Build Soft Skills From Young

I REFER to the report, “Private sector to support funding scheme that helps graduates get jobs” (Sunday Star, Nov 19).

It would appear that the concept of “soft skills” is still not clearly understood by certain quarters. Resume writing and job interviewing skills are, strictly speaking, not part of soft skills – they are job hunting skills.

Neither is fluency in English part of soft skills – it is language fluency.

In our quest to enhance graduate employability by buttressing their soft skills, we must first have a clear understanding of soft skills. Philip Moss and Chris Tilly define soft skills as “skills, abilities and traits that pertain to personality, attitude, and behaviour rather than to formal or technical knowledge.”

According to Marcel M. Robles, soft skills “are made up of the combination of interpersonal (people) skills and personal (career) attributes”. Simply put, soft skills can be defined as non-technical intrapersonal and interpersonal traits and skills that are required to get a job and to thrive in the workplace.

Read more: https://www.pressreader.com/malaysia/the-star-malaysia/20171120/282071982200143