LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 11 : 6 June 2011
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.

HOME PAGE

BOOKS FOR YOU TO READ AND DOWNLOAD FREE!

REFERENCE MATERIAL

BACK ISSUES

  • E-mail your articles and book-length reports in Microsoft Word to languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.
  • Contributors from South Asia may e-mail their articles to
    B. Mallikarjun,
    Central Institute of Indian Languages,
    Manasagangotri,
    Mysore 570006, India     mallikarjun@ciil.stpmy.soft.net.

  • PLEASE READ THE GUIDELINES GIVEN IN HOME PAGE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE LIST OF CONTENTS.

  • Your articles and book-length reports should be written following the APA, MLA, LSA, or IJDL Stylesheet.

  • The Editorial Board has the right to accept, reject, or suggest modifications to the articles submitted for publication, and to make suitable stylistic adjustments. High quality, academic integrity, ethics and morals are expected from the authors and discussants.

Copyright © 2010
M. S. Thirumalai
Custom Search

Soft Skills -
What Do the Employers Expect from Their Employees?

R. Karthikeyan, M.A., M.Phil. and G. Baskaran, Ph.D.

1. Introduction

In today’s global economy, human resources or knowledge assets are considered as the first and foremost wealth of a firm. Employability of candidates is determined not only by the technical competencies / sound knowledge but also by a set of soft skills. There is a high demand for soft skills in the workplace. Employers seek to ensure industry success by recruiting and retaining employees who have a variety of skills and personal attributes, as well as technical skills.

Individuals need a wide range of soft skills to form and maintain relationships. In addition to technical competencies, soft skills are the underlying principles that trademark a company for professionalism.

This paper focuses upon the basics of soft skills, importance of soft skills, difference between soft skills and hard skills, highlights the research works undertaken on soft skills, lists out the competencies that are required for employability, the personal attributes that are needed for professionals and ways to enhance soft skills.

2. What are Soft Skills?

Soft skills is a sociological term relating to a person’s Emotional Intelligence (EQ), the cluster of personality traits, social graces, communication, language, personal habits, friendliness and optimism that characterize relationships with other people.

Soft skills are those that apply across a variety of jobs and life contexts. They are also known as several other names, including key skills, core skills, essential skills, key competencies, necessary skills, transferrable skills and employability skills.

3. Why are Soft Skills important?

Soft skills are important because jobs today require flexibility, initiative and the ability to undertake many different tasks. Employers now focus on adaptation, cost reduction, increased productivity and new markets, products and services. In the present context, employees need to demonstrate teamwork, problem solving and the capacity to deal with non-routine processes. They are expected to make decisions, take up responsibility and communicate effectively. Employers seek to recruit and retain employees with these skills. Proficiency in the broad range of generic skills has become the main requirement for the modern worker. Education providers are also interested in Generic skills because they encourage learners to be more reflective and self-directed.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

R. Karthikeyan, M.A., M.Phil.
Senior Lecturer in English
P.A.C.R. Polytechnic College
Rajapalayam – 626 108
Tamilnadu
India
shrugopi@gmail.com

G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of English
VHN Senthikumara Nadar College
Virudhunagar – 626 001.
Tamilnadu
India
rgbaskaran@gmail.com

 


Custom Search
  • Click Here to Go to Creative Writing Section

  • Send your articles
    as an attachment
    to your e-mail to
    languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.
  • Please ensure that your name, academic degrees, institutional affiliation and institutional address, and your e-mail address are all given in the first page of your article. Also include a declaration that your article or work submitted for publication in LANGUAGE IN INDIA is an original work by you and that you have duly acknowledged the work or works of others you either cited or used in writing your articles, etc. Remember that by maintaining academic integrity we not only do the right thing but also help the growth, development and recognition of Indian scholarship.