Amit Kumar did his M Tech from IIT, New Delhi. He has an MBA from IIM, Ahmedabad. But he still could not get the job of his choice during campus recruitment.
Reason: Blame it on his soft skills. Or rather the lack of them. These include communication, listening, negotiation, etiquette, language skills etc. Hence, he could not compete with his fellow students who got better jobs.
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 knowledge. Good soft skills -- which are in fact scarce -- in the highly competitive corporate world will help you stand out in a milieu of routine job seekers with mediocre skills and talent.
Most of the business leaders observed that they could find workers who have "hard skills" ie the capability to operate machinery or fulfill other tasks, but many potential hires lack the "soft skills" that a company needs. CEOs and human resource managers said they are ready to hire workers who demonstrate a high level of "soft skills" and then train them for the specific jobs available. The ever-changing impact of technology has given hard-skills-only workers a short shelf life.
Soft skills "are as important, if not more important, than traditional hard skills to an employer looking to hire -- regardless of industry or job type. This could offer a major breakthrough as educators and training providers seek to develop and cluster training courses to fit business and industry needs."
The training is conducted in a very informal, interesting, and interactive manner, which gives ample scope for the students to interact with each other and face a wide variety of issues, topics, and situations that they are likely to come across as entry-level managers.
By the end of the soft skills training program, the students should be able to:
- Develop effective communication skills (spoken and written).
- Develop effective presentation skills.
- Conduct effective business correspondence and prepare business reports which produce results.
- Become self-confident individuals by mastering inter-personal skills, team management skills, and leadership skills.
- Develop all-round personalities with a mature outlook to function effectively in different circumstances.
- Develop broad career plans, evaluate the employment market, identify the organizations to get good placement, match the job requirements and skill sets.
- Take part effectively in various selection procedures adopted by the recruiters.
 At NGI Finishing School, training is imparted to fine-tune the students’ attitudes, values, beliefs, motivation, desires, feelings, eagerness to learn, willingness to share and embrace new ideas, goal orientation, flexibility, persuasion, futuristic thinking, compassion, diplomacy, and various skill sets of communication, manners, and etiquette so that they will be able to deal with different situations diligently and responsibly. Soft skills or Emotional Intelligence Skills strengthen them from within. These skills empower them to understand "who they are" and how best they can come across as competent individuals in any given situation.
The training in soft skills has two parts. One part involves developing attitudes and attributes, and the other part involves fine-tuning communication skills to express attitudes, ideas, and thoughts well. Crucial to successful work is the perfect integration of ideas and attitudes with appropriate communication skills in oral, written, and non-verbal areas. Attitudes and skills are integral to soft skills. Each one influences and complements the other.
Course Components
English Language Proficiency Test
Grooming of the students begins with a preliminary test in the English language to determine their level of competence in the use of English for effective communication both oral and written. The idea is to ensure that students are oriented to understand that a manager’s key job is to be able to express himself/herself clearly, correctly, and concisely.
Personality Development through Soft Skills Training at IBS is conducted in three modules:
- Module I : Business Communication
- Module II : Behavioral Skills
- Module III : Training in Group Discussion and Personal Interview
Soft Skills Module I: Business Communication
In this module, students get a chance to learn the nuances of English for business purposes. Business letter writing, memos, reports and e-mails form the core of the Soft Skills Lab. Rigorous training is also given in oral communication through different modules like presentation skills, face-to-face dialogues, telephone etiquette, business and social etiquette, and conversational skills.
This module covers the following areas:
- Business Communication:Communications skills, current English usage, debates, language games, situational dialogues, précis writing, essay writing, presentations.
- Presentation Skills: Preparing for effective presentations, presentation for small groups and large groups, marketing and business presentations.
- Business Correspondence: Principles of clear writing, often misused words, applications and requests, positive and negative responses to requests, routine messages, memos, report writing, organizing meetings, preparation of agenda and minutes, business etiquette, telephone etiquette, e-mail etiquette.
Soft Skills Module II: Behavioral Skills
An array of skills related to personal growth for efficient functioning constitutes the training. Students are made to realize their trengths and weaknesses so that they are able to grasp the true essence of development. They are made to take part in role plays, games, and puzzles that demonstrate the attributes needed for assertiveness, interpersonal relationships, negotiations, time and goal management, leadership skills, and conflict management.
To enable the students to work on their weaknesses, trained counselors’ services are made available. Personality assessment tests are conducted followed by regular sessions with the counselor.
This module covers the following areas:
- Psychological Tests: Aptitude and personality assessment, suggestions for improvement.
- Team Skills: Team building and leadership, evolution of groups into teams, group dynamics, emergence of leadership, intra-group dynamics, inter-group dynamics, conflict management, inter dependency, assessment of team-based projects.
- Time Management: Pareto’s Principle, Parkinson’s Laws, Murphy’s Laws, Law of Clutter, prioritization, goal setting, effective time management.
- Interpersonal Skills: Negotiations, listening skills, social skills, assertive skills, cross-cultural communications.
- Leadership Skills: Concepts of leadership, leadership styles, insights from great leaders.
Soft Skills Module III : Training in Group Discussion (GD) and Personal Interview (PI)
Before the students go through real job interviews, they are made to go through a series of practice sessions on GD and PI. These sessions are videotaped and later played back so that the students can see for themselves if their verbal and non-verbal messages are in synchrony and make for meaningful communication. For the practice sessions in personal interviews, industry experts are invited to be on the interview panels. Feedback is given to the students later for a realistic understanding of industry expectations.
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