Upskill Your Soft skills-For A better Educational and Career Success

"Change is the Law of Nature ‘’, and accordingly the world we live in changes each day in various aspects. With this evolution over the years, we need to upgrade and upskill ourselves for being the best. Nowadays only mainstream education won’t help you to find a job or establish yourself as a better human in society. Apart from academic excellence, certain skill sets are required to perform better in life which would take you a long way.

Now skill sets can basically be categorized into two types- Softskills and Hard skills. The hard skills are the technical skills a person has, say for example any degree of qualification which makes him eligible to perform a specifically defined task. This skill helps you to get a job in any sector of your interest. But what helps us to stay or retain that job is the Softskill.

What isSoftskill?

Softskills are the set of qualities that are a part of the personal behavior of the person which includes his/her personality, attributes, etc. Certain qualities like problem-solving, communication skills, time management, willingness to learn, creativity, emotional intelligence, and many more fall under the Softskills.

Did you know that according to a recent Linkedin Survey, 80% of Human Resource Professionals confirm that it is their Softskills that play a major part in candidates and an organization’s success.?

Why is Softskill important?

We often find students who are very good at academics, securing the top percentage in the class but struggle with making friends or communicating with the school authorities, etc, why? The answer to this "why" is that they lack the basic Softskills that are required like proper communication skills, greeting skills, etc. that would complement their academic skills and make them wholesome.

This blog will help you to upskill yourself by gaining some insight about some basic important Softskill required to excel-

1. Communication Skills-Communication Skills are one of the most sought-after skills required in today’s world. The way you communicate with your friends, seniors, teachers, parents, and all others speaks a lot about your personality, attitude, and behavior. If you are not having proper communication skills, it may hamper your growth in your social sphere. This Softskill is almost crucial in all the stages of life hence developing it in an early stage is fruitful for the future.
2. Teamwork- School life is probably the very first institution where you develop this Softskill. By working in teams with your friends on projects, homework or going on excursions, or maybe by playing a team sport where we learn to develop the teamwork within us at an early stage. Developing this habit of teamwork comes in handy during the later stages of our life. Teamwork helps us to attain creative solutions to problems. Also, this Softskill helps us to understand our peers better and to respect their points of view. Working in a team also helps us to accomplish a given task quickly.
3. Time Management- In the fast-paced world, having quality time management is significant in many ways. This Softskill makes us learn how to use time more effectively. It is the management of time i.e how we should plan and divide our activities and be more productive with our work. As we know time is always limited, and managing time properly is always of great importance. Proper time management helps us to make effective planning which increases our work efficiency more. When we learn to plan our day and the tasks of the day, it increases our productivity, and time is not wasted, ultimately leading to success.
4. Problem Solving- Problem-solving is an essential skill that is useful in today’s world. To be precise these are the types of skills that help us to find the source of a problem and solve the problem calmly and effectively. You need to properly identify and analyze the problems in order to solve them. We can solve many problems just by having the right attitude and some creative thinking skills.
5. Teamwork- ‘Individually you are one drop and together you are the ocean.’ Teamwork is the work done by a group of people to achieve a common goal. The significance of teamwork cannot be undermined. The importance of teamwork for students can be felt in every phase of life, be it school, college, or in any organization, because alone, little can be achieved, together, much can be achieved. Thus, this is an important Softskill to be acquired.
6. Stress Management- Stress is an inevitable part of today’s life, common in every age group. The various tensions one faces are known as stress. Having stress is inevitable but managing that stress is the key. And that skill of managing stress is known as stress management. With proper stress management one can be more efficient in doing and planning the day-to-day activities.
7. Leadership Skill- Remember you are given certain things like school activities, competitions, etc in school? Those were merely not just given for fun but were assigned to make you a person having good leadership skills because having leadership qualities is important and sought by employers in the present day. With proper leadership skills, we can motivate others to take up the task and let them do the task efficiently and on time. Effective leaders are an asset to the organization.
8. Emotional Intelligence- The ability to express and control emotions is essential, but so is the ability to understand, interpret, and respond to the emotions of others. Emotional intelligence is a highly sought Softskill that is the need of the hour anywhere and everywhere we go. Without proper emotional intelligence, working with colleagues or being with friends is something that would be a hard job. Moulding yourself into an emotionally intelligent individual will not only help in coping with this world, which is really fast-paced but also helps in keeping the mental space of the person better and have greater self-awareness.
9. Public Speaking Skills- Even though not regularly, there come such moments in everyone’s life when you need to speak in front of an audience. And it is then that good public speaking skills help a lot. This is a Softskill one would need for his/her entire life. Being a good public speaker needs confidence. And also requires practice. A good public speaker needs to gather his/her thoughts first, and then gradually confidently speak. Thus, learning and inculcating this Softskill would help you to gain a better position in society.
10. Willingness to learn- We all develop learning skills from a very early age, but what we mean by a willingness to learn is the continual learning throughout our lifetime. It shows adaptability to a changing world — or our changed circumstances within it. But despite this, if we are willing enough to learn new things, we will benefit from self-taught successes that underline our ability to learn.

Most interactions with people, need some level of Softskills and also the above mentioned are only a few set of Softskills because the arena of these Softskills is wide.SFS Guwahati, takes care of every little thing when it comes to students and thus, inculcating these softskills within them is always taken utmost care by our faculties to nurture the students well. Hopefully, by now we have come to know how important Softskills are and how we can acquire some of them to elevate our lives simply for the better.

About SFS School, Guwahati

SFS Guwahati is one of the best Private CBSE School in Guwahati with Integrated Coaching, awarded with the "Certificate of Excellence" by Bharat Shiksha Puraskar and Ranked №24 across India for "Mental Health" Ranking 2021

Teacher and content writer at St. Fransic De Sales School. https://sfsguwahati.ac.in/