Soft skills

a combination of people skills, social skills, communication skills, character or personality traits, attitudes, career attributes, social intelligence and emotional intelligence quotients, among others, that enable people to navigate their environment, work well with others, perform well, and achieve their goals with complementing hard skills. The Collins English Dictionary defines the term 'soft skills' as 'desirable qualities for certain forms of employment that do not depend on acquired knowledge: they include common sense, the ability to deal with people, and a positive flexible attitude.' a combination of people skills, social skills, communication skills, character or personality traits, attitudes, career attributes, social intelligence and emotional intelligence quotients, among others, that enable people to navigate their environment, work well with others, perform well, and achieve their goals with complementing hard skills. The Collins English Dictionary defines the term 'soft skills' as 'desirable qualities for certain forms of employment that do not depend on acquired knowledge: they include common sense, the ability to deal with people, and a positive flexible attitude.' Since 1959, the U.S. Army has been investing a considerable amount of resources into technology-based development of training procedures. In 1968 the U.S. Army officially introduced a training doctrine known as 'Systems Engineering of Training' covered in the document CON Reg 350-100-1. PG Whitmore cited the CON Reg 350-100-1 definition: 'job related skills involving actions affecting primarily people and paper, e.g., inspecting troops, supervising office personnel, conducting studies, preparing maintenance reports, preparing efficiency reports, designing bridge structures.' It is through a 1972 US Army training manual identified formal usage of the term 'soft skills' began.At the 1972 CONARC Soft Skills Conference, Dr. Whitmore presented a report aimed at figuring out how the term 'soft skills' (in the areas of command, supervision, counseling and leadership) is understood in various CONARC schools. After designing and processing a questionnaire, the following tentative definition was formulated: 'Soft skills are important job-related skills that involve little or no interaction with machines and whose application on the job is quite generalized.' They further criticized state of the concept then as vague with a remark 'in other words, those job functions about which we know a good deal are hard skills and those about which we know very little are soft skills.' Another immediate study by them also concluded in a negative tone. Psychologist Nicholas Humphrey famously stated that it is social intelligence that defines humans rather than quantitative intelligence. Many industries today give prominence to soft skills of their employees.–11 Soft Skills Your Customer Service Staff Need To Make Customers HappyAs you're building your list of soft skills for your resume, consider these examples to guide you:1 – Communication. ...2 – Teamwork. ...3 – Adaptability. ...4 – Problem-Solving. ...5 – Creativity. ...6 – Work Ethic. ...7 – Interpersonal Skills. ...8 – Time Management. Soft skills are a cluster of productive personality traits that characterize one's relationships in a milieu. These skills can include social graces, communication abilities, language skills, personal habits, cognitive or emotional empathy, time management, teamwork and leadership traits. A definition based on review literature explains soft skills as an umbrella term for skills under three key functional elements: people skills, social skills, and personal career attributes. National Business Education Association deems soft skills as critical for being industrious in today’s workplace. Soft skills complement hard skills also known as technical skills, for productive workplace performance and everyday life competencies (Arkansas Department of Education, 2007). Hard skills were the only skills necessary for career employment and were generally quantifiable and measurable from educational background, work experience or through interview. In the 21st century, soft skills are a major differentiator, a sine qua non for employability and success in life. A study conducted by Harvard University noted that 80% of achievements in career are determined by soft skills and only 20% by hard skills. Experts say soft skills training should begin for a person when they are students, to perform efficiently in their academic environment as well as in their future workplace. A public interest study conducted by McDonald’s in UK predicted over half a million people will be held back from job sectors by 2020 due to lack of soft skills. Basically soft skills are person's abilities, attitudes and social grass that make a someone effective and harmonious with other people. Soft skill is a cluster of person abilities quality, habits and social grace that make someone a good employee and compatible to work with.