Career in Soft Skills Training

By

Anurag Kumar
Of late, soft skills have emerged as a tool with enough power to make or break your
career. How often do we encounter technically talented people who excel in their jobs,
but whose career stalls beyond a certain point because they lack the social
communication and relationship building skills to manage, work with and lead other
people? Soft skills is an umbrella term which includes communicative skills, listening
skills, team skills, Leadership quality, creativity and logic, problem solving skills,
diplomacy and change readiness, among others.
Soft skills are generally gifted and cannot be learnt from a book. Roots of soft skills
can be traced back to ones Sanskaras (Family Values). Still, formal training can, of
course, give you a fresh perspective, and teach you tips and techniques if you need to
improve specific skills, but if you really want to ingrain soft skills into your
personality, you have to become a keen observer, an eager learner and an assiduous
workman religiously putting to practice all that you have learnt. Here are a few soft
skills which may help you improve your career prospects and enhance your
personality as a whole.
Effective Communication Skills
Effective communication skills include oral Skills for public speaking, presentations,
negotiating, conflict resolutions, knowledge-sharing; Writing Skills for preparing
reports, proposals, instruction manuals, writing memos, notices, official
correspondence etc. It also includes a combination of verbal and non-verbal skills.
Since our official medium of communication is English, certain amount of proficiency
is needed in it. As English for us is a second language and not our mother tongue, so a
constant practice at home/hostel, followed by language-lab sessions, is need of the
hour. Those institutes that want their students to get placed in MNCs and reputed
companies, must give this a deep and urgent thought. Quality job depends as much as
on knowledge of the respective subject as on good communication skills.
Interpersonal and Teamwork Skills
Interpersonal and teamwork skills contribute to higher productivity and better
environment as people work together to reach common goals. Some individuals are
born leader or intuitively adopt the traits required in team work. However, in general,
these skills need to be taught or can be learnt through practice and awareness. This
skill has four dimensions namelyCooperation, Communication, Work Ethic and
Leadership. Cooperation requires demonstrating the ability to compromise on their
views, treating team members with respect, and working within a consensus of the
team. Communication here requires a dynamic interaction among team members and
inviting and providing feedback and resolving conflict. Work ethics includes
accepting responsibility for assigned work, completing any assigned tasks and doing
so on-time, and offering assistance to other team members when required. It is
certainly desirable for each team member to demonstrate leadership. This includes
helping to provide structure by initiating action, clarifying concepts and problems, and
summarizing activities and results.
Personal Skills
Many people wonder why they do not have the success they want in business! Most of
the time, the reason will be right under their nose; they are just unable to see it. The
first thing that someone should ask is, "Am I successful in my personal life and
relationships? Personal skills are those skills which make you not only acceptable
and respectable in society and at the work place but also help you in getting a good
job and better career growth. They include ability to make decision, Alertness,
Assertiveness, Attention to details, calmness, Commitment, Cooperation, Emotional
stability, Empathy, Flexibility, Generosity, Tolerance, self-confidence, self-control,
self-reliance, self-respect, Honesty, and sense of humor among others.
Problem-Solving and Other Cognitive Skills
In your day to day life, you often come across such situations where you are unable to
make right decisions. You are more likely to get into such conditions when you are
working in an organization. To deal with such stresses, you need to develop some
skills which may help you in making decisions, developing creative and innovative
solutions, developing practical solutions, showing independence and initiative in
identifying problems and solving them, applying a range of strategies to problem-
solving, applying problem-solving strategies across a range of areas.
Adaptability and Work Ethics
It is a well-known fact that contemporary organizations evolve and change rapidly,
given the fast pace of technological change over the last hundred years of industrial
era. Consequently, an employee in a contemporary organization must not only be
willing to work hard but also possess the flexibility and ability to respond to rapid
change. An employer requires a whole set of skills to develop adoptability like
communicating across cultures, getting along with others in a multi-cultural work
environment, respect for others faith and belief systems, avoiding racial/cultural
discrimination at the workplace.
Work ethic is a set of values based on the moral virtues of hard work and diligence. It
is also a belief in moral benefit of work and its ability to enhance character of the
employer or any individual. A work ethic may include being reliable, having initiative
or maintaining social skills. Apart from that a sense of responsibility, honesty and
commitment may also be included in it.
In order to posses these above discussed skills you need to be self-aware i.e. you need
to cultivate positivism in your thought and approach. You should also know how to
live consciously and try to put your words into action. Reading is yet another way to
improve your skills and can help you develop a better perspective of the world and the
things around you. You should also open yourself to new ideas and experiences and
be willing to adapt to changes if it makes the things go easier. The last but not the
least you should always remember is that you need to practice and practice these skills
with dedication. Practice improves your performance, helps you discover and
overcome shortcomings and mistakes and gives you confidence.
Career Prospects
Soft Skill Trainer
Most of the organizations are now providing their employees the training of soft skills
in order to improve their positive communication, interpersonal and team skills,
problem solving, adoptability, and work ethics. This in turn has a very positive impact
on their business and personal lives on one hand and increases the productivity of the
organization on the other. So after completing a course in soft skills, one can get a job
of a soft skill trainer in any of private or public organization and earn a handsome
salary.
Personality Development
Of late, the focus has shifted from a natural man to a groomed one. Organizations,
particularly corporate ones, are seeking individuals who are smart and well groomed.
They have the kind of communication skills that they can outsmart any one. For
which they provide training to their employees once they are recruited. But they prefer
those who are already better. Since most of the people are born with the talents but
they need policing and grooming, a number of private institutes are set in market that
are doing this job for them. These institutes are earning a lot of money in turn, thus,
providing an attractive job option for a soft skill trainer.
Teacher
Teaching has recently been a good option for a soft skill trainer as Technical
Communication is a compulsory subject in all Engineering and Management
Institutes. There the students are trained and prepared for their placements and
communication skills along with other personal skills are required to perform better in
interview and group discussion. Since the growth of an institute is totally dependent
on the job placement of its students, the role of a soft skill trainer becomes very
crucial.
Education
Though there are a number of institutes that are offering courses in soft skills, here are
a few institutes who organize short term course for soft skill training:
Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
National Institute of Technical Teachers Training Chandigarh
National Institute of Technical Teachers Training Kolkata
National Institute of Technical Teachers Training Bhopal
Placement
After completing the course, one can get a job in any public or private organization,
educational institute, or can set his own training centers. Initially, the trainer can earn
somewhere between Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 20,000 per month which increases over the
years.
About the Author
Anurag Kumar is presently working on his Ph. D Thesis in the Department of
Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee.
Address for Correspondence:
Anurag Kumar
C/o Dr. Nagendra Kumar
60/1 Ravindra Lok Colony
IIT Roorkee- 247667
Email Id: anuragkumar.lko@gmail.com; anu_pandeylu@yahoo.co.in