Soft skills are the core skills that you must develop to build a bright career. These personality traits define your approach to working and interacting with others.

Before discussing the importance of soft skills for students, let’s take a quick look at some interesting facts:

• As per Stanford Research Center, Harvard University, and Carnegie foundation, a whopping 85% of job success comes from excellent soft and people skills and 15% from technical skills.
• As per data insights from Skill Survey, 67% of HR managers will hire candidates with strong soft skills even if their technical skills are weak.
• According to McKinsey and Microsoft, 30-40% of future jobs will depend on social-emotional skills.

Key Highlights

• Why are soft skills important for students? 
• Soft skills and personality development skills for students

Ø  Leadership

Ø  Interpersonal skills 

Ø  Adaptability

Ø  Communication skills

Ø  Teamwork

Ø  Problem-solving

Ø  Time management

• Where to highlight soft skills?

Why are soft skills important for students?

Soft skills play a crucial role in forming good rapport with batch mates, building a network with seniors, and establishing trust. Soft skills and personality development skills are important for students due to two main reasons:

• These skills improve employability.
• These skills enable them to work harmoniously in dynamic environments.

Soft skills and personality development skills for students

1. Leadership: Leaders are the ones who initiate actions, offer guidance at crucial times, inspire others, coordinate smoothly and possess a problem-solving approach. The importance of leadership skills is not limited to college life; it is a skill that shapes your overall personality. Therefore, you should make genuine efforts to learn leadership skills during your college years by participating in various competitions, organising inter-college events and so on.
2. Interpersonal skills: Did you know students with excellent interpersonal skills will become exceptional corporate resources of tomorrow? Interpersonal skills will help you understand the behaviour and coordinate with others. Students with strong interpersonal skills easily build relationships with others, interact empathetically, resolve conflicts effectively and enjoy their lives.

Pro-Tip: Kindly remember interpersonal skill is an umbrella term that encompasses skills like empathy, active listening, motivation, and patience, to name a few.

3. Adaptability: Adaptability is an essential soft skill that will make you flexible in your daily life. It shows your readiness to accept new things – be it a project, role or new environment. So, if you are planning to study abroad and are adaptable to changes, you can easily adjust to different learning and teaching patterns used in different universities.
4. Communication skills: Strong communication skills can pave the way to success in your academic and professional life. It is because well-developed verbal and written communication skills help you to express thoughts or ideas clearly in group discussions, speeches or presentations. Good communication skills not only make you confident but also allow you to understand the subjects and people better.

Pro-Tip: Communication skill is one of the most important soft skills for engineering students to meet the demands of the competitive business world.

5. Teamwork: Teamwork enables information exchange and seamless communication between different groups, which ultimately helps in achieving pre-defined goals. Because working in teams or groups is an essential part of degree courses, developing this habit during the academic years is a surefire way to career success.
6. Problem Solving: Regardless of the course you are studying, problem-solving skills are always valued throughout student life. These skills determine your ability to think critically, identify potential problems and develop solutions for combating them. Moreover, being a problem solver implies that you are creative and competent in solving problems with out-of-the-box solutions. It will be an added advantage because creativity is one of the most in-demand soft skills besides adaptability and collaboration, as per LinkedIn.
7. Time Management: A better understanding of time management helps students to work while studying without facing any challenges. Students with good time management skills can handle multiple tasks and perform exceptionally well in all spheres of life.

Where to highlight soft skills?

Prepare a list of soft skills you possess and highlight them in your resumes, cover letters, Statement of Purpose (SOP) and interviews. Try to support your claim with an example, especially if you are writing an SOP. While preparing a resume, pick two or three most important soft skills that go well with the job you are applying for and highlight them.

Just remember, gaining and mastering soft skills is a lifelong objective. Therefore, try to develop these skills during your academic years by participating in various activities or attending workshops. If you are looking for financial assistance to pursue higher education, Avanse Financial Services will help you by offering an education loan for study abroad. To gather more information about customised education loans, talk to us today.