The Hindu Business Line : ‘Soft skills as important as hard skills’

Adopt ‘winner’ attitude: Mr Uday Zokarkar, Chief Business Officer of Clickjobs.com, a division of Consim Info Pvt Ltd (earlier BharatMatrimony Group), addressing students of the KMM Institute of PG Studies (Tirupati) as part of the BL Club lecture series.

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Chennai, April 3 Interpersonal skills, business etiquette, team spirit, social graces, negotiation skills and behavioural traits such as attitude, motivation and time management are the essential soft skills needed in a globalised world, according to Mr Uday Zokarkar, Chief Business Officer of Clickjobs.com, a division of Consim Info Pvt. Ltd. (earlier BharatMatrimony Group).

He was speaking with students of the KMM Institute of PG Studies (Tirupati) on the importance of developing soft skills at the workplace. The lecture was organised as part of the BL Club lecture series.

Differentiating between soft and hard skills, he said soft skills such as leadership and negotiating, listening and conflict mediating, were as important as hard skills such as education, experience and level of expertise in today’s global workforce

A positive work ethic, good attitude and the desire to learn and be trained were among the most important characteristics that an employer looks for in his or her employees, he added.

Further, analytical thinking, leadership and team-building skills, the ability to communicate effectively, creativity, problem-solving skills, listening skills, diplomacy, change-readiness, giving and receiving feedback, criticism and compliments were some of the effective soft skills needed in the workforce. Adopting a “winner” attitude was the most efficient way to improve a person’s soft-skills.

“You have to be a team player in the workforce, who can communicate effectively,” he said, adding “little things like making good eye contact, enunciating words properly and good body movements will develop your soft skills,” he said.

“Accepting criticism and learning from them is another trait every person in the workforce should possess,” he said.

Receiving and seeing off guests at home and office, being courteous to kids, women and elders in a movie hall and behaving while on a flight were some of the soft skills that every person should adopt, he said.

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