Why Soft Skills Matter and How to Develop Them

To succeed in your chosen career, you need more than technical or hard skills. As a workplace is filled with people, you will need skills to interact, collaborate and navigate various challenges on a daily basis. Known as soft skills, these are personality traits that enable you to build workplace relationships, be productive and solve problems.

Soft skills and Unemployability: What is the link?

In 2019, graduate unemployment in South Africa was at 31 per cent, while the unemployment rate increased to 34. 4 per cent in 2021, according to Statistics South Africa. At the same time, 97 per cent of chief executives surveyed by PwC in 2019 said that their organisations’ profitability and growth suffered due to a lack of skills. Apart from technical and digital skills, businesses are looking for candidates with soft skills such as problem-solving and cognitive skills.

Many other studies related to graduates’ employability in Africa have found that a lack of soft skills is one of the key barriers to employment.

While there is no universal formula that defines skills required for employability, the basic employability soft skills are:

• Communication
• Team-working,
• Customer care
• Problem-solving,
• Growth mindset
• Adaptability
• Rsilience
• Empathy
• Time management
• Collaboration

Why Soft Skills Matter

Gain self-confidence – Soft skills such as adaptability, team working and communication skills help you gain self-confidence. Confidence in your abilities helps you navigate any conflicts, challenges, and issues at the workplace. Recruiters look for individuals who can confidently present their ideas that require good communication skills.

Build professional relationships –Most jobs entail working with different teams and departments. In some roles that involve marketing, sales, or insurance, you will also need to interact with clients. Strong communication skills not only help you build and sustain relationships with your colleagues, managers, and team members but also with clients.

Empathy – Another vital soft skill that enables the strengthening of workplace relationships. Whether it is your colleagues, customers, or boss, you can better understand others’ perspectives and resolve conflicts by being empathetic.

Improve your productivity – Soft skills such as time management, collaboration and communication help you boost your productivity and performance at the workplace. Ability to delegate, goal setting, and time management skills enable you to stay organised, which in turn increases your productivity.

Adaptability and flexibility are skills that recruiters look for in the post-pandemic era to help drive faster recovery.

How to Acquire Soft Skills

Prioritise the skills you need –Practice self-reflection and think about which soft skills you already have and which ones you need to develop. For instance, you may be a good communicator but may need to develop emotional intelligence. Take some time to prepare this list and compare the list with the skills that are vital for your chosen career path.

Mentorship programs – Find a mentorship program such as the African Bank’s program that trains learners on soft skills such as managing finances and public speaking. Learners also meet the industry experts in the field of their interest to know what skills they need to develop.

Take career assessments – Career guidance assessments or career counselling is a great way to receive feedback on your potential and strengths, apart from learning how to sharpen your soft skills.

Find online courses –You can find many resources and online courses that help you sharpen your soft skills.