The Power Of Social Skills

Yesterday, one of our local radio stations had voiced out an issue related to the unemployment of graduates. The main problem with today's graduates is the inability to fulfill the expected requirements of the employers. What kind of expectations that they are referring to? Education background? Working experience? Social skills? Personality? Or physical appearance? For employers, there are certain aspects that they might focus more on the graduates based on the demand of the job. But how far education can guarantee a job? I have heard many cases of unemployment among graduates who scored excellently with CGPA : 4 flat! Where do they go wrong? They had performed very well academically but why can't they secure a job? 

In my point of view, being academically excellent per se is not enough as current situation is quite demanding. Everybody has to be equipped with proper education, pleasant personality and good social skills in order to survive in this challenging world. So, when it comes to employment, which is the main criteria that employers will look at? Among all, I personally think that social skill is the primary concern.

Social skills???

Social skills can be defined as a group of skills which people need to interact and communicate with others *click here*. Social skills focus more on how you treat other people and how you react to them. It is a matter of dealing with people around you. Generally, communication is considered as one of the important social skills which has greater impact on a person’s self-development. Carolyn Hong has come out with a good piece of article entitled "Retraining Lifeline for Jobless Grads" which highlighted the importance of communication skill for graduates.

In her article, she stated that several feedback had been received from employers who complained that graduates often lack of soft skills such as communication, teamwork and leadership skills which lead to unemployment. Being knowledgeable only does not guarantee a high rate of being employed unless it comes with the right mix of skills especially in communication and computer skills.

Why does social skill play a vital benchmark for job employment nowadays?

The answer is very simple yet precise. In order to become a successful person, individuals need to have good social skills to make it easier for them to interact with others in various situations. They must not only know how to interact or communicate with others but they also need to understand how to react to different environment appropriately. For example; an employer must possess an excellent leadership skill whereas an employee must develop an outstanding teamwork in order to contribute to the company’s success. With an excellent command of social skills, Insya Allah graduates can survive in the working field!

Malaysia has a large number of universities, colleges and training centers. In each institution, there must be compulsory subjects that need to be taken before the students completed their program such as English language, Leadership skill, Parenting skill and etc. The subjects recommended might be different from one institution to another but the objective is the same whereby to prepare the students with proper skills in order to survive once they have graduated. There is no doubt that universities, colleges, or training centers provide a platform for enhancing social skills among graduates. But to what extent it can be a source of help is questionable if nothing is done by the parents to brush up the skills at early age and zero effort towards self-improvement from the graduates themselves. As this matter has created numerous attention of many people all around the world, it can be concluded that teaching and learning social skills is a lifelong process in which individuals have to continuously develop the skills needed throughout their stages of development. 

Let's say YES to employment rise!

The end. Thank you! =)