brain, whereas hard skills use the logical centre (IQ), i.e., the left brain.”
Practice makes perfect
“Self-practice is another way to improve soft skills,”
Developing proficiency in soft skills is a lifelong process. “However, soft skills enhancement can and will only take place if there is appropriate level of self-awareness,” believes Dr Bandyopadhyay. “And, of course, practice is essential to sustain and continuously improve once a skill is acquired,” he adds.
Companies today invest a lot of time and money in building up their employees’ soft skills. “A general consensus is that these skills are built up over time and not just through classroom sessions. It is impera-tive to implement and practice the learn-ing on your own,”
As soft skills cover all the aspects related to human behaviour, Zubin Rashid, Managing partner and head of training, ZRINDIA, believes that “Just as hard skills teach us about domain-specific skills like technology, products and processes, soft skills are about interacting with people with whom you work.” Every company looks for a different mix of
skills and experience and it is not enough just to be a subject matter expert. Communication is an integral part of soft skills.
Surinder Bhagat, country HR head, Free-scale Semiconductor, India, says, “Soft skills can also refer to a set of skills that determine how one interacts with others in a way that the company as such gets represented well. These skills are applicable to all internal as well as external fo-rums where employees are making key interactions.”
Soft skills in today’s India:
According to a recent report by employability assessment company Aspiring Minds, 56 per cent engineering graduates in India lack soft skills and cognitive skills. Non-technical aspects of engineering such as communications, relation-ships, temperament, emotional intelligence and risk management make a difference between success and failure. Understanding and adapting to the working environment is just as crucial as get-ting the job itself.
Prohodsky says, “Engineering is the application of hard sciences to solve real problems but what they rarely teach in colleges is that engineering, in addition to being a technical activity, is an economic activity and, most importantly, a human activity.” According to him, the ability to under-stand company and work team culture is the most under-appreciated soft skill. Bhagat says, “As companies become more global, soft skills are highly desirable and required in more positions now than ten or even five years ago. You may have an excellent knowledge base in engineering or technology, perhaps even a PhD, and maybe bilingual but if you have not developed good skills in communicating, inter-acting and people resource management, you have already limited your opportunities and chance of success.”
Why you should continuously improve your soft skills?
“Soft skills are applied emotional intelligence and as such, they are very important. As engineers, we are taught to think and apply the logic of maths and science. However, we are being ruled by emotions,” says Prohodsky.
Soft skills are very essential for personal and professional development of individuals. “In today’s economy, it is even more important considering a significant portion of Indian GDP comes from services sector. To support this growth in services sector, organizations require talents who possess greater soft skills along with hard skills,” notes Rajesh Choudhary. “Technical skills may take you to the door-step but it is your soft skills that will open up the door for you,” believes Dr Pallab. Adding on the growing importance of soft skills in today’s world, Vemuri says, “They (soft skills) are in demand than ever. In-creasing possibility of interactions with global peers, customers, virtual teams and cross-cultural discussions mandate employers to look out for fine-tuned, polished workforce.”
“Soft skills facilitate efficiency and effec-tiveness at work,” says Sunil Pathak, HR director, Cadence Design Systems. While flawless technical expertise is the primary necessity, soft skills are imperative to ensure high-quality contribution and de-livery.
Recently, EFY conducted an opinion survey of engineering students, fresh professionals and industry analysts through various social media platforms to understand the importance of soft skills, apart from tech know how, for a successful career.
62.63 per cent respondents believed that soft skills were important but not the deciding factor. 25.29 per cent believed that soft skills were extremely important. Remaining 12.08 per cent believed that these were important as complementary skills.
Hard skills vs soft skills— what you should focus on?
Let’s take the example of software engineers. They need to be skilled in software development and testing to be able to build, test and provide support for the applications developed by them. However, to do that successfully, they need to work in a team and interact with team members to provide the best products and services. Any misunderstanding or strife between team members would result in products and services that would not be of the highest standards. Computer programming in many languages is a hard skill, whereas problem solving and communication are soft skills.
“There are key differences between hard skills and soft skills but both are important and ideally complement each other,” says Choudhary. “It’s like IQ vs EQ. Soft skills use the emotional centre (EQ), i.e., the right brain, whereas hard skills use the logical centre (IQ), i.e., the left brain.”
Practice makes perfect
“Self-practice is another way to improve soft skills,”
Developing proficiency in soft skills is a lifelong process. “However, soft skills enhancement can and will only take place if there is appropriate level of self-awareness,” believes Dr Bandyopadhyay. “And, of course, practice is essential to sustain and continuously improve once a skill is acquired,” he adds.
Companies today invest a lot of time and money in building up their employees’ soft skills. “A general consensus is that these skills are built up over time and not just through classroom sessions. It is impera-tive to implement and practice the learn-ing on your own,”
