by Dr BMK Perera Director/Career Guidance Unit University of Peradeniya

Soft skills are also referred to as

Employability skills Key skills Core skills Interpersonal skills Transferable skills
Fallows, 2002

Soft skills defined

Skills, abilities and traits that pertain to personality, attitude and behavior
Moss and Tilly, 1996

Soft skills: The two domains

Examples of Interpersonal (interactive) soft skills

Team work

Relationship-building
Adaptability Written and oral communication Friendliness Attire

Grooming

Examples of Intrapersonal (motivational) soft skills

Planning/ organizing Taking initiative Problem solving Showing enthusiasm Stress tolerance Dependability Creative thinking and innovation Time management Willingness to learn Coachability

Importance

Employers criticize university output as having their heads full of theories, concepts and principles but graduates are often ill-equipped to deal with real life situations
Soft skills are a lot harder to teach in the world of work
Wall Street Journal Article, 2002

Importance

(continued)

Companies are going global, and often,

technical experts are called upon to do a variety of non-technical tasks requiring soft skills Currently, people management skills are placed higher than strategic management skills and process management
Source: BMW Presentation made at University of Rhode Island, 2002 Effective_engineer

Predictors of success in the world of work

IQ
Predicts < 30% of a persons success

Predicts >70% of a persons success

EQ

Soft skills domain

AQ
Relates to resilience

Targeting soft skills

Inclusion of career guidance in academic program Outward bound training (Experiential learning)

Debates/ public speaking competitions/ Toastmasters Club

Strengthening of student societies

Competitions for projects displaying innovative thinking and team work

Mentoring programs within and outside the system (limited numbers)

Targeting soft skills in academic programs

Lectures/ workshops on campus
Time management Stress management Conflict resolution/ negotiation/ mediation Effective presentations Assertive behavior Understanding teamwork Coveys 7 habits of effective people CV writing and interview facing (in the last year)

Embedded model Integrated model Learning Centre model

Highest level of integration

Skills taught within a given discipline, specialty or faculty Centralized support service providing generic skills, operating outside curriculum/ Can offer Bolted on courses (Expect students to acquire soft skills while following their academic programs

Osmosis model

Targeting soft skills in Outward bound Training

Popular with the corporate sector
Historically used for training survival skills to

seamen in 1941

Highly participative Interactive Simulates real life situations Adaptable to needs of the learner Excellent for changing attitudes and developing team spirit

Targeting soft skills in Outward bound Training

MIT, Sloan Center, Sloan School for

Management example

Provided by outside organization (off the campus) Used to build camaraderie Students set personal goals Decide on extracurricular activities to engage in Develop academic operating norms for the semester (Develop a team charter) A lot of physical activities

Way to develop the proposal

Intervention 1 First, select a set of soft skills to target

Intervention 2

Intervention 3

Equifinality

-Identify concrete needs for university or faculty Determine possible overlaps -Augment teaching with programs where needed

Soft skill 1 First, select an activity/ intervention

Soft skill 2

Soft skill 3

Irrespective of the approach there is a need to look at;

Cost, time and feasibility issues
Degree of change possible Relevance to the university

Workshops for Student Society Leaders