Why you should continuously improve your soft skills....
In India, electronics engineering as a career has always attracted the student community in a big way. Testimony to this fact is an ever-increasing number of aspirants taking various entrance exams to qualify and enroll for their choice of engineering branch. Throughout the course, one learns and specialises in a particular branch of engineering theoretically and practically. However, just technical skills are not enough as the most common HR question is: Beyond technical skills, experience and knowledge, what added value do you bring to the organisation? Therefore soft skills are critical to make you employable.
What exactly are soft skills?
In India, electronics engineering as a career has always attracted the student community in a big way. Testimony to this fact is an ever-increasing number of aspirants taking various entrance exams to qualify and enroll for their choice of engineering branch. Throughout the course, one learns and specialises in a particular branch of engineering theoretically and practically. However, just technical skills are not enough as the most common HR question is: Beyond technical skills, experience and knowledge, what added value do you bring to the organisation? Therefore soft skills are critical to make you employable.
Role of Soft Skills in your Engineering Career
The most common Hr question is: Beyond technical skills, experience and knowledge, what added value do you bring to the organisation? Of course, it is the soft skills that ensure success in your career. Here is what exactly are soft skills, why they are needed and what you can do to improve your soft skills.
What exactly are soft skills?
Naresh
Narasimhan, country marketing manager, Tektronix, says, “In the 21st
century and going forward, three things are important—ability to
communicate an idea visually, ability to have a balanced point-of-view
on key issues and ability to convert ideas to results.”
The concept of soft skills is not limited to just plain communication skills but it also includes aspects such as people skills.
Dr
Pallab Bandyopadhyay, director-HR, Citrix India, explains: “In the
broader context, soft skills would also include negotiation, decision
making, reasoning and problem solving, and conflict-resolution skills
required in today’s work environment.”
“While technical
professionals are often selected and trained based on measurable talents
and skills such as knowledge of OS or software programming skills—which
are prerequisites to starting a career in engineering and
technology—intangible skills such as language proficiency, ability to
work with global teams and positive attitude often count in making their
career a rewarding one. These intangible skills are classified as
soft-skills,” adds Sudhanshu Pandit, director-HR, Symantec India.
When
evaluating a candidate on soft skills, HR professionals look at not
only his ability to communicate his thoughts clearly and concisely but
also his personality and problem-solving skills.
Defining soft
skills, John Prohod-sky, founder and principal consultant, Future
Envisioned, says, “Soft skills are non-technical, interpersonal and
communication skills required by an engineer to successfully solve
problems and apply his technical skills.”
Throwing light on how
soft skills are directly proportional to one’s personality, Rajesh
Choudhary, HR head, Xilinx India, says, “Personality traits such as
common sense, optimism, responsibility, integrity, attitude and
behavioural competencies that include analytical thinking, result
orientation and achievement, communication, teamwork, conflict
management, customer orientation and attention to details come under
soft skills.”
As soft skills cover all the aspects related to
human behaviour, Zubin Rashid, managing partner and head of training,
ZRINDIA, believes that “Just as hard skills teach us about
domain-specific skills like technology, products and processes, soft
skills are about interacting with people with whom you work.”
Every
company looks for a different mix of skills and experience and it is
not enough just to be a subject matter expert. Communication is an
integral part of soft skills.
Surinder Bhagat, country HR head,
Freescale Semiconductor, India, says, “Soft skills can also refer to a
set of skills that determine how one interacts with others in a way that
the company as such gets represented well. These skills are applicable
to all internal as well as external forums where employees are making
key interactions.”
Tina Vas, vice president-global HR, Collabera, says “Simply put, soft skills have more to do with who we are than what we know.”
Soft
skills critically impact the way an individual translates his expertise
across to his team and further to the whole organisation.
Ramana
Vemuri, VP-process and operations, Cigniti Technologies, believes that
soft skills enhance an individual’s interactions, job performance and
career prospects. According to him, emotional intelligence is the
critical element that defines the core of soft skills a person is
equipped with.
Soft skills in today’s India
According
to a recent report by employability assessment company Aspiring Minds,
56 per cent engineering graduates in India lack soft skills and
cognitive skills. Non-technical aspects of engineering such as
communications, relationships, temperament, emotional intelligence and
risk management make a difference between success and failure.
Understanding and adapting to the working environment is just as crucial
as getting the job itself.
Prohodsky says, “Engineering is the
application of hard sciences to solve real problems but what they rarely
teach in colleges is that engineering, in addition to being a technical
activity, is an economic activity and, most importantly, a human
activity.”
According to him, the ability to understand company and work team culture is the most under-appreciated soft skill.
Bhagat
says, “As companies become more global, soft skills are highly
desirable and required in more positions now than ten or even five years
ago. You may have an excellent knowledge base in engineering or
technology, perhaps even a PhD, and maybe bilingual but if you have not
developed good skills in communicating, interacting and people resource
management, you have already limited your opportunities and chance of
success.”
Vas adds, “Networking is also important; engineers need
to keep in touch with alumni as well as industry experts via various
interactive forums to understand the ground realities better.”
Why you should continuously improve your soft skills
“Soft
skills are applied emotional intelligence and as such, they are very
important. As engineers, we are taught to think and apply the logic of
math and science. However, we are being ruled by emotions,” says
Prohodsky.
Soft skills are very essential for personal and
professional development of individuals. “In today’s economy, it is even
more important considering a significant portion of Indian GDP comes
from services sector. To support this growth in services sector,
organisations require talents who possess greater soft skills along with
hard skills,” notes Rajesh Choudhary.
“Technical skills may take
you to the doorstep but it is your soft skills that will open up the
door for you,” believes Dr Pallab.
Adding on the growing
importance of soft skills in today’s world, Vemuri says, “They (soft
skills) are in demand than ever. Increasing possibility of interactions
with global peers, customers, virtual teams and cross-cultural
discussions mandate employers to look out for fine-tuned, polished
workforce.”
“Soft skills facilitate efficiency and effectiveness
at work,” says Sunil Pathak, HR director, Cadence Design Systems. While
flawless technical expertise is the primary necessity, soft skills are
imperative to ensure high-quality contribution and delivery.
Pandit
explains, “An engineer might be excellent at writing code to solve a
particular problem but unless he possesses soft skills, he would neither
be able to understand the problem faced by a customer nor explain how
his suggested method makes the best fitted solution for the customer’s
problem.”
Dr Pallab believes that soft skills are as important as
technical skills due to two main factors: “One is that employees are
being sent on projects to international locations, where they need to
articulate their thoughts and actions to become productive. Second, with
enhanced globalisation, virtual communication has taken a front seat in
today’s organisations.”
An engineer is rewarded for his ability
to make decisions, manage risks and creativity. Therefore soft skills
are vital for an individual to get employed and grow in an organisation.
Myth Buster
Myth 1: It is the hard skills (technical skills) that get you a job, not soft skills.Truth: You need to balance both.
Myth 2: Being strong in analytical aptitude, quantitative expertise and information-gathering ability is enough to fetch a job.
Truth:
In addition to the above, you need strategic thinking, written and oral
communication skills, leadership skills, and adaptability.
A ‘soft skills’ survey
Recently,
EFY conducted an opinion survey of engineering students, fresh
professionals and industry analysts through various social media
platforms to understand the importance of soft skills, apart from tech
knowhow, for a successful career.
62.63 per cent respondents
believed that soft skills were important but not the deciding factor.
25.29 per cent believed that soft skills were extremely important.
Remaining 12.08 per cent believed that these were important as
complementary skills.
EFY Survey results on soft skills across various social media platforms
Hard skills vs soft skills— what you should focus on
Let’s
take the example of software engineers. They need to be skilled in
software development and testing to be able to build, test and provide
support for the applications developed by them. However, to do that
successfully, they need to work in a team and interact with team members
to provide the best products and services. Any misunderstanding or
strife between team members would result in products and services that
would not be of the highest standards. Computer programming in many
languages is a hard skill, whereas problem solving and communication are
soft skills.
Myth 2: Being strong in analytical aptitude, quantitative expertise and information-gathering ability is enough to fetch a job.
Truth: In addition to the above, you need strategic thinking, written and oral communication skills, leadership skills, and adaptability.
62.63 per cent respondents believed that soft skills were important but not the deciding factor. 25.29 per cent believed that soft skills were extremely important. Remaining 12.08 per cent believed that these were important as complementary skills.