In any business school worth its salt, one of the main features of a management course would be to provide students with skills that are highly valued by employers. While a large part of this is basic management skills such as finance, marketing, strategy and leadership, which are the essential building blocks of business education, it must also be remembered that “soft” skills are growing in importance in ensuring employability and success. success. A QS study, conducted in 2008, clearly shows that these interpersonal skills have become increasingly important among recruiters and employers. In this Recruiter Survey, 489 of the world’s largest international MBA recruiters (companies including Boeing, Goldman Sachs, and Motorola) have ranked communication and people skills above traditional business skill sets in importance.
And yet, such a key area is also one that business school students tend to ignore, as it is often not available at their preferred institution or included as a non-core part and therefore no syllabus grade. More and more MBAs and business schools are falling short on this extremely important skill set. Most students believe training in these is a waste of time, and a significant percentage of previous MBAs had the attitude that they couldn’t see the value of spending time on communication or people management skills. They feel that they would prefer to spend a little more time on difficult basic subjects.
Recruiters disagree. Particularly in a world still dealing with the global recession, multiplied by the year of the pandemic, and for the foreseeable future, soft skills are and will continue to be essential. Employers tend to focus less on academic or technical skills and put much more emphasis on communication, interpersonal skills, leadership traits, etc. Poor economic development has affected employment opportunities along with outsourcing, downsizing, plant closures, mergers, acquisitions, and other global cost-cutting measures. The situation is unlikely to improve drastically in the next two years, and even after that, the new shape of the business world is likely to emerge as something very different from what we are used to. Consequently, possessing only traditional technical and business skills is no longer enough to get hired and get ahead in the new global marketplace. More and more studies confirm that possessing soft skills is crucial for high performers to maintain a competitive advantage within their organizations. They also define entry-level success.
Yet according to most recruiters, sadly too many business school graduates enter the job market without these essential skills. Soft skills such as winning attitude, teamwork, effective communication, confidence, creativity, taking criticism gracefully, motivation, leadership, multitasking, prioritizing, time management, ability to see the big picture, etc. they are just as essential as technical qualifications. These are necessary not only to get hired in the first place, but also to have a good track record of career growth. Honing your soft skills is imperative for business school graduates to differentiate themselves within the recruitment and promotion process.
Some of the top soft skills that employers and recruiters are looking for are:
Leadership: Employers want the people they hire to have the potential to take on leadership roles in the future. They want to hire people who have a positive attitude, are motivated and self-aware, capable of leading by example.
Communication: Whatever the role, customer-facing or technical, the reality is that you have to work with people, so you have to be able to interact effectively.
Interpersonal skills: likability, the simple ability to get along with people, is especially important in a global working world. Being able to build positive relationships, not only with colleagues but also with other contacts, helps to strengthen internal and external networks. It also brings greater collaboration between teams.
presentation skills: The ability to present your case effectively, share your efforts, and provide workable solutions—all in a concise, professional, and persuasive manner—is important in the business world. People are less and less likely to take the time and effort to read lengthy documents. Sharp presentation skills and oral communication are the way to convey information.
Effective communication skills: Whether it’s getting a new client, finalizing a deal or starting a project, motivating your team or showing off your achievements, communication skills decide the success of most business processes. MBA graduates and business diploma holders need to refine interpersonal and group communication skills to work well with others.
Strategic thinking: Strategic thinking skills decide your ability to solve problems and think quickly.
It makes sense to keep in mind that employers are increasingly placing a high premium on these interpersonal skills. Strong qualifications and good job results will only get you so far if you lack these. People who do not learn and practice these soft skills are increasingly at risk of being marginalized and pushed into niche roles, rather than gaining highly sought after profiles. His career progression is also likely to be slower and more limited, which is also likely to lead to eventual dismissal.
