26/04/2023

3730

Faculty of Soft Skills Training and Development

09 reasons why students should learn Soft Skills on campus

According to UNESCO, 03 elements that make up a person's capacity are: Knowledge, Skills, and Attitude (ASK model). Among these 03 elements, the latter two belong to ‘Skills’ and they play a decisive role in shaping a person's personality, courage, professionalism, and success.

Warren Buffett - Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, also known as the "investment guru" of the world, shared that: "When I was in high school and college, I was very afraid of speaking in front of a crowd and had never been able to do so. The Dale Carnegie certificate is placed in my office instead of other degrees because it has changed my life." Warren Buffett believes that effective communication skills will immediately enhance a person's professional level. For him, the 03 important factors to evaluate a potential candidate are honesty, responsibility, and conflict management.

Recruiters also share that current students lack working skills, communication skills, and presentation skills upon graduation. This causes them a lot of difficulties in finding jobs and adapting to a new work environment.

In the flat world era where knowledge is abundant, what sets each individual apart and leads to success is whether they have the tools and skills to turn scientific knowledge into reality. Many graduates struggle to find a job due to their lack of soft skills.

In reality, successful people only have 25% knowledge, and the remaining 75% depends on soft skills. As students graduate and join dynamic, creative, and high-tech workplaces, soft skills (including communication skills, critical thinking, and leadership) are highly valuable. So what are soft skills? Why do students need to acquire them?

Soft skills refer to important practical skills in human life, such as goal setting, communication, leadership, teamwork, time management, relaxation, crisis management, creativity, and innovation. Soft skills determine who you are, how you work, and measure your work efficiency.

Below are the reasons why students need to learn and develop their soft skills

Soft skills support students in enhancing the effectiveness of learning

Freshmen often face difficulties in the early periods of entering the university environment due to the complete change in the learning environment, living environment, relationships with lecturers and friends. When studying at university, students have to arrange their own time, self-manage, and take responsibility for their own learning process. This causes them a lot of obstacles. However, with some skills acquired on campus, adaptability skills, etc., students will know how to learn, integrate, and develop their own abilities. Above all, it helps them to achieve learning effectiveness.

Soft skills help you become confident and showcase your abilities

In life, if you have knowledge and ability but cannot express them outside, it can also be considered as a failure. However, with a few skills to create differences, you will easily gain priority in the eyes of others.

Soft skills help students determine their life goals

The difference between successful and unsuccessful people is that they know who they are and what they want. But many students struggle during 04 years to find the answer. Don't worry about some skills such as self-awareness, career orientation skills, goal-setting skills... It will help you understand yourself, determine your direction, and find a job that you love and is suitable for you.

Soft skills are tools to leverage hard skills

Even with an impressive set of specialized skills to become an official staff of a company, soft skills will help you go further to success. Soft skills allow people to collaborate better on projects, brainstorm and negotiate, while collecting support and encouraging the participation of others. In other words, soft skills will help you realize the knowledge you have learned in your work and life.

Teamwork Skills

Recruiters tend to value employees who demonstrate good teamwork skills. Being collaborative doesn't just mean having a cooperative nature, but it also demonstrates strong leadership skills in specific cases. Some times when conflicts may arise within your team, it's important to take a proactive approach to resolve them. When you see your team struggling with a project, try to improve the situation by approaching and fixing problems from different views. Even if you don't often work in a group, always be well-prepared to collaborate and establish work relationships with all colleagues if possible. Learn how to express your thoughts and communicate effectively through body language.

Soft skills enhance the employability of graduates

According to a survey by the Human Resource Management Association, the skills that employers are interested in when evaluating candidates include communication skills, adaptability, teamwork skills, conflict management skills, honesty, and responsibility. While technical skills in a graduate's job application may grab attention, ultimately, it's soft skills that determine whether they get hired or not. Recruiters always look for new employees who will thrive in their environment, be cooperative with their colleagues, and can lead others effectively if necessary.

Soft skills ensure ‘survival’ in modern workplaces

A fast-paced constantly changing work environment determines a person's opportunities for competition and development. When the demand for work efficiency becomes increasingly complex along with having less time to learn on the job, it is important for students to learn how to manage workloads and various tasks easily, fulfill commitments, and generate quality results within time constraints.

Soft skills help you advance further in your career and job

To develop your career, you need not only technical skills but also the trust and support of your leaders and colleagues. To achieve this, you must be responsible, build good relationships with your colleagues, and behave politely. 

A study by Google states a correlation between soft skills and stable success in the workplace. When analyzing all the recruitment, dismissal, and promotion data of Google since its inception, it was found that communication skills, critical thinking, and emotional intelligence are important factors in predicting their long-term performance and development. Training skills, listening ability, and empathy are also important for employees and are some of the other important skills that are considered.

Soft skills help you promote yourself and lead others

It is important for employers to know whether you are a dynamic person who can come up with innovative ideas. This means that you constantly come up with new solutions for your work, making it more interesting even for repetitive tasks. Creativity plays a big role in promoting this, as it makes you brave enough to pursue an idea that was once stuck in your mind and ultimately overcome it. Leading others in the same direction to achieve a common goal, and a good leader is someone who can lead others by their own example.

In summary, soft skills are an important tool for students to learn effectively and develop their careers. In reality, employers attach great importance to soft skills and consider them as one of the criteria for evaluating and selecting candidates, because this is a criterion that helps them accurately evaluate the true ability of a worker and is used by employers to test and evaluate the work ability of the worker. Therefore, students should develop soft skills from now on if they want to have more attractive career opportunities after graduation.

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