Hi Guys, Let me take the opportunity to introduce Saurabh Saxena. He is a 2007 passout from GGITS, Jabalpur. Like all others, Saurabh too has received a joining date which would be Mar 2008. Saurabh is a bit heavy on the positive side of life. He’s always cheerful and when I went to Jabalpur recently, He came down from Delhi to meet me. ( Call it the Spirit and Brotherhood of Wipro). So when I inquired as to what he was doing to fill in his days, he told me that he is running classes in soft skill training for the third year students at Jabalpur. Man! Talk about filling your time meaningfully. So I requested Saurabh to come on line and share some of his content. This is Saurabh’s first article. Saurabh! Thank You.
“Hi Wipro,
Am Saurabh Saxena a fellow joinee at Wipro, my joining will be in March 2008 and for the time being, am working as a Soft Skills Trainer at my hometown Jabalpur. I will try fillin up the space by what i teach and take sessions on.
I realised there are a number of students who are topping the universities and maintaining their Ranks in the class but still could not get the job of their choice during campus recruitment.
Reason: Blame it on their soft skills. Or rather the lack of them. These include communication, listening, negotiation, etiquette, language skills etc. Hence, they could not compete with their fellow students who got better jobs.
So, Here it goes..How to improve your soft skills
Soft skills play a vital role for professional success; they help one to excel in the workplace and their importance cannot be denied in this age of information and knowledge. Good soft skills — which are in fact scarce — in the highly competitive corporate world will help you stand out in a milieu of routine job seekers with mediocre skills and talent.
The Smyth County Industry Council, a governing body based in the US, conducted a survey recently. The results of the survey was called the Workforce Profile which found “an across-the-board unanimous profile of skills and characteristics needed to make a good employee.” The people most likely to be hired for available jobs have what employers call “soft skills”.
Here were some of the findings according to the workforce study:
The most common traits, mentioned by virtually every employer, were:
~ Positive work ethic.
~ Good attitude.
~ Desire to learn and be trained.
Mr. X, a technical director with some company in Mumbai defines a ‘good attitude: “It is a behavioural skill, which cannot be taught. However it can be developed through continuous training. It represents the reactive nature of the individual and is about looking at things with the right perspective. You must be ready to solve problems proactively and create win-win situations. And you must be able to take ownership ie responsibility for your actions and lead from the front without calling it quits at the most critical moment.”
Most of the business leaders observed that they could find workers who have “hard skills” ie the capability to operate machinery or fulfill other tasks, but many potential hires lack the “soft skills” that a company needs. CEOs and human resource managers said they are ready to hire workers who demonstrate a high level of “soft skills” and then train them for the specific jobs available. The ever-changing impact of technology has given hard-skills-only workers a short shelf life.
The more valuable employee is one who can grow and learn as the business changes.
Soft skills “are as important, if not more important, than traditional hard skills to an employer looking to hire — regardless of industry or job type. This could offer a major breakthrough as educators and training providers seek to develop and cluster training courses to fit business and industry needs.”
So considering this i give you
Top 60 soft skills
The Workforce Profile defined about 60 “soft skills”, which employers seek. They are applicable to any field of work, according to the study, and are the “personal traits and skills that employers state are the most important when selecting employees for jobs of any type.”1. Math.
2. Safety.
3. Courtesy.
4. Honesty.
5. Grammar.
6. Reliability.
7. Flexibility.
8. Team skills.
9. Eye contact.
10. Cooperation.
11. Adaptability.
12. Follow rules.
13. Self-directed.
14 Good attitude.
15. Writing skills.
16. Driver’s license.
17. Dependability.
18. Advanced math.
19. Self-supervising.
20. Good references.
21. Being drug free.
22. Good attendance.
23. Personal energy.
24. Work experience.
25. Ability to measure.
26. Personal integrity.
27. Good work history.
28. Positive work ethic.
29. Interpersonal skills.
30. Motivational skills.
31. Valuing education.
32. Personal chemistry.
33. Willingness to learn.
34. Common sense.
35. Critical thinking skills.
36. Knowledge of fractions.
37. Reporting to work on time.
38. Use of rulers and calculators.
39. Good personal appearance.
40. Wanting to do a good job.
41. Basic spelling and grammar.
42. Reading and comprehension.
43. Ability to follow regulations.
44. Willingness to be accountable.
45. Ability to fill out a job application.
46. Ability to make production quotas.
47. Basic manufacturing skills training.
48. Awareness of how business works.
49. Staying on the job until it is finished.
50. Ability to read and follow instructions.
51. Willingness to work second and third shifts.
52. Caring about seeing the company succeed.
53. Understanding what the world is all about.
54. Ability to listen and document what you have heard.
55. Commitment to continued training and learning.
56. Willingness to take instruction and responsibility.
57. Ability to relate to coworkers in a close environment.
58. Not expecting to become a supervisor in the first six months.
59. Willingness to be a good worker and go beyond the traditional eight-hour day.
60. Communication skills with public, fellow employees, supervisors, and customers.
How many soft skills do you possess?
Most definately in the next segment i’ll be posting ways to improve your soft skills…
Thanks “”
It’s a good article.Soft skills are must today.Hoping your next article on how to improve soft skills as soon as possible.
Yes..Soft skills really play a vital role for professional success,which is really needed in this competitive world where person 2 person commn an important one. The soft skills you specified here are needed nowadays for the employees to come steady n strong on their working domain.This article is really a good one for us at the right time.
A vast range of skills comes under SOFT SKILLS…I really dint know all that…
Hmmmm….I have to improve a lot of traits in me now…[:)]
In this era,the soft skills are very essential for a person who wants success in his career.Really a very usefull article…
Thank you
Rightly said Soft Skills play a very vital role in present scenario.The soft skills mentioned are really of great use.Thanks to Mr.Saurabh for making us aware of all these skills.
Now we all shall start working on our soft skills and improve ourself.Hope the forthcoming articles will also be of great use for..
Now a days soft skills and communication skills r misunderstood for each other.. eh??? Do corporates think a person who is introvert cannot be one with a strong soft skills…?? I have heard ,its not wise being introvert if one wants to be a gud professional… But Bill Gates( with some other achievers, even Einstein??) is known introvert..As far as the other 59 qualities r considered how important is communication skills..Some person cant be so open to others and cant mingle as others do.. But when it comes to work they might express their thoughts and ides well.. Even though I’m not sure how those ideas wud be accepted..But as far as i know networking with people is important for career growth and professional excellence..But i cudnt relate these two facts..
Being innovative can lead one to greater heights???? Or at the same time do communications skills matter a lot..???
Its good to see ppl values these values too. I have recently written something on “Building yourself as a brand”, am working on it more and will come with this too…
anyways by the time i need to know- Do Wiproites have Dress code? I gave my interview in a jeans although, the head HR said its fine wearing jeans and coming to the office. She quoted ” WE ARE FORCED TO COME IN JEAND AND T-SHIRTS”…so is it so?
This article really helped me to think about the importance of soft skills. thank you very much.
The pursuance of even some ten skills will boost a persons confidence and will make him\her to succeed in life.This will serve as a benchmark to ones perfection.Thanks for publishing.
@shajahan
See communication skills is a broad topic in itself that covers a lot of things, and again comm skills comes under Soft Skills.
Being Introvert in “corporate world” may not work at the work place. B’coz you have to show what you have in you.I feel Mr. Premji is such a peson, coz he rearly comes in front of media and gives interviews.
“Networking” is an excellent concept in the growth of particular.
Dont meet ppl just for the sake of meeting them, but build relationship with them. Dont just think what you can gain from others but also what others can get out of you.
See Innovation is the successful exploitation of new ideas.
The term innovation may refer to both radical and incremental changes to products, processes or services…and this is something incomplete if these thoughts cannot be delivered successfully. So definately Communication Skills matters a lot at the same time and all the time.
Thanx
Soft skills play a vital role in the organisation as well as personal life.
Thanks . It really made my day by reading this article..
I hope I will start working on my soft skills.
Its really good to know there is so much to improve to become the best.
Every body who wishes to have a bright future in this era should possess soft skills. Everyone knows that, but most of them are unaware of the things that constitute soft skills. Here is an article that can help everyone to improve from different angles. I am looking forward to reading the forthcoming article…
thnx,
it really inspires me that to become a successfull emplyoee soft skills are mandatory.
Thank u for publshing a great article.keep giving us suggestions.Thank
u.
Now a days without basic communication skill it is hard to survive in this corporate world,though an individual having strong repository of knowledge, his knowledge will be of no use unless he expresses it in the correct way,
communication plays an important role no matter where you work.
Now i came to know there are lot many parameters an individual needs to comply with if he really wants to enhance his communication skills.
good article…
few traits in tat “60 soft skills” were really new to read under the topic of softskills…. wondered and even started to think how these traits would make a guy better in soft skills….
excellently woven article… hats off to Saurabh Saxena…
Really fantastic , very usefull for all the freshers.
Especially those who are all in lack of these soft skills.
Surely they will be try to develope these skills atleast in Future.
And it is too pleasure to see such a positive motivations here! Nice!
Looks like even being good at a couple of them is hard!
Anyway’s thanq for enlightening and waiting for the next post..,
wow!! this makes one think.. thanku very much saurav.. very good article..
this made me self analyse the qualities i have.let us know the ways to develop these soft skills. i am placed in wipro on campus. the thing that many software companies tell us at their inaugral function is that “students lack good communication skills”, the basic attribute needed..The more one speaks only can one develop it. i also agree with ur point of “networking”,… but how come to develop these.. for people, who top well in their academic, writing programms in seconds, good math,,do fail in this area. the first thing is self interest, what else can make it out??suggest more please…
Arun K wrote:
That’s xclusively appreciable!!! I realised many more soft skills to be known from this article and more over that gives immense info which is quiet worthy.Thankyou Mr.saurabh saxena for leaving an indelible impact for the time killers like me..
Kavita V wrote:
a very good and helpful article,
thank u.
It’s really good article,expecting more articles on softskills.
this is very informative article for all I.T. skills in which all career depends mostly on soft skills. The way we live life directly reflects on our work.
It is really helpful for the freshers to know the innovtive things and the enhancements that are undergoing in this era.I come out and know alot by sharpenig myself in skills.These articles are motivating me in the right direction…Thanx
Saurabh Saxena wrote:
It is really helpful for the freshers to know the innovative things that are undergoing in this era.Iam also very eager to know the dress codes and all info of Wipro .This helps us alot,,,,thanx..
It is really helpful for fresher’s to know the innovative things undergoing in this era.Iam also interested in improving my soft skills.Thanx for giving such information…
Great work dear Saurabh…this article is really awesome…I forwarded this to all my friends who are yet to be placed.I am happy that, I get additional stuff for the training classes I handle here at Coimbatore just like you..This would surely help our buddies to improve their personality better.Keep going..!!!! Will keep track of your articles..
heyy saurabh!!!
all dat is great n also of gr88 use…
keep up the good work..
Thanks for a good guidance on Soft Skills. I want to know more
hi
like this posting!!
i have already started improving my skills!!!
I think the most important soft skill to inherit is to:–
Be yourself while improving good communication skills & learning at each and every step of life (could be life experiences or learning about the topic you are working on).
Bbye
later.
Very well said.
Thanks for the guidance. I would like to know more.