There is an expression in human resources - employees are employed for their qualifications and dismissed for their behaviour. One of the methods used to differentiate employee motivation and attitude to work has been to use age bands, i.e.: baby boomers, compared to generation X or Y or millenials. However, given the levels of youth employment internationally, there appears to be a lack of the soft skills and attitudes related to work. e.g. Reliability: time attendance, regular attendance, Workplace discipline: receiving instructions, following directions, cooperative working in a team. The soft skills - or lack of - in long term unemployed youth would be an interesting area of study for the future.

I think soft skills are important. Besides academic and technical abilities, don't employers look for attitude, integrity, personality, motivation, enthusiasm and communication abilities?

In my college, students enroll for a 2 credit course on 'Kemahiran Dinamika', where they learn such skills.

In my selfish ex-teaching-assistant opinion, students are also a lot easier and more pleasant to _teach_ if they are consciously developing soft skills as a part of their coursework. My department used to rely on entrance exams only in mathematics and physics - now we at least take in circa 30-50 % of the students so that they also have to read some computers, software engineering and usability related material and write about it as a part of the exam. Just imagine how much fun it was to read essays by students who had the attitude that reading and writing source code is all they need to be good at - that natural languages are elective skills...

There is an expression in human resources - employees are employed for their qualifications and dismissed for their behaviour. One of the methods used to differentiate employee motivation and attitude to work has been to use age bands, i.e.: baby boomers, compared to generation X or Y or millenials. However, given the levels of youth employment internationally, there appears to be a lack of the soft skills and attitudes related to work. e.g. Reliability: time attendance, regular attendance, Workplace discipline: receiving instructions, following directions, cooperative working in a team. The soft skills - or lack of - in long term unemployed youth would be an interesting area of study for the future.

Thank you Syiva Hammond. Your view opened another door for discussion. Some of the attitude related problems occur in the organization due to lack of loyalty between employer and employees e.g. Reliability . At the same time boundaryless employment opportunities and internet based employment create many employment opportunities to people who possess skills and talents. Therefore employees are seeking better job than the present one.

I believe that there should be a balance of soft skills in every person. Companies want well rounded people that know how to conduct themselves on social situations in addition to doing their jobs.

You are right. The story of public sector organization is different from private sector. Many public sector organizations give priority to seniority and their promotion schemes are totally different from private sector. In many developing countries, the role of the governments is greater in providing employment opportunities. Due to seniority based promotion system and high job security , employees are in the public sector fail to take further steps to improve their soft skills.Soft skills are considered as passports.

Soft skills along with the academic knowledge enhance the CONFIDENCE of a person. Just being an academic scholar is not sufficient in this modern competitive world, it is how you present yourself & your knowledge is important. Hence, soft skills such as communication skills, decision making, problem solving,leadership, team building, etc play a very important role in our lives, both personal & professional. Language skills are also equally required.

The Soft skills will add to your efficiency & productivity in your job and you will stand apart & be noticed for your efficient working. With the right attitude it takes you to the heights of success.

Many universities see work integrated learning programs or internships as an important platform for developing soft skills.

In the Museum Studies program I used to run it was critical. A good internship experience was usually the making of many students. The important thing was matching the right students with the right opportunities and always being supportive of whichever organisation is hosting the internship. Getting the students to reflect on their own soft skill development during the internship was also important.,

Our university has recently adopted a policy of "Participation and Community Engagement" through the design of the undergraduate curriculum to support this.

Now a days the importance of soft skills increasing but earlier it was not there. its effects on the success of an employee in their job.soft skill enable the employee how to implement the hard skills effectively .so what ever may be the hard skill that employee having with out soft skills its very difficult for him to execute those skills in the job . to make a job successful it is not only do the paper works or traditional routine tasks,its involve so many aspects like cooperation, communication, coordination, motivations, maintaining relationship etc and these skills helps the employee be complete his job effectively not just merely complete the tasks.

so through out the career path of an employee soft skills are highly influencing his job performance.

One of my dissertation questions asks: How are non-cognitive and soft skills developed, shaped, and fostered in federally-funded college preparatory programs for disadvantaged youth? My study is on one Upward Bound program. The question of soft skills inclusion in the curriculum poses a second inquiry of social justice pedagogy, in that marginalized learners are not reaping the full benefits of equal education opportunities if the aim of education is to merely increase test scores and academic achievement. As the previous posts adhere to, soft skills (in all their varying definitions) are crucial for both college, career, and life in general. Educators continue to perform grave injustice by not acknowledging or encouraging soft skill attributes, especially in younger learners.