Enriching Soft Skills for Enhancing Career Opportunities of Engineering Students

(1)

International Journal of Research and Development - A Management Review (IJRDMR)

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________

ISSN (Print): 2319–5479, Volume-5, Issue–1, 2016 12

Enriching Soft Skills for Enhancing Career Opportunities of Engineering Students

1Pavan Kumar Nowbattula, ²Sundhi Mylabattula, ³Mounika Arimilli

1,2,3Vishnu Institute of Technology, Bhimavaram, A.P.

Abstract : The recent development and growth in various sectors like education, industry, business, research, etc.

create new opportunities and challenges before the growing as well as working professionals. Today, they need to hold a good knowledge and an enormous range of competence in both Hard and Soft skills. Furthermore, the significance of Soft skills has been more emphasized because, without a good knowledge in these skills, even hard skills prove to be in vain. This paper mainly focuses on developing soft skills for enhancing career opportunities for the Engineering students. Soft Skills are the additional vague skills required by the students beyond their academic skills which are broad in nature across the various areas of learning that includes personality and teamwork. Engineering students are often ready with technical knowledge, but lack of soft skills abandons them not equipped for the present-day circumstances of workplace.

Key Words: Enriching, soft skills, opportunities, knowledge, engineering students.

I. INTRODUCTION

One of the challenges in education sector in the present era in India is to enhance the soft skills of the students and make them ready for the work. The present competitive world needs the people who have a good knowledge in English and Soft skills along with core skills. But, in this worldwide integration, very less people were employed in various companies, due to lack of knowledge in soft skills.

The concept of enrichment of soft skills acquired a new dimension today. The recent development and growth in various segments like education, business, research, industry, etc. create new openings and challenges before the growing as well as working professionals. They need to grasp a sound knowledge and an enormous range of competence in Soft skills as well as in Hard skills.

Moreover, the significance of Soft skills has been more highlighted because, without a good knowledge in the soft skills and even hard skills prove to be ineffective.

The present paper specifically focuses on enriching soft skills for enhancing career opportunities for engineering students. Soft skills are the extra skills required by the students beyond their academic skills that are broad in nature across the diverse areas of learning that includes character or personality and teamwork. Engineering

students are ever-ready with technical knowledge, but lack of soft skills leaves them not equipped for the present-day circumstances of workplace.

Extremely specialized skills, incredible developments, magnificent advances, progressions in technology, arts, and sciences have less value unless one does not own soft skills. Soft skills are very essential not only for soft moving of a business enterprise but they are also equally important for the achievement and growth of individual managers and professionals.

II. SOFT SKILLS

The skills that an engineering graduate or student should have are

1. Communication Skills 2. Management Skills 3. Teamwork

4. Leadership Qualities

Let’s discuss the skills mentioned above in detail.

1. Communication and Interpersonal Skills

Communication skills in English play a crucial role in the present-day world. Though English is a foreign language, it functions as a link-language, now-a-days.

And, much importance is given to this language in our education system and even in other sectors. The students are expected to be more competent to enhance the basic skills of the language so as to improve their communicative ability. Communication skills are considered the most important basic soft skills that are needed by the students. Communication Skills include 1. Ability to listen to the other attentively

2. Competence to convey the idea clearly and effectively

3. Ability to produce the information confidently 4. Ability to converse with others and maintain

proper body language.

(2)

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Management Skills:

One should have one’s management skills while in the workplace. In the view of Henry Fayol, “The management skills were derived from the work which managers did”. It includes

1. Coordination among the people in the workplace 2. Ability to come across and administer relevant

information from various sources

3. Capability in planning, organizing, commanding, and controlling

4. Planning specific time

5. Ability to avoid stress during working situation 6. Ability to balance the situations

3. Teamwork:

Working in a team enhances one’s required communicative abilities at the workplace. A team can have two or more employees in it. It is a process of working collaboratively with a group of people in order to get success. There is a saying: “Two’s company, three’s crowd.” Sometimes, a team of two can work effectively and more than two may spoil the relation.

However, every organization needs a team to work together. Team work includes

1. Good understanding

2. Ability to play a role of a leader and also a role of a member in a team

3. Ability to receive others’ opinions positively 4. Capability to control his/her emotions as well as

others’

4. Leadership Qualities:

“Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others.” – John Maxwell

A leader should be able to organize a team and must have coordination with his/her members of the team. It is important to exhibit leadership skills whenever necessary. The ability to guess the lead when situation calls for, it is needed for everyone who hopes to draw upon their knowledge.

III. SUGGESTIONS

Here are some suggestions to enrich the students’ soft skills for their professional growth.

1. Developing interaction and relations between industrialists or employers of such industries and the students.

2. Boosting the students to attain the required skills for their better career.

3. Soft skills program must be prescribed in the course curriculum.

4. Encouraging the students to attend to internship programs during their studies.

5. Students have to assess themselves and enhance their self-awareness and self confidence.

6. Avoid fear of speaking.

7. Maintain proper and professional relationships with the people.

8. Be a leader to improve more potentiality.

IV. TEACHERS’ ROLE

In this competitive era, the teachers are expected to play various roles to enrich the students’ soft skills. They have to play different roles like the guides, counselors, trainers of communication skills and the soft skills trainers.

It is true that a student who possesses a high level of proficiency in soft skills will get a good career. It is important to identify the areas in which a particular learner is proficient so that the student can be trained in that specific area.

V. CONCLUSION

Engineering students require soft skills that are essential for the industries or companies. Soft skills play a very crucial role in the students’ lives, now-a-days. Soft skills training is damn necessary because it is not a part of our academic curriculum. The institutions should concentrate on enriching soft skills in the students along with good technical knowledge. Only then the employability of the students can be enhanced after their studies.

REFERENCES:

[1] Ross Forman (August 2015). When EFL Teachers Perform L2 and L1 in the Classroom, What Happens to Their Sense of Self? Teaching English as Second or Foreign Language: The Electronic Journal for English as a Second Language, 19 (2). 1-20.

[2] Barun K. Mitra. Personality Development and Soft Skills. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2011. Print.

[3] Dale Carnegie. How to Develop Self-Confidence and Influence People by Public Speaking. New York: Pocket Books, 1926. Print.

[4] Bernd Schulz (June 2008). The Importance of Soft Skills: Education beyond academic knowledge. NAWA Journal of Language and Communication, 146-154.

Online Sources:

[1] http://schoolofeducators.com/2009/02/

importance-of-soft-skills-development-in- education/

(3)

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________

[2] https://books.google.co.in/books?id=97mLAgA AQBAJ&pg=PT281&lpg=PT281&dq=Wyse, +Dominic.,+Andrews,+Richards,+and+Hoffman, +James.+eds.+The+Routledge+International+Ha

ndbook+of+English,+Language+and+Literacy+T eaching.&source

[3] www.tedtalks.com

