There are many types of skills important for a student to develop to get a job in campus placements. Some are interpersonal skills, intrapersonal skills, soft skills, technical skills, etc. Here, you will be educated about “soft skills” and how they are important for your campus placements. Read on to learn more.
What are soft skills?
Soft skills are skills that help to manage and develop a proper relationship with other humans, teammates, colleagues and higher officials. Soft skills help both in your personal as well as your professional life.
In other ways, soft skills are an important part of Emotional Intelligence which is not much developed in any one much. People who are experts in soft skills will be successful both in their Professional as well as personal lives. So, learning and practising soft skills and emotional intelligence is important for everyone as a human being.
What should you learn to develop soft skills?
The major soft skills you should develop in yourself to shine professionally are,
- Leadership qualities
- Team management
- Time management
- Work ethics
- Interpersonal skills
- Innovation
- Creativity
- Communication
- Problem-solving
- Decision making
- Adapting to the environment
- Critical thinking
- Self-motivation
- Negotiation skills
- Diplomatic skills
- Appearance
To differentiate between soft skills and hard skills, some examples of hard skills are writing, project management, Microsoft Office, C++, JAVA, TALLY, etc. Hard skills are mostly technical skills.
The importance of soft skills in career placements
Soft skills are as important as hard skills in career placement. You may be technically strong, but if you are not comfortable with the people around you, you can never be productive. Teamwork and communication with colleagues and clients are essential. So, during placement drives, companies look for soft skills along with technical skills.
Practicing soft skills can also help you during campus placements and interviews. When you have soft skills, it is an added advantage. The main advantages of learning soft skills for interviews and placements are listed and explained below.
1. Positive outlook
With improved soft skills, you can create a positive outlook. Even dressing up and grooming are soft skills. Your dress and appearance give a first impression of who you are.
For some jobs, grooming and appearance are essential, such as for flight attendants, models, hospitality workers, etc. So, it is important to give importance to dressing to create a positive outlook for the employer.
2. Impactful first impression
There is a saying that “the first impression is the best impression.” This suits well for career placement drives, too. When you go for an interview, the first impression you make, such as your dress, the way you speak, and eye contact, creates the second impression.
Mostly, expert recruiters will identify what is on your mind using your body language. Always having a cool and calm attitude is best for interviews. You may not be cool for the first interview, but you must practice being cool while attending interviews.
3. Showcase your communication skills
Communication skills are an important part of soft skills. The way you communicate with your recruiter is much more important and gives a complete picture of who you are to the employer. Only the best engineering colleges affiliated with Anna University, like the Karpagam Institute of Technology (KIT), teach soft skills to their students along with the academic curriculum.
4. Soft skills reflect your character
Soft skills can also reflect your character. Recruiters are skilled at understanding your character by questioning you. They understand your character and ability to work and be productive in their interview process. Learning soft skills has a direct impact on your character. When you practice soft skills in your day-to-day life, you become a more polite and welcoming person to everyone.
5. Exposes your educational and cultural background
Soft skills can, to some extent, expose your educational and cultural background. Different people living in different regions have different dialects of the same language. If you take English, the dialects of American, Indian, and British English are different.
When you take the Tamil language, there are different dialects in each district of Tamil Nadu; for example, the Tamil dialect spoken in Coimbatore is called Kongu Tamil. Whatever the dialect, when your language is enriched with good communication skills, it’s always an added advantage for getting a job in placement drives.
Where should you learn soft skills?
Colleges and schools are the places that should equip you with soft skills. But they are not giving importance to soft skills. All colleges won’t develop these essential skills in students. Most of the students who study engineering and come out of engineering colleges do not have many skills.
Only the best engineering colleges can develop skills in students the right way. One such college is the Karpagam Institute of Technology (KIT) which is one of the best Anna university colleges present in Coimbatore.
Join Karpagam institutions and equip yourself with employment-oriented skills. We have placed our students in our on-campus drives in various MNC companies.
