Importance of Soft Skills for Education and Career Success

Appropriate soft skills play an important role in a successful career as well as during social interactions in the society. These skills are also highly sought after by employers recruiting fresh graduates.

A questionnaire was used for data collection and 188 undergraduate business management students from four universities in Singapore participated in this study. It was found that a majority of the respondents felt that soft skills were useful for social interaction as well as for career advancement.
The top six important soft skills identified by the students were:
Communication skills
Teamwork and collaboration,
Decision-making,
Problem-solving,
Time management and
Critical thinking skills

Due to a variety of factors, today’s business environment is becoming more complex, uncertain and competitive. All types of organizations consider human resources as their key asset, which plays a critical role in organizational performance and success.

Employers usually prefer to see a fine blend of competencies in their staff and, in addition to discipline-based knowledge and skills, adequate levels of soft skills are considered desirable for moving forward in the career . They feel professional and technical skills alone cannot help achieve organizational goals and objectives. Employees also need to communicate effectively within the organization, with their customers and other stakeholders.
A study by Hodges and Burchell investigated the perceptions of business employers of the importance of different skills. It was reported that eight out of top ten skills were soft skills which included the ability and willingness to learn, teamwork and cooperation, interpersonal communication, energy and passion, and problem-solving skills.