Importance of soft skill

in engineering life
By-sakshi gupta
Content-
• What are soft skill?
• Examples of soft skill
• Why soft skill are important?
• Top 7 skills required-
• Communication skills
• Leadership skills
• Work ethics
• Time management
• adaptibility
Hiring managers usually look for two types of skills in the prospective
candidates – hard skills and soft skills. Hard skills are job-specific skills
which are attained by attending school or training programs or through
experiential learning on the job. But if you’re looking for what other
important skills hiring managers look for while screening resumes, read
on as we explain soft skills and their importance.
What Are Soft Skills?
Soft skills are interpersonal skills which are used to describe your approach to life, work,
and relationships with other people. Unlike hard skills, these are not professional job-
specific skills like accountancy, graphics designing, etc. Soft skills are your unique selling
point which gives you a competitive edge over others in the workplace and in life.

Other names given to soft skills are people skills, interpersonal skills, and social skills.
Examples Of Soft Skills-
Soft skills comprise of personal attributes, communication skills and abilities, and
personality traits which differentiate people with similar hard-skill-set from each other.

Some examples of soft skills are:

 Communication Skills
 Leadership
 Work Ethic
 Creative Problem Solving
 Time management
 Conflict Resolution
 Team player
Why Are Soft Skills Important?
You wouldn’t deny if we say that hard-skills are at the top of every hiring manager’s priority list.
However, a research by Glassdoor found out that on an average, each corporate job opening
attracts 250 resumes, only four to six of those candidates get an interview call, and only one gets
the job.

What separates the successful candidate from the other job seekers is, most probably, a set of soft
skills. Employers look for candidates with a strong work ethic, who not only does the job
effectively and efficiently, but also stay focused, organized, competitive, dedicated, give ideas,
knows how to work with a team, has a positive attitude and has leadership skills.

Why?

Because in this competitive world, work isn’t limited to just what’s offered to you by your boss. It
requires you to solve the problems creatively, give ideas for better business, save time, handle
conflicts, maintain a peaceful and optimistic environment in the workplace, etc.
The Top 7 Soft Skills
Even though the knowledge, the training, and the abilities make anyone a perfect fit for a job. But when
everyone possesses such knowledge, training, and abilities, the employers’ expectations increase in terms
of ‘something’ that should separate the selected candidate from others. This something is where soft skills
kick in. Here’s a list of the top 7 soft skills which are deemed to be beneficial in this competitive market.

Communication Skills
Communication skills is a broad soft skills category. It refers to how you communicate with clients,
customers, colleagues, employees, employers, vendors, partners and almost everyone connected to the
concerned business.

Good communication skills constitute the ability to not only speak confidently but also good presentation
skills and the ability to listen and empathize whenever necessary.

Communication skills become a hard-skill when we talk about customer service jobs. For other jobs, this
category is a great soft skill.
Leadership Skills-
Leadership skill set is among the most sought-after skill set by employers. Hiring managers look
for candidates who have good potential to grow. Such candidates are self-reliant, can work with
the team seamlessly, and even put efforts to make the team and their efforts better.

Leadership skills include abilities to lead a team, make decisions and work for the benefit of the
company and the team keeping aside the personal viewpoints, biases, and conflicts. It stems
from the experience of handling projects and teams.

Leadership is one of the hard-skills employers look for when hiring c-level or other high ranking
executives. However, it is also a very important soft skill for other positions and includes:
• Team Management
• Conflict Management & Resolution
• Decision Making
• Drafting Delegation Strategies
• Drafting Motivation Strategies, etc.
• Work Ethics
Work Ethics-
Work ethics are inherent. It is a soft skills category which is really hard to
teach and even harder to demonstrate during a job interview. It is how a
person feels about his job and carries out his duties and responsibilities.
Having a strong work ethic means the person acknowledges is position and
does the job assigned to him honestly and diligently with all the
accountability.

Some examples of soft skills which come under the work ethics category
are:

• Completing tasks on time

Some examples of soft skills falling under the teamwork category are:
• Team Player
• Collaborative
• Empathetic
• Influential
• Networking Skills
• Social Skills
• Interpersonal Skills
• Knowledge of how to deal with difficult personalities, etc.
Time Management-
In this era of limitless work and limited time, hiring managers always prefer
employees who work efficiently and know how to use time wisely. Almost
every employer prefers his employees to have time management skills as it not
only saves them money but also increases the productivity of the organization.

Key phrases used to convey time management skills are:

• Prioritizing
• Goal Setting & Management
• Planning
• Control
• Focus
• Delegation, etc.
Critical Thinking
Critical thinking involves a careful observation and analysis of objective information
to make a reasoned judgement. It involves evaluation of statistics, facts, observable
phenomenon, research findings, and other trustable data to draw reasonable
conclusions.

Hiring managers love candidates who can evaluate the situation using logical thought
and come up with the best possible solution. Many employers even require
candidates to pass a critical thinking test before appearing for the interview.

Key phrases used to convey critical thinking skills are:

• Analytical
• Problem Solving
• Artistic Sense
• Critical Observer
• Desire to Learn
• Innovator
• Logical Thinker
• Creative Thinker, etc
Adaptability-
Not everyone in the workplace will share your religion, caste, or other sets
of beliefs. Moreover, being adaptable and open-minded is almost a
prerequisite soft skill in this rapidly changing technological environment.
Adaptability is all about embracing the differences and going with the flow.
It’s important to maintain a sound professional environment in the
organization.

Key phrases used to convey adaptability are:

• Calm
• Optimistic
• Open Minded
• Curious, etc.