Soft skills... play a vital role for Professional Success...

Nowadays, we   all come across the term Soft Skills   very frequently. The most interesting thing about soft skills is that although it might be the latest term but it's nothing new.

Soft Skills basically means   the qualities, personality traits and social skills which everyone possesses in varying degrees. It is a sociological term relating to a person's "EQ" (Emotional Intelligence Quotient), the social graces, communication, personal habits and optimism that characterize the relationships among people. Soft skills are essentially people’s   skills   that determine a person’s strengths as a leader, listener, negotiator, and conflict mediator. Soft skills are not fixed or inherent. They can be acquired and developed over time, thereby   helping   us behave in a socially acceptable manner and adapt ourselves to a social environment, so that others are comfortable in our company and vice versa. Soft skills play a vital role for professional success; they help one to excel in the workplace and their importance cannot be denied in this age of information and technology too .In fact, good soft skills will help you stand out in a milieu of routine job seekers, even with mediocre skills and talent in this highly competitive corporate world.

Hard skills, on the other hand, are more along the lines of what might appear on your resume -- your education, experience and level of expertise. In fact Soft skills compliment hard skills which are the occupational requirements of a job and many other activities. These people skills are more critical than ever as organizations struggle to find meaningful ways to remain competitive and be productive. Teamwork, leadership, and communication are underpinned by soft skills development. Since each is an essential element for organizational and personal success, developing these skills is very important and does matter… a lot! Soft skills   accompanying   hard skills help an organization use its technical expertise to full advantage. However, Soft skills are increasingly becoming the hard skills of today's work force. It's just not enough to be highly trained in technical skills, without developing the softer, interpersonal and relationship-building skills that help people to communicate and collaborate effectively.

Therefore it’s important for all of us to recognize the vital role, soft skills play, within ourselves, but   also encourage its development in others. Traditionally, people don't receive adequate soft skills training - either during vocational instruction or as part of on-the-job training. The problem is that, the importance of these soft skills is often undervalued, and there is far less training provided for them than hard skills. Yet soft skills are increasingly sought after by employers in addition to standard qualifications. While it's important to recognize and build on your soft skills, that doesn't mean that you should neglect your hard skills. The real key to success in any job is making your soft skills and hard skills complement each other.