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Soft Competencies Skills - A Must for Aspirants
There are many aspirants who hold a degree from the top notch university with a very high percentage and have done enough of short term courses to land them a job but fail to grab one during the recruitment while there are those, which hold a degree from a recognized university and a not so high percentage but are able to land their dream job at a first try. The reason behind this can be due to the lack of soft competencies skills.
While looking for a job, a fresher often emphasis his/her skills towards the abilities, training and knowledge of specific skills which are required for the job. They often neglected the soft competencies or soft skills, which plays a vital role in day to day operations. These skills are a bunch of personal qualities, attitudes, habits and social graces. These attributes enhance an individual’s interaction, job performance and career prospects. Therefore, it is important to focus on the development of these skills as you do on your hard skills. Employers seek candidates with both types of skills when hiring for most positions.
Important soft competencies to inculcate:
Communication
While scanning through a job advertisement, I am sure you will see the mentioning of communication in the skills required. It is self explanatory of how important this skill is. The ability to communicate information accurately, clearly and as intended, is something that cannot be undervalued. An aspirant who feels that they are lacking in this skill must start working on improving it. There are courses which are designed specifically to help people improve their communication skills.
Listening
The ability to accurately receive and interpret messages during the communication process is called listening. Misunderstandings, confusion, misinterpretation, lack of enough information are often occurring due to lacking of listening skills. This skill is so important, that many organizations are training their staff on the basis of this skill. Having this skill will lead you to a better understanding, greater productivity with a few mistakes and increased sharing of information. Aspirants need to spend some time thinking about and developing your listening skills they are the blocks of success.
Teamwork
Teamwork is one of the essential skills required while working in a big or small company. The reason is no company runs under one person. They work in a team; whether it's two people in a group or hundreds. A person who can work in a team is very much sought out by the employer. Some people are comfortable working in a group, while others may have a problem and prefer to work individually. For those who do not prefer working in a group, they should try to inculcate this skill as this is one skill which can help them sustain throughout the long run.
Flexibility
The ability to perform multitasking is another skill which can help you climb a ladder of success. When an employee can take on even unanticipated tasks, employers are happy and would like keep him/her in the company sometimes at any cost.
Time management
Time management is a process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on a specific activity. It is very important to develop effective strategies for managing your time to balance the conflicting demands of your job, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency and productivity. A candidate needs to clear different level of tests while applying for a position in any company. These tests whether written or online involve requires a lot of time management.
Personal organization
A person who always gets his things done in a perpetually frantic state is a person who lacks organization skills. Without this skill a person tends to waste time, feel stressed and frustrated. “Practice makes a man perfect” as the saying goes; aspirants must instill this skill in them. They must learn how to prepare, plan, priorities and even scheduling their free time.
Problem solving and Decision making
Problem solving and decision-making are very important skills. Problem-solving generally involves decision-making, and decision-making is especially important for management and leadership. There are processes and techniques to improve decision-making and the quality of decisions. Decision-making is more natural to certain personalities, so these people should focus more on improving the quality of their decisions. People that are less natural decision-makers are often able to make quality assessments, but then need to be more decisive in acting upon the assessments made.
Personal drive and initiative
Problem solving and decision-making are very important skills. The initiative is that first step toward action. It means doing something on your own, without having to be told to do it. The initiative also means sometimes going above and beyond what is expected of you. Initiative makes you stand out from the crowd and it convinces the employer to take you. When you take the initiative, you are creating an opportunity. The more initiative you take, the more opportunities you are creating for yourself. Initiative in a person is usually respected and rewarded.
Most of the employers observed that they could find workers who have the capability to operate machinery or fulfill other tasks, but many potential hires lack the soft competencies that a company needs. These skills are important, if not more important, than the traditional Skills to an employer looking to hire, regardless of industry or job type. Therefore, aspirants must develop these skills gradually while perfecting their traditional skills required in the job description.