Softskills Modified

R.G.
KEDIA COLLEGE OF COMMERCE
1) CONVERSATION SKILLS
Conversation:
• I believe that one of the best ways to connect with people and build quality relationships
is through making conversation.
• Although most people can hold a conversation , only a few are smooth and charismatic
when they talk.
7 ways to improve your conversation skills:
1) Talk Slowly: Typically, good talkers don‘t rush into a conversation. They take their time
when they reflect on something and then they say it out loud.
2) Hold more eye contact: Most of the people keep eye contact about 2/3 of the time or
less when they talk .It‘s a very good idea to hold eye contact just a bit more than that.
3) Notice the details: People with good conversation skills tend to notice the kind of things
that the average person doesn‘t notice, and bring such details into the conversation.
4) Give unique compliments: Anybody can pay a generic compliment to try and get
another‘s person‘s appreciation. Charismatic people on the other hand are able to really
pay attention to others, to look beyond the façade and thus, pay unique compliments.
5) Express your emotion: It‘s very rare to meet a person who is comfortable talking about
their emotions and how certain things make them feel, especially with strangers. Don‘t
just present the facts, you‘re not a newspaper. Express your feelings about those facts.
6) Offer interesting insights: Anybody can talk about the news or express basic opinions.
But good talkers can frequently tell you things you didn‘t know and that you‘ll find
fascinating.
7) Use the best words: The ability to talk smoothly has a lot to do with choosing the precise
words to convey your precise feelings or thoughts.
Soft Skills Page 1

R.G.KEDIA COLLEGE OF COMMERCE
2) GROUP DISCUSSION 2) GROUP
DISCUSSION
Introduction:
• A group discussion is a group of individuals, gather at one place in the form of a circle
with similar interest to share the ideas, solve problems or give comments.
• Generally, the group discussion are performed to assess the skill set of a person which
includes communication skills, leadership skills, managing skills, problem-solving
skills, team building skills, social skills and presence of mind.
Why GD became mandatory?
• Before GD the candidate has to undergo with the written exam which covers different
subject level such as quantitative aptitude, logical reasoning, general English and
computer-based questions.
• Based on the cut-off, after qualifying the first round the candidate has to undergo the
second round i.e., group discussion.
• Group discussion became mandatory to filter the candidate‘s soft skills and whether the
candidate has the ability to cope up with different scenarios.
Who conducts a group discussion?
• Generally, group discussion is conducted by large bodies such as universities, top-rated

b-schools, management institutions & colleges and ever by MNC‘S.
• To get admissions in top b-schools GD round is one of the most important & crucial
rounds. This round is conducted to analyze the skills from different parameters and to
select the right candidate for the right position, so that it meets the company‘s
requirement.
Why do students fail to perform well in GD?
• In today‘s scenario most of the students fail to perform well in a group discussion
because of the below three reasons:-
I. Due to the fear of speaking in public.
II. Lack of knowledge on the topic.
Soft Skills Page 2

III. No proper command on language.
The process followed in GD:
• In any B-schools or MNC‘S, the selectors will select the students randomly based on the
number. For a group usually, 8-10 members were selected.
• A topic is given and around 3-5 minutes of time is given to prepare.
• The duration of the discussion is based on the group, topic, college to college and
organization to organization.
• Only on a few parameters, the assessment is done. The parameters such as content,
supporting others point, giving relevant examples, latest updates or news, eye-contact,
conclusion and behavioral traits.
How to perform GD?
• When a topic is given just think over it, under which category the topic is, it might be
related to life, current affairs, technology, political news and any other trending topic in the
market.
• So, think about the topic and frame the sentence in your own words to speak.
• When you are speaking you need to agree or disagree with the other points and you need
to give a proper reason to it.
• Make others also speak and give chance to them to put the points into the discussion.
Few tips for GD:
I. Grooming (appearance).
II. Be a good listener & support or add to the other points. (But don‘t interrupt in middle)
III. Speak loudly and clearly.
IV. Try to be the first and last speaker of the discussion.
V. Be confident while speaking (analyze with numbers if you know & it has to be fact)
Soft Skills Page 3

3) INTERVIEW SKILLS:
Interview:
• An interview is a formal meeting at which someone is asked questions in order to find

out if they are suitable for a job or a course of study.
10 tips to improve interview performance:
The 10 interview tips will teach you how to answer interview questions and
convince the hiring manager that you are the one for the job.
1) Practice good nonverbal communication: It‘s about demonstrating confidence: standing

straight, making eye contact and connecting with a firm handshake. That first nonverbal
impression can be a great beginning or quick ending to your interview.
2) Dress for the job or company: It is important to know what to wear to an interview and to
be well-groomed. Whether you wear a suit or something less formal depends on the company
culture and the position you are seeking. If possible, call to find out about the company dress
code before the interview.
3) Listen: From the very beginning of the interview, your interviewer is giving you information,
either directly or indirectly. If you are not hearing it, you are missing a major opportunity. Good
Communication skills include listening and letting the person know that you heard what was
said.
4) Don’t talk too much: Telling the interviewer more than he needs to know could be a fatal
mistake. Prepare for the interview by reading through the job posting, matching your skills with
the position‘s requirements and relating only that information.
5) Don’t be too familiar: It is important to bring energy and enthusiasm to the interview and
to ask questions, but do not overstep your place as a candidate looking for a job.
6) Use appropriate language: It‘s a given that you should use professional
language during the interview. Be aware of any inappropriate slang words or references to age,
religion, politics or sexual orientation-these topics could send you out the door very quickly.
Soft Skills Page 4

7) Don’t be cocky: Attitude plays a key role in your interview success. There is a fine balance
between confidence, professionalism and modesty.
8) Take care to answer the questions: When interviewers ask for an example of a time, they
are asking behavioral interview questions, which are designed to elicit a sample of your past
behavior.
9) Ask questions: When asked if they have any questions, most candidates answer, ―no‖, it is
wrong answer. Part of knowing how to interview is being ready to ask question that demonstrate
an interest in on what goes on in the company.
10) Don’t appear desperate: When you interview with the ―please, please hire me‖ approach,
you appear desperate and less confident. Reflect the three things during the interview: cool, calm
and confident.
Soft Skills Page 5

4) MAKING PRESENTATION
They are 7 presentation tips for students:
1) Make a mind map: Mind mapping is a process whereby you‘ll literally map out the content
you‘re planning to present using a visual outline.
2) Create beautiful visual aids: Just you don‘t want to sit through a long presentation that
solely consists of one person talking at you, you‘re audience doesn‘t either. Use presentation tips
for creating info graphics, charts and videos for you deck. Your presentation will be more
entertaining for the audience.
3)Edit your content to the most important points: A lot of student presenters make the
mistake of saying too much about their topic. Overloading your slides with content results in a
convoluted presentation. Edit down your content to the main points that support your topic.
4) Know more than what you’re sharing: You need to be the expert in the subject you are
speaking on. Write out long speaking script notes to remind you of the details. This will prepare
you for any question you might get from the audience.
5) Make sure to place yourself: Nerves can make it difficult to take your time. Our
presentation tips suggest using breathing exercises to keep you calm. Rushing through the slides
may give pauses and silence may give off the wrong impression. Effectively using pauses and
silence will add impact to your speech.
6) Don’t be afraid to show your personality: Students may fall into a formal and stiff style
of speech during a presentation. This will result in a boring presentation. Make sure to show
your personality. Conversation speech will make you appear relatable and professional.
7) Don’t just practice; Rehearse: It‘s not enough to know what you‘re going to say. You have
to know how you‘re going to say it. Set aside some time rehearse your delivery. It‘s best to do
this in front of your peers and ask for feedback. Remember to practice body movement, use vocal
inflections and ask for questions.
Soft Skills Page 6

5) LISTENING TO LECTURES
I listen a lecture given by subhash Chandra about ―concept of happiness‖. Happiness is being the
state of happy.
The list of synonyms of happiness Joy
Contentment Satisfaction Delight Enjoyment Carefreeness Cheeriness
Smiling and laughing are the feeling of happiness. He said that Happiness is phenomena which
is only within ourself it is nowhere outside. We have to keep our mind in happy even though
when any difficult situation arises. He also told that equanimity is real true art of living.
Equanimity means calmness and composure, especially in a difficult situation. If we are happy
or sad we have to be in a calm and compose state.
Soft Skills Page 7

6) TALK SHOW
Having a meal in peaceful mind:
I listen a talk show given by Brahma Kumari where she told about having a meal we should not
have to busy our self .Meals give energy to our body and mind which is going to do everything
throughout the day. Eating food is getting charged the body to do work.
Following things should not be done while eating:
• Talk on the phone

• Watching television
• Reading newspapers
• Meetings
• Discussing problems
Eating takes maximum of 10 minutes of time . We have to keep complete focus on eating, take
every morsel with attention and with awareness (mindful eating). Set the intention to eat calmly.
Chew each bite at least 40 times. By counting the bites, you not only improve your digestion
but you become present, peaceful and focused.
With each bite you eat, imagine that you are filling that food with pure, healing light. As you
swallow, visualise that light pouring into every cell of the body. healing the body and bringing
it into balance and harmony. Spend those 10 minutes just with yourself. If we are doing
conversation do a happy conversation.
Soft Skills Page 8

7) FRESHER’S PARTY
Why we conduct fresher party?
The very purpose of fresher day party is to welcome newcomers in a friendly

atmosphere and avoid social evils , to encourage there creative impulses to boost their
confidence. It is the day where seniors and juniors band and unity to celebrate being part of the
college.
Table of contents:-
• Find a theme
• Name your fresher party
• Hunt down a location
• Plan games
• Decorate a fresher party
What are the funny events we can do for a fresher party?
Small games are more preferable in fresher party it most be funny in view of audience
and also should not be difficult task for performer.
➢ The who eats more food with hands tied at back can be declared as the winner
➢ Before starting the party, attach a piece of paper under each chair as
―try your luck next time or ―congratulations you are the lucky winner‖. The
lucky winner who will be sitting in that chair will be presented a memento.
➢ The games should not be more in number. In between you will have to perform
entertainment.
➢ The fresher can be divided into few groups and assign a common tasks to them. The
which performs it well will be the winner.
➢ Call few persons on stage, ask them a question like ―how would you express your
feelings to a girl who broke up with you?‖..the one who answers very effectively will
be the winner.
Soft Skills Page 9

8) READING DIFFERENT GENRES OF TESTS RANGING FROM NEWSPAPERS

TO PHILOSOPHICAL TREATISES
Read the passage given below and answer the question that follows:
Sight is our most precious sense and many people fear blindness more than they fear any other
disability. Eye, the organ of sight is our most important organ for locating and observing the
world around us. We use our eyes in almost everything we do --- reading, working, watching
movies and television, playing games and countless other activities.
The human eyeball measures only about 25 min in diameter. Yet the eye can see objects as far
away as a star and as tiny as a grain of sand. The eye can quickly adjust its focus between a
distance point and a near once.
QUESTIONS:
I. Answer the following questions
1. What is our most precious sense?
2. Which disability the people fear most?
3. What is the chief function of the organ of sight?
4. Name a few activities in which we use our eyes?
5. What is the average measurement of the human eye ball?

II. Give a synonym for each of the following words. SYNONYMS:
1. Precious
2. Tiny
3. Quickly 4. Countless ---------------
Soft Skills Page 10

5. Disability
III. Give an antonym for each of the following words. ANTONYMS:
1. Far
2. Disability ---------------
3. Countless ---------------
4. Precious
5. tiny
ANSWERS:
1. Eye is our most precious sense.
2. Blindness is the disability which people fear most.
3. The chief function of the organ of sight is to locate and observe the world around us.
4. Reading, working, watching movies and television, playing games are some activities in
which we use our eyes.
5. The human eyeball measures only about 25 min in diameter

SYNONYMS:
1. Costly, very valuable
2. Very minute, small particle.
3. Very soon
4. Numerous
5. Physical or mental handicap.

ANTONYMS:
1. Small distance
2. Ability
Soft Skills Page 11

3. Countable
4. Low value
5. Large Ex.no:3 Date :

CLOSE READING EXERCISE:
The upturn in the Company‘s Performance was caused by

factors. A Of the management structure the decision
making process with consequent savings in time and costs. Of equal importance were the
increased sales by newlyadopted merchandising techniques and of more
direct employee involvement.
In contrast, results from abroad were .This was largely due to reduced margins
caused by distribution and stock control .These problems
be resolved by next year, since our with Express International
should lead to information systems and a resultant improvement in the efficiency
of the flow of goods within our supply chain.
Answers:
The significant upturn in the company‘s financial performance was caused by many factors. A
re-organization of the management structure speeded up the decision making process with
consequent savings in time and costs. Of equal importance were the increased sales caused by
newly adopted merchandising techniques and an expansion of more direct employee
involvement.
In contrast, results from abroad were poor. This was largely due to reduced margins caused by
distribution and stock control problems. These problems will be resolved by next year, since our
deal Express International should lead to better information systems and a resultant improvement
in the efficiency of the flow of goods within our supply chain.
Soft Skills Page 12

9) READING STRATEGIES – GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS
Introduction:
A graphic organizer provides learners with a visual representation of information, concepts, or

ideas. Graphic organizers are often used to help children understand what they are reading or to
organize information in order to report it, such as through writing or an oral presentation like a
speech. Graphic organizers can also be used to take notes while listening to a lecture.
Students who have difficulty with reading comprehension, writing, note taking, or focusing
during lectures can use graphic organizers to help keep the information organized, making it
more concrete and therefore easier to understand and remember. Also, when a student takes
notes using a graphic organizer the notes are represented in such a way that makes them easy to
refer to at a later time, for use as a study guide or quick refresher of previously learned
information.
Web Graphic Organizer:
A web graphic organizer is often used to list ideas, facts, characteristics and/or traits related to a
single topic. See an example below.
Common characteristics about dogs:
Soft Skills Page 13

Once the Web Graphic Organizer is filled in, students can report information (through writing
or speaking) using the notes from the web.
To illustrate, here is a writing sample using the completed Web Graphic Organizer above:
Dogs are furry animals with four legs. Dogs need exercise and like to go for walks. They also
like getting petted.
Venn diagram Graphic Organizer:
A Venn diagram is used to compare information. In the example below whales and guppies are
compared to each other. Whale characteristics are listed on the left and guppy characteristics
on the right. In the middle, shared characteristics are displayed.
Once the Venn diagram is filled in, students can report information (through writing or
speaking) using the notes from the diagram. Here is an example of a paragraph using the filled
in Venn diagram above:
Whales and guppies have differences but also share characteristics. Whales and guppies both
live in water, swim, and have tails. Two differences between whales and guppies are that whales
are mammals, while guppies are fish, and whales are very large, while guppies are very small.
Soft Skills Page 14

10) Interpretation And Reports
The Soft Skills analysis derives insights about personality characteristics from CVs, LinkedIn
profiles, job offers, job descriptions, social media or other enterprise digital communications.
This analysis uses descriptors of common language and classifies these in broad dimensions
commonly used to describe the human personality.
For example, someone described as "conscientious" is more likely to use words as "always
prepared" or "follow a schedule" rather than "fast and careless" or "the easy way.
What is report?
Reports are a key communication tool in business; they effectively share and retain
information and decisions. Reports are classified into two main types: informal reports and
formal reports. Both of those classifications are further broken down by type of information.
Informal Reports: Informal reports tend to be shorter, although the quantity of pages or words
is not defined. Think of informal reports as documents of under ten pages. An informal report
usually has specific topics grouped in paragraphs, and these topics tend to have simple headings.
Formal Reports: A formal report tends to be longer; although, again, the quantity of pages or
words is not defined. It may start at ten pages and in some cases exceed one hundred pages. With
a formal report, the topic of the report or the policy of the company it‘s being written for
determines which sections, labels, content, and purpose should be used as the basis for the report.
Soft Skills Page 15

11) COVER LETTER
What is a Cover Letter?
Your resume is intended to lay out the facts, but your cover letter is meant to convey more
personality. The cover letter is your first introduction to the person who may hire you, and its
goal should be to make you as memorable as possible, in a good way.
That means writing a unique cover letter for every job you apply to. No templates. No pre-written
nonsense. The format of your cover letter should also match the company and the industry you‘re
applying to.
There is no ―official format‖ for your cover letter or the information you include in it, but your
cover letter should be visually organized, and orderly in its
presentation of information.
Successful cover letters go something like this:
1. Memorable introduction
2. Specific, organized examples of relevant work done and problems solved.
3. Concise conclusion with a call to action
What to Include in Your Cover Letter?
The top three things that must be included in a cover letter are:
• How a candidate‘s work experience meets job requirements.
• How a candidate‘s skills meet job requirements.
• Why a candidate wants to work at the organization.
Soft Skills Page 16

How to Submit a Cover Letter?
You should submit your cover letter as soon as you are certain that:
1) Your cover letter, resume and portfolio work are free from errors.
2) Your cover letter is written in a way that balances professionalism with personality.
3) Your cover letter catches the reader‘s interest from the first sentence and maintains it
throughout.
4) Your cover letter uses the requirements for the job and information on the company as a guide
for its content.
5) Your cover letter tells stories that are filled with examples that satisfy job requirements and
make you stand out positively as an individual and a potential employee.
Submitting your cover letter
Always follow the submission instructions laid out in the job description when submitting your
cover letter. If you are submitting the letter though a website with fill able fields, be sure that no
formatting or content errors have occurred.
Soft Skills Page 17

12) ALL ABOUT THE RESUME
What is a resume?
A resume is a one-page document that outlines your work/volunteer/internship experience,

skills, and educational background required by most job applications.
Why do I need a resume?
Think of a resume as an opportunity. A resume is your chance to show off all of your great
experience and skills to a potential employer. It‘s also your chance to make a catalogue of all of
your skills in one compact place.
What job does my resume need to accomplish?
Your resume should be persuasive. You‘re trying to include the best information possible to get
the specific job you‘re applying for. Your resume
should also be concise. It should be no longer than one page and should not use wordy language
or fluff. Be detailed, but brief!
How should my resume be formatted?
The Golden Rule of resume design is making it easy to read. Avoid clutter and make things
easy to find. Start with what‘s most important and work down from there. Try to stick to one
font throughout and two at the very most to keep things consistent. Your name and contact info
should always appear at the top of the page.
Resume Do’s:
• Proofread everything very, very thoroughly.
• Try reading out loud and reading from the end to the beginning to catch any typos or
mistakes.
• Get professional advice from the Writing Center or a professor.
• Ask friends to read it.
Soft Skills Page 18

Resume Don'ts:
• Do not include information from high school (unless you‘re a freshman or sophomore).
• Do not say ―References available upon request.‖ Leave that for your cover letter.
• Do not include boring, overly general, cheesy, or unimpressive items under your Work
Experience or Skills sections unless you absolutely have to. These are examples of
boring items:
What sections do I need in my resume? Contact Info
• All resumes should include contact information so that an employer can get in touch
with you to offer you a job or an interview. Make sure all your contact information is
current.
• Include: a phone number, mailing address, Web portfolio URL (if applicable), E-mail
address
• You may want to establish a ―work‖ e-mail address for yourself if your current e-mail is
something like crazyforcats@gmail.com or starchaser91@yahoo.com. Try
firstname.lastname@gmail.com or a similar professional-sounding address.
Objective
The objective should be short and concise, but it must also be tailored to the specific
organization and position. The objective should state the organization's name and the
specific position title, and then briefly outline how the applicant will help the
organization achieve its goals.
Remember, the more specific, the better.
Example:
Objective: To obtain the programming position in the Navigation Software

Development Team to help ABC Aerospace further achieve its mission of designing
tomorrow's technology today.
Work Experience
• List information for each relevant job, internship, or volunteer experience where you have
worked. Include the name of each
Soft Skills Page 19

company/organization, its location (city and state is enough), the dates you worked
there, your position title, and your job responsibilities and achievements
Education
Include: names and levels of any degrees you have earned or are in the process of
earning, names of majors and minors, names of institution(s) where you earned the
degree(s), dates of graduation (or expected date). GPA is optional.
Optional Sections
Skills
• Computer software proficiency (Microsoft Excel, Adobe Photoshop, etc.)
• Languages
• Job-specific skills (copy editing and photography for a journalism job or computer
languages, skills, hardware knowledge for a computer science job or CPR certification
for a nursing job)
Honors and Awards
• Dean‘s list, department awards, scholarships, off-campus awards, contests
• Keep these connected to what you‘re applying for: don‘t include the hot dog-eating
contest you won
(unless you‘re applying for a job eating hot dogs!).
Other Optional Sections
• Volunteer experience and activities
• Leadership experience
• Research experience
• Relevant coursework
• Publications
• Certifications
Soft Skills Page 20

• Foreign travel/study abroad experience
• Professional organizations
• Honors organizations membership
Soft Skills Page 21

13) WRITING FOR PUBLICATIONS, LETTERS, MEMOS, E-MAILS AND BLOGS
In English there are a number of conventions that should be used when writing a formal or
business letter. Furthermore, you try to write as simply and as clearly as possible, and not to
make the letter longer than necessary. Remember not to use informal language like contractions.
Addresses:
1) Your Address
The return address should be written in the top right-hand corner of the letter.
2) The Address of the person you are writing to
The inside address should be written on the left, starting below your address. Date:
Different people put the date on different sides of the page. You can write this on the right or the
left on the line after the address you are writing to. Write the month as a word.
Salutation or greeting:
1) Dear Sir or Madam,
If you do not know the name of the person you are writing to, use this. It is always advisable to
try to find out a name.
2) Dear Mr Jenkins,
If you know the name, use the title (Mr, Mrs, Miss or Ms, Dr, etc.) and the surname only. If you
are writing to a woman and do not know if she uses Mrs or Miss, you can use Ms, which is for
married and single women.
Ending a letter:
1) Yours Faithfully
If you do not know the name of the person, end the letter this way.
2) Yours Sincerely
If you know the name of the person, end the letter this way.
3) Your signature
Sign your name, then print it underneath the signature. If you think the person you are writing
to might not know whether you are male of female, put you title in brackets after your name.
Publications:
If you know nothing about articles, here‘s a short primer on the seven primary types of pieces
you could write and submit to publications.
1. Essay: Most essays are short to medium-length pieces about a personal experience or an
opinion. Typically, an essay revolves around one subject and presents your views
Soft Skills Page 22

2. How-To: These prescriptive pieces contain steps, ways, or tips that help the reader do
something specific. They provide the Rx (solution) for a problem or the answer to a question.
3. Question and Answer: This is an article based upon an interview. However, with
the exception of the lead or introductory paragraphs, you do not analyze or build a story around
the interviewee‘s answers to your questions.
4. Personality Profile: This type of article revolves around a person‘s life (not yours)
and accomplishments.
5. Trend: Just as the name implies, a trend article showcases an increasing or decreasing
movement over time.
Emails and blogs:
1. Begin with a greeting: Always begin your email with a greeting, such as
―Dear Henry‖. If your relationship with the reader is formal, use their family name (e.g. ―Dear
Mrs. Wright‖). If the relationship is more casual, you can simply say, ―Hi Name‖. If you are not
sure about the recipient‘s identity, you can write Dear Sir/ Ma‘am.
2. Subject line: The mail should have a subject line summarizing briefly and evidently the
contents of the message. It should state the purpose or objective of writing the mail.
3. Use simplified language: Do not clutter the email with too many technical terms. The mail
should not have long sentences and complex structures. Keep your message short and clear. Try
and follow the KISS technique (Keep it Short and Simple)
4. Use Passive Voice: While writing emails, it is recommended to use Passive Voice. Using
passive voice makes the language subtle and less direct.
5. Ascertain: following the rules of Punctuation, basic grammar and spellings.
In this era of extensive texting, the basic principles of grammar have lost their sheen. People
have become oblivious to punctuation and spellings. Since emails are formal communication,
do not type the entire mail in the Upper or lower case.
6. Try to use positive words: The writer should use positive words as it reflects on his / her
attitude towards life.
7. Add your closing remarks: Before you end your email, it‘s polite to thank you and add some
polite closing remarks. You might start with ―Thank you for your patience and cooperation‖ or
―Thank you for your consideration‖ and then follow up with, ―If you have any questions or
concerns, don‘t hesitate to let me know‖ and ―I look forward to hearing from you‖.
8. End with a closing: The last step is to include an appropriate closing with your name. ―Best
regards‖, ―Sincerely‖, and ―Thank you‖ are all
Soft Skills Page 23

professional. Avoid closings such as ―Best wishes‖ or ―Cheers‖ unless you are good friends with
the reader.
Memo: A memo is a note to a , group of people telling them to do something or informing them
of a new policy.
Examples of reasons to send out a memo could be:
▪ An IT guy sending a reminder that all passwords need to be updated every 60 days.
▪ A CEO explaining a new bonus policy.
▪ A VP telling their division they‘re falling behind for the year and need to meet certain
numbers.
A memo is usually sent as an email, and can replace the need to have an entire
meeting about a small subject which could be explained over a memo.
Soft Skills Page 24

14) CIVIL SERVICES
Top qualities of an IAS Officer:

Some of the key qualities that an IAS officer must have are given below: Leadership: As an
IAS officer acts as government representative at whichever position they are deployed. Being
part of the government, the IAS officer needs to show exceptional leadership skills and guide
others towards a unified goal of development and betterment of people of India.
Administration: One of the key responsibilities entrusted to an IAS officer
by the government, is to look after the day to day administrative affairs of their jurisdictional
area.
Decisive in Approach: Many a times, an IAS officer would find him /she
in a tricky situation that needs to resolved quickly. To handle such circumstances, the officer
needs to be a quick thinker and evaluate all available alternatives and possible consequences of
each of them.
Knowledgeable: Knowledge is the most important resource on the earth,
and it is very important for an IAS officer to be knowledgeable in all areas of operations that
they handle. Being knowledgeable will help them not only implement the governmental policies
very effectively, but also help them to understand any administrative problems and plug any
underlying loopholes in government machinery to solve the problems.
Hard Working & Committed: An IAS officer is in charge of looking
after their administrative area; this means lot of responsibilities from different domains like law
enforcement, developmental programmes, administrative work and funds management. To
manage and excel in all these, the officer needs to hardworking and committed to their work.
Honesty: Corruption is the biggest problem in government machinery and despite several efforts
from numerous governments no long lasting and effective solution has been found to this
problem. Being responsible for administration, finance and law-order of a jurisdictional area,
gives an IAS officer immense power to curb this problem.
Soft Skills Page 25

Good Communication Skills: As an able administrator, an IAS officer needs to posses good
communication skills in verbal as well as written format. This will help the officer convey clear
orders to its junior and avoid any confusion that may lead to administrative problems.
Out of the Box Thinking: The biggest challenge in being part of
governmental machinery in a diverse country like India is that the problems in each area and
field differ vastly and one solution may not work to solve them. Add to that the challenge of
managing meager funds that is to be allotted for solving different problems; the job becomes
tougher. In such situation, out of box thinking will help the IAS officer devise solutions that are
tailored to meet the specific problem in an efficient manner.
Soft Skills Page 26

15) VERBAL ABILITY
What is a Verbal Ability Test?
Verbal Ability is the defined as the capability of a person in expressing ideas using words in a
clearly understandable manner. Verbal Ability is a very important component of competitive
examinations. For aspirants who want to get good scores in Verbal Ability, a good vocabulary
and sentence-forming skills are vital.
How are Verbal Ability Tests Conducted?
Verbal Ability tests generally form one part of the 4-5 different sections of questions asked in
competitive examinations. Nowadays, these tests are mandatory before any job interview too.
The objective of conducting Verbal Ability tests is to check if candidates have the adequate
writing skills that are needed in an organization.
Test Structure: Verbal Ability questions aren't as tough as they are are confusing. The options
provided appear so similar that it becomes a difficulty trying to eliminate three wrong options
and finding the right one. The candidate is supposed to have the knowledge of exceptional cases.
Negative marking: Most candidates think that they can guess the answers of Verbal Ability and
clear the tests, however they realize soon that guessing not only gets them wrong answers but
also negative marks that eat into their total. The best approach is to leave a question alone if the
answer is not known.
Preparation and Practice: The best way to practice for Verbal Ability is to read at least 10
pages of English text every day, be it newspapers or books. In addition to that, learning the
grammar rules will also help candidates in getting a stronger grasp on the concepts.
Active Voice: In Active Voice, the one doing the action is mentioned as the subject and is given
more importance, whereas the other one just participating in the action is mentioned as an object
and given lesser importance.
Soft Skills Page 27

For Example
Rajat spoke to Ramesh to night. (Here, Rajat is doing the action of speaking, so he is the subject;
Ramesh is only participating in the action, so he is an object.)
Passive Voice: Although most of the sentences are written in Active form, there are certain
situations when people opt for passive sentences. Such cases happen when the doer of the action
is either unidentified or doesn‘t want to be identified. It also is used when the participant is more
important than the doer of the action.
For Example
My car was stolen last night (You don‘t know the identity of the thief)
Present Tenses: When a sentence in present tense becomes passive, we use

―am, is, are‖ with the object of the sentence. The action changes from simple present to past
participle.
Simple Present:
He picks me up at 10. I am picked up at 10
Present Progressive:
I am speaking with him. He is being spoken with. Present Perfect:
He has given her all the instructions.
She has been given all the instructions.
Present Perfect Progressive:
I have been meeting him for a long time. He has been being met for a long time.
Soft Skills Page 28

Past Tenses: When a sentence in past tense becomes passive, we use ―was, were‖ with the object
of the sentence. The action word is changed from progressive to past participle form.
Simple Past:
He gave me the right advice. I was given the right advice. Past Progressive:
I was talking to him
He was being talked to.
Past Perfect:
I had informed him about it earlier. He had been informed about it earlier. Past Perfect
Progressive:
I had been meeting the children for twenty years.
The children had been being met for twenty years.
Future Tense: When a sentence in future tense becomes passive, we use

―will be‖ with the object of the sentence. The action will convert from simple present form to
past participle form.
Simple Future:
I will speak to him. He will be spoken to.
Future Progressive:
He will be meeting Sarah next week. Sarah will be being met next week.
Soft Skills Page 29

Future Perfect:
He will have gifted Rajesh the watch by now. Rajesh will have had been gifted the watch by
now. Future Perfect Progressive:
He will have been talking to the Principal.
The Principal will have been being talked to.
Soft Skills Page 30

MOTIVATIONAL
16) MOTIVATIONAL
SKILLS SKILLS
Motivation:
Motivation means encouragement. It‘s a driving force that helps any individual to move
further. Many a times we are made to do the same job every day. This is where motivation comes
into picture. By motivating the individual he may be encouraged to work and bring new
prospects and revenues
• Motivational skill is very important for the leaders to lead from front in order to get task
done effectively and on scheduled time.
• To motivate team, you need to apply following skills.
1. Give recognition to the team‘s achievement.

2. Giving respect would motivate people to give best.
3. Extend help.
4. Provide opportunities to grow.
Ways of motivating:
Student can be motivated by:
• Giving a positive feedback on their assignments, projects etc

• Giving them new opportunities
• Creating a comfortable atmosphere in class
• Helping the students in the course
New and old employees can be motivated by:
• Offering perks and incentives regularly
• Inceptives may not always be monetary
• For old employees, a friendly and supportive atmosphere matters
• To retain old employees, appraisals works the best
• Organizing events and programs to reduce monotony
• Sending employees on site.
• Giving them new challenges apart from their daily tasks.
Self confidence: Self confidence is the definite way to success. Self confidence is based on the
previous performance. If your previous performance was not good, you would feel heat in your
feet. We are living in a society which values flawless performance and if you lack confidence,
your performance will definitely get effected adversely. Beware of overconfidence.
It can set you up for serious failure and can flatten you confidence.
Soft Skills Page 31

Benefits of having self confidence:

• You can face day-to-day challenges with ease.
• You will find comfortable in social gathering.
• You can easily put your resourceful ideas and opinion.
• You can attract better prospects at work.
• Anxiety level will be low.
How to develop self confidence?
• Self confidence cannot be developed over night. Realizing your own faults and
weaknesses is the first step to develop self confidence
• Having a positive attitude
• Do things that you like the most. Indulge in activities that make you happy.
• Speak to people and be an active participant
• Keep yourself physically and mentally fit
• Pamper yourself and appreciate what others do for you
• Learn to prioritize things in your life
Soft Skills Page 32

17) SELF- IMAGE SELF-IMAGE
Introduction:
Self-Image is how you see yourself. This may be how you see yourself physically or your
opinion of who and what you are which is normally called self-concept. It is important as it
affects your self-esteem and confidence.
Self-image includes:
• What you think you look like
• How you see your personality
• What kind of person you think you are
• What you believe others think of you
• How much you like yourself or you think others like you
• The status you feel you have
What can you do to improve your Self-Image?
List things you like about yourself – include appearance, personality and skills:
• Change negative thoughts to positive ones by focusing on the positive and forgetting
the negative things that happen to you
• Remember compliments and note them down
• Try the powerful method of self-hypnosis: Building your self- esteem – hypnosis
• It will really help you!
• No one can make you inferior without your consent
• Question whether your view of yourself is accurate and why you see yourself like
you do.
• Make changes that will help you ;for example, clothes, appearance, hair style and
behavior
Soft Skills Page 33

What is self-esteem?
Self-esteem is your overall opinion of yourself — how you feel about your abilities and
limitations. When you have healthy self-esteem, you feel good about yourself and see yourself
as deserving the respect of others. When you have low self-esteem, you put little value on your
opinions and ideas.
Following are some outward signs of positive self-esteem:
• Confidence
• Self-direction
• Non-blaming behavior
• An awareness of personal strengths
• An ability to make mistakes and learn from them
• An ability to accept mistakes from others
• Optimism
• An ability to solve problems
• An independent and cooperative attitude
• Feeling comfortable with a wide range of emotions
• An ability to trust others
• A good sense of personal limitations.
Soft Skills Page 34

18) GOAL SETTING
Goal setting involves the development of an action plan designed to motivate and
guide a person or group toward a goal. Goal setting can be guided by goal-setting criteria (or
rules) such as SMART criteria. Goal setting is a major component of personal-development and
management literature.
Concept:
Goals that are difficult to achieve and specific tend to increase performance more than goals that
are not. A goal can be made more specific by:
• Quantification (that is, making it measurable), such as by pursuing "increase
productivity by 50%" instead of "increase productivity".
• Enumeration, such as by defining tasks that must be completed to achieve the goal
instead of only defining the goal.
Setting goals can affect outcomes in four ways:
Choice: Goals may narrow someone's attention and direct their efforts toward goal-relevant
activities and from ward goal-irrelevant actions.
Effort: Goals may make someone more effortful. For example, if someone usually produces 4
widgets per hour but wants to produce 6 widgets per hour, then they may work harder to produce
more widgets than without that goal.
Persistence: Goals may make someone more willing to work through setbacks.
Cognition: Goals may cause someone to develop and change their behavior.
Goal commitment:
People perform better when they are committed to achieving certain goals. Through an
understanding of the effect of goal setting on individual performance, organizations are able to
use goal setting to benefit organizational performance. In addition, another aspect that goes with
goal commitment is also goal acceptance. This is an individual‘s willingness to pursue their
specific goal. There are three moderators that indicate goal setting success:
1. The importance of the expected outcomes of goal attainment,
2. Self-efficacy: one's belief that they are able to achieve the goals,
3. Commitment to others: promises or engagements to others can strongly improve
commitment.
Soft Skills Page 35

19) MANAGING CHANGES
Change management is a systematic approach to dealing with the transition or

transformation of an organization's goals, processes or technologies. The purpose of change
management is to implement strategies for effecting change, controlling change and helping
people to adapt to change. Such strategies include having a structured procedure for requesting
a change, as well as mechanisms for responding to requests and following them up.
Types of organizational change:

Change management can be used to manage many types of organizational change. The three
most common types are:
1. Developmental change - Any organizational change that improves on previously

established processes and procedures.
2. Transitional change - Change that moves an organization away from its current state
to a new state in order to solve a problem, such as mergers and acquisitions and automation.
3. Transformational change - Change that radically and fundamentally alters the

culture and operation of an organization. In transformational change, the end result may not
be known. For example, a company may pursue entirely different products or markets
Change management challenges: Companies developing a change management program
from the ground up often face daunting challenges. In addition to a thorough understanding
of company culture, the change management process requires an accurate accounting of the
systems, applications and employees to be affected by a change.
Additional change management challenges include:
Resource management - Managing the physical, financial, human, informational and
intangible assets/resources that contribute to an
organization‘s strategic plan becomes increasingly difficult when implementing change.
Soft Skills Page 36

Resistance - The executives and employees who are most affected by a change may resist it.
Since change may result in unwanted extra work, ongoing resistance is common. Transparency,
training, planning and patience can help quell resistance and improve overall morale.
Communication - Companies often fail to consistently communicate change initiatives or
include its employees in the process. Change-related communication requires an adequate
number of messages, the involvement of enough stakeholders to get the message out and multiple
communication channels.
Multiple points of view - In change management, success factors differ for everyone based on
their role in the organization. This creates a challenge in terms of managing multiple priorities
simultaneously.
Scheduling issues - Deciding whether a change program will be long or short-term, and clearly
defining milestone deadlines is complicated. Some organizations believe that shorter change
programs are most effective. Others prefer a more gradual approach, as it may reduce resistance
and errors.
Soft Skills Page 37

20) WHAT IS TIME MANAGEMENT
▪ Time Management refers to managing time effectively so that the right time is allocated
to the right activity.
▪ Effective time management allows individuals to assign specific time slots to activities
as per their importance.
▪ Time Management refers to making the best use of time as time is always limited.
Ask yourself which activity is more important and how much time should be allocated to the
same? Know which work should be done earlier and which can be done a little later.
Time Management plays a very important role not only in organizations but also in our personal
lives.
Time Management includes:
▪ Effective Planning: Plan your day well in advance. Prepare a To Do List or a ―TASK
PLAN‖. Jot down the important activities that need to be done in a single day against the
time that should be allocated to each activity. High Priority work should come on top
followed by those which do not need much of your importance at the moment. Complete
pending tasks one by one. Do not begin fresh work unless you have finished your
previous task. Tick the ones you have already completed. Ensure you finish the tasks
within the stipulated time frame.
▪ Setting Goals and Objectives: Working without goals and targets in an organization
would be similar to a situation where the captain of the ship loses his way in the sea. Yes,
you would be lost. Set targets for yourself and make sure they are realistic ones and
achievable.
▪ Setting Deadlines: Set deadlines for yourself and strive hard to complete tasks ahead of
the deadlines. Do not wait for your superiors to ask you every time. Learn to take
ownership of work. One person who can best set the deadlines is you yourself. Ask
yourself how much time needs to be devoted to a particular task and for how many days.
Use a planner to mark the important dates against the set deadlines.
▪ Delegation of Responsibilities: Learn to say ―NO‖ at workplace. Don‘t do everything
on your own. There are other people as well. One should not accept something which he
knows is difficult for him. The roles and responsibilities must be delegated as per interest
and specialization of employees for them to finish tasks within deadlines. A
Soft Skills Page 38

person who does not have knowledge about something needs more time than someone
who knows the work well.
▪ Prioritizing Tasks: Prioritize the tasks as per their importance and urgency.
Know the difference between important and urgent work. Identify which tasks should be
done within a day, which all should be done within a month and so on. Tasks which are
most important should be done earlier.
▪ Spending the right time on right activity: Develop the habit of doing the right thing at
the right time. Work done at the wrong time is not of much use. Don‘t waste a complete
day on something which can be done in an hour or so. Also keep some time separate for
your personal calls or checking updates on Facebook or Twitter. After all human being
is not a machine.
Soft Skills Page 39

21) STRESS MANAGEMENT SKILLS
• We are all familiar with the word ‗stress‘, nowadays it has become a fashionable
concept. The mental stress that doesn‘t get noticed leads to physical stress. Most
people cannot cope with their stress properly or deal with it sufficiently.
• Doctors, scientist, psychologist confirm that a high percentage of diseases have a
psychosomatic cause; these diseases are induced by tensions, pressures or a negative
attitude towards life that influence the body and the mind and in due course of time
lead to a medical disorder.
• Stress management is a process that helps an individual to control stress level by
practicing self-care, relaxation and also imparts some techniques to handle stress
when it occurs.
• It is a ―set of techniques and programs intended to help people to deal more effectively
with stress in their lives by analyzing the specific stressors and taking positive actions
to minimize their effect‖
• The below diagram clarifies the various patterns of stress level on ourselves.
Soft Skills Page 40

Some useful stress management techniques include:
1. Time management: Time limitations can elicit stress in people‘s lives. Work
schedules sometimes become overloaded which causes some individuals to feel
overwhelmed.
2. Self-limitations: Knowing your own limitation and to perform your work
accordingly helps to alleviate the unnecessary stress. Creating your own boundaries is
essential for healthy stress-free living. Boundaries mean we create some internal rules
for ourselves to take care of our well- being.
Soft Skills Page 41

3. Friendly social network: Sometimes a supportive network of friends and relatives help
to face the challenging situation with stability and less stress. Their encouraging words and
listening ears become supportive.
4. Reduce the noise: You may try to distract yourself for all kinds of technologically
advanced gadget and manage some time to stay in quietness. You can notice that those things
which you consider most important for day to day life are very trivial.
Soft Skills Page 42

22) LEADERSHIP TRAITS
A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.‖ Irrespective of how
you define a leader, he or she can prove to be a difference maker between success and
failure.
Leadership Qualities That Make Good Leaders
1. Honesty and integrity: The supreme quality of leadership is unquestionably

integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a
football field, in an army, or in an office. Honesty and integrity are two important
ingredients which make a good leader.
2. Confidence: To be an effective leader, you should be confident enough to ensure that

other follow your commands. This does not mean that you should be overconfident, but you
should at least reflect the degree of confidence required to ensure that your followers trust
you as a leader.
3. Inspire Others: Probably the most difficult job for a leader is to persuade others to
follow. If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more,
you are a leader.‖ If you are successful in inspiring your subordinates, you can easily
overcome any current and future challenge easily.
4. Commitment and Passion: Your teams look up to you and if you want them to give
them their all, you will have to be passionate about it too. If they feel that you are not fully
committed or lacks passion, then it would be an uphill task for the leader to motivate your
followers to achieve the goal.
Soft Skills Page 43

5. Good Communicator: Until you clearly communicate your vision to your team and tell
them the strategy never be a good leader. A good communicator can be a good leader to achieve
the goal, it will be very difficult for you to get the results you want. Simply put, if you are unable
to communicate your message effectively to your team, you can.
6. Decision-Making Capabilities: Apart from having a futuristic vision, a leader should have
the ability to take the right decision at the right time. Decisions taken by leaders have a profound
impact on masses. A leader should think long and hard before taking a decision but once the
decision is taken, stand by it.
7. Accountability: A good leader takes little more than his share of the blame and little less than
his share of the credit.‖ Make sure that every one of your subordinates is accountable for what
they are doing.
8. Creativity and Innovation: “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” In

order to get ahead in today’s fast-paced world, a leader must be creative and innovative at the
same time. Creative thinking and constant innovation is what makes you and your team stand
out from the crowd. Think out of the box to come up with unique ideas and turn those ideas and
goals into reality.
9. Empathy: Last but certainly not the least, is empathy. Leaders should develop empathy with
their followers. Unfortunately, most leaders follow a dictatorial style and neglect empathy
altogether. Due to this, they fail to make a closer connection with their followers.
Soft Skills Page 44

10. Emotional Intelligence: Good leaders always have higher influence but how do they
increase their influence on the point where people accept what they say. They do this by
connecting with people emotionally. That is where emotional intelligence comes into play.
Here are some of the reasons why a leader should be emotionally intelligent.
• Manage emotions effectively

• Better social awareness
• Seamless communications
• Conflict Resolution
Soft Skills Page 45

23) TEAM WORK
What is Team Work?
The sum of the efforts undertaken by each team member for the achievement of the team‘s
objective is called team work. In other words, team work is the backbone of any team.
Tips for a better team work:
Let us go through some steps for a better team work
▪ Think about your team first - Every individual should think of his team first and his
personal interests should take a backseat. Do not mix your personal issues with your
professional life. Keep them separate.<b
▪ Never underestimate your team member - Do not neglect any of the members, instead
work together and also listen to them as well. Never try to impose your ideas on any
member. Avoid demotivating any team member.</b
▪ Discuss - Before implementing any new idea, it must be discussed with each and every
member on an open platform. Never ever discuss with anyone separately as the other
person feels left out and reluctant to perform and contribute to the team.
▪ Avoid criticism - Stay away from criticism and making fun of your team members. Help
each other and be a good team player. Be the first one to break the ice and always create
a friendly ambience. If you do not agree with any of your team member, make him
understand his mistakes but in a polite tone and do guide him. Avoid negativity within
the team.
Importance of Team and Team Work:
Teams are formed when individuals with a common taste, preference, liking, and attitude come
and work together for a common goal. Teams play a very important role in organizations as well
as our personal lives.
―Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success-

Henry Ford”
• Work never suffers or takes a backseat in a team: Mike was taking care of an important
client and was the only one coordinating with them. Mike took a long leave and there was no
one else who could handle the client in his absence. When he joined back after a long vacation,
the
Soft Skills Page 46

organization had already lost the client. Had Mike worked in a team, others could have taken
the charge when he was not there. In a team, the other team members can perform and manage
the work in the absence of any member and hence work is not affected much.
• There is always a healthy competition among the team members: Competition is always
good for the employee as well as the organization as every individual feels motivated to
perform better than his other team member and in a way contributing to his team and the
organization.
• Team work is also important to improve the relations among the employees:Individuals
work in close coordination with each other and thus come to know each other better. Team
work also reduces the chances of unnecessary conflicts among the employees and every
individual tries his level best to support his team member. The level of bonding increases as
a result of team work.
Soft Skills Page 47

24) CAREER AND LIFE PLANNING
What is career planning?
Career planning is a continuous process of setting individual professional goals and

exploring ways to achieve them through self-evaluation, market research, and continuous
learning. It is an important exercise to successfully manage your career.
Career planning can help you in the following ways:
• Figure out your goals: It becomes easier to figure out personal objectives and goals through
career planning. It is always better to chase your goals instead of working aimlessly.
• Save time and energy: Career planning helps you avoid going after a profession that does not
align with personal goals and abilities. The earlier you plan, the better it is.
• Make confident choices: Career planning puts you in the driver‘s seat in your career journey and
lets you make confident choices for your future endeavors.
• Focus: You will be able to determine a clear path to follow with the help of career planning. It
helps you avoid feeling lost and lets you focus on the right aspects.
Steps for successful career planning:
1. Self-assessment: The first step to successfully plan your career is to understand your own
interests, strengths, weaknesses, and goals.
2. Market Research: Once you have discovered your own interests and strengths, it is time to
figure out what is out there. Make a list of job
profiles that align with your goals, interests, and strengths. Conduct a thorough research about
market trends and read company reviews to get details about salary, work culture, growth
opportunities, etc.
Soft Skills Page 48

3. Identify the gap: For all the desirable job roles that you have added to your list, write down
skills, experience, and resources needed for each one of them.Identify the gap between what you
have and what you need to get these jobs. These could be skill gaps, experience gaps,
qualification gaps, etc.
4. Fill the gap: Once you have assessed the gap between what you have and what you need to
for the shortlisted careers, find different ways of filling the gap. For instance, take up online
courses to learn new skills or apply for an internship to gain relevant experience. This will give
you a feel of the job role as well.
5. Make a choice: Out of all the options that you have listed, it is time to narrow down your
options. Assess the cost you need to incur for each of the roles. Go for the role that fits in well
with your interests, goals, and abilities.
Soft Skills Page 49

25) MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES
The theory of multiple intelligences differentiates human intelligence into specific 'modalities',
rather than seeing intelligence as dominated by a single general ability. Howard Gardner
proposed this model in his 1983 book Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences.
Gardner proposed eight abilities that he held to meet these criteria:

Intelligence Modalities:
Musical-rhythmic and harmonic: This area has to do with sensitivity to sounds, rhythms,
tones, and music. People with a high musical intelligence normally have good pitch and may
even have absolute pitch, and are able to sing, play musical instruments, and compose music.
They have sensitivity to rhythm, pitch, meter, tone, melody or timbre.
Visual-spatial: This area deals with spatial judgment and the ability to visualize with the mind's
eye. Spatial ability is one of the three factors beneath g in the hierarchical model of intelligence.
Verbal-linguistic: People with high verbal-linguistic intelligence display a facility with words
and languages. They are typically good at reading, writing, telling stories and memorizing words
along with dates. Verbal ability is one of the most g-loaded abilities. This type of intelligence is
measured with
the Verbal IQ in WAIS-IV.
Logical-mathematical: This area has to do with logic, abstractions, reasoning, numbers and
critical thinking. This also has to do with having the capacity to understand the underlying
principles of some kind of causal system. Logical reasoning is closely linked to fluid intelligence
and to general intelligence (g factor).
Interpersonal: In theory, individuals who have high interpersonal intelligence are characterized
by their sensitivity to others' moods, feelings, temperaments, motivations, and their ability to
cooperate in order to work as part of a group.
Soft Skills Page 50

Intrapersonal: This area has to do with introspective and self-reflective capacities. This refers
to having a deep understanding of the self; what one's strengths or weaknesses are, what makes
one unique, being able to predict one's own reactions or emotions.
Soft Skills Page 51

26) EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Definition:
Emotional intelligence refers to the capability of a person to manage and control his
or her emotions and possess the ability to control the emotions of others as well. In other words,
they can influence the emotions of other people also.
Description: Emotional intelligence is a very important skill in leadership. It is said to have five
main elements such as
1. Self-awareness: If you are self-aware of what you are going through, you would be in a better
position to understand others, and affect people around you. It also means you are aware of your
strengths as well as weaknesses. When you experience anger, hold that moment and think what
made you so angry.
Keeping a journal always helps.
2. Self-regulation: Self-regulation is the next step wherein you think before speaking. It is an
important aspect where you can regulate yourself. This will impact others in a positive way rather
than in negatively. Hold yourself accountable in case you make a mistake, and try to remain
calm in every situation.
3. Motivation: When you are motivated to do a series of tasks you will be in a better position
to influence others. Work towards your goals consistently. Show your employees how the work
is done and lead by example. Even if you are faced with a challenge try and find something good
about the situation.
4. Empathy: When you are able to put yourself in other‘s shoe and think about a situation, it
is known as empathy. Every successful leads should know how to empathies with others, if you
want to earn their respect.
5. Social skills: The last aspect is social skills and it is one of the important aspects. Social skills
are all about communicating your point of view to. They are able to build a rapport with others
which makes the relationship more comfortable.
Soft Skills Page 52

27) SPIRITUAL QUOTIENT AND ETHICAL VALUES
Keywords: Spiritual Quotient, Ethical Values, Organizational Sustainability, Unethical

Behavior.
ABSTRACT: During the last decade, many organizations were collapsed and had damage their
organizational sustainability reason being severe ethical crisis. One of the main reasons affecting
organizational sustainability is unethical behavior in the organization. Therefore, the question
arises, how this grave issue of unethical behavior of employees can be solved? This paper seeks
to assess if spiritual quotient (Here after SQ) is a solution to the unethical behavior of employees
and how this SQ along with ethical values can contribute towards organizational sustainability.
1. INTRODUCTION: During the last decade, organizations such as Enron corporation

(Stevens, 2013), AIG, Lehman Brothers, WorldCom (De and Tenbrunsel, 2012), Arthur
& Anderson (Schwartz, 2013), were collapsed and had damage their organizational
sustainability reason being severe ethical crisis. These organizations led towards
disastrous problems such as low efficiency, revenue losses and bankruptcy (Da Silveira,
2013; Ailon, 2013). The main issue of the failure of these organizations was the extreme
lack of ethics (van Dijke, 2014; Ehsan, Kaleem, & Jabeen, 2012; Beeri, Dayan, Vigoda
& Werner, 2013; Soltani, 2014). Enron Corp., a distinguished and prominent company
was declared bankrupt in late 2001 reason being its failure to address unethical issues
(Sims, 2003; Cavender & Miller, 2013).
2. ORGANIZATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY: Sustainability is an emerging discipline.
The debate in the field of sustainability regarding their indicators and measures is
continued in literature (Özlem & Besler, 2014). To-date, many organizations are facing
a number of new changes and challenges concerning to their sustainability within the
organizations (Adams & Frost, 2008). In the business organizations, Sustainability is
taken to refer to the ‗triple bottom line‘, namely environmental, social/ethical and
economic (Willard, 2012; Hahn, Pinkse, Preuss & Figge, 2014). Furthermore, the ―Triple
Bottom Line‖ became the leading paradigm of organizational sustainability (Savitz, 2012;
Willard, 2012).
Soft Skills Page 53

3. SPIRITUAL QUOTIENT: SOLUTION TO UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR OF

EMPLOYEES: In 2000, Zohar & Marshal introduced the term, ‗spiritual quotient‘
(SQ). According to Zohar & Marshal (2012), SQ is the ultimate intelligence with which
people address and solve the problems associated with meaning and value. It is the
intelligence that has the force to help people use their actions and lives in a wider, richer
and meaning-giving context. Furthermore, this gives people potential to assess and
understand that one course of action or one way of life is more meaningful than the other
(King, 2009).
4. LINKING ETHICAL VALUES WITH EMPLOYEE BEHAVIOR: When it comes
to promoting ethical values, most of the organizations focus on ethics training programs
aimed at increasing employee‘s ethical behavior in organization (Jondle, Ardichvili &
Mitchell, 2014). Negus & Ro (2000) suggested that ethics program reduced unethical
behavior of employee. Ghazali, & Ismail (2013) argue that the organization ethical
Culture can be a barrier to employee unethical behavior. Moreover, if an organization is
perceived to be practicing high ethical values, less unethical behavior can be expected
from the employees in that organization (Ghazali, & Ismail, 2013). 28)
Soft Skills Page 54

28) INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Intercultural communication is the study and application of knowledge on

―cultural perceptions and symbol systems‖ of people belonging to different cultures.
―Intercultural communication,‘ can…be defined as the interpersonal interaction between

members of different groups, which differ from each other in respect of the knowledge shared
by their members and in respect of their linguistic forms of symbolic behavior.‖
What is Culture?
Culture isn‘t only intellectual happenings like arts, festivals, traditional foods, heritages or
literature, but refers to the daily lifestyle of the general population or a group of people or an
individual. It also describes the family life and social life.
Culture is created by humans and can be different from place to place. It creates a human
environment with shared meanings within a society through beliefs, values, norms, etc. and are
a learned behavior.
Types of Intercultural Communication

There are basically two types of intercultural communication:
Verbal communication: Verbal communication consists of words used to communicate messages

whereas non-verbal communication is gestures that give out messages. Spoken and written language
are parts of verbal communication which must be considered highly while in intercultural
communication.
Non-verbal communication: Similarly, non-verbal cues consist of communication that occurs

without words like facial expressions, hand and body movements, eye contact, use of objects,
clothing, etc. They help in making message clear or can give the different message as well.
Importance of Intercultural Communication: Lacking in intercultural communication can

lead to the insult of the culture and people involved.
Especially for business people or people providing services in the areas out of their culture.
People interpret messages based on their culture, so what you mean might not be what the other
person understands. Your intentions might
Soft Skills Page 55

not be met as their attribution towards you might be telling them something else about you.
Managing Intercultural Communication:
One need to manage and prepare oneself with enough information in order to communicate
with people from different Some of the ways you can manage intercultural communications are:
▪ Be culturally sensitive and aware

▪ Gain knowledge of the culture you have to adapt
▪ Think of what the other person will interpret before saying
▪ Be aware of non-verbal cues you are giving
▪ Listen, encode and decode carefully
▪ Use pictures if you don‘t know words to describe it
▪ Avoid slang and local language
▪ Get a feedback
Soft Skills Page 56

29) CREATIVE AND CRITICAL THINKING
Critical thinking :
Critical thinking is the active, persistent and careful consideration of a belief or form of
knowledge. It includes analysis and judgments about the ideas and conditions that support beliefs
and the conclusions that follow. Critical thinking involves analyzing and evaluating one‘s own
thinking and that of others. It is subject to intellectual standards, including clarity, accuracy,
precision, relevance, significance, depth, breadth, logic, and fairness.
Creative thinking :
Creative thinking is the generation of new ideas within or across disciplines. It draws upon
or breaks rules and procedures in those disciplines and actively engages students in bringing
together existing ideas into new configuration; developing new properties or possibilities for
something that already exists; and discovering or imagining something entirely new. Standards
for judging creative thinking include originality, appropriateness, flexibility, and contribution to
the domain.
Top Creative And Critical Thinking Skills
Analysis: Before thinking creatively about something, you first have to be able to understand it.
This requires the ability to examine things carefully to understand what they mean. Whether you
are looking at a text, a data set, a lesson plan, or an equation, you need to be able to analyze it
first.
Open-Mindedness: Creativity involves thinking of things

in a novel way within the context in question. You have to set aside any assumptions or biases
you may have, and look at things in a completely new way. By coming to a problem with an
open mind, you allow yourself the chance to think creatively.
Problem Solving: Employers don‘t simply want to hire creative people because they are
impressive. They want creative employees who will help them to solve work-related issues.
Therefore, when applying for jobs, highlight your ability not only to think creatively, but to use
your creativity to solve important problems.
Soft Skills Page 57

Communication: People will only appreciate your creative idea or solution if you can
communicate it effectively to the people you work with (or to your clients or vendors). Therefore,
you need to have strong written and oral communication skills.
You also need to be able to understand a situation fully before thinking creatively about it.
Therefore, you also need to be a good listener. By asking the right questions and understanding
the problem, you can come up with a unique solution.
Creativity: Critical thinking often involves creativity and innovation. You might need to spot
patterns in the information you are looking at or come up with a solution that no one else has
thought of before. All of this involves a creative eye that can take a different approach from all
other approaches.
Soft Skills Page 58

30) TEACHING STRATEGIES FOR THE 8 DIFFERENT LEARNING STYLES
Everyone has a dominant learning style depending on the situation. There are
1) Visual learners: Visual learners retain information more effectively when visual aids are used,
such as, pictures, images, film clips, colours and diagrams. They're also good at understanding visual
data presented in maps, charts and graphs.
Strategies for teaching visual learners:
• Use visual aids - most other learners will benefit from visual elements as well.
• Provide visual analogies and metaphors to help with visual imagery.
• Sometimes graphics are not easy to use for specific topics but consider writing key
points in front of the class as this provides visual cues.
2) Aural learners: Aural learners respond to sound, music, recordings, rhymes, rhythms etc.
They remember conversations well and music causes an emotional response in them.
Strategies for teaching aural learners:
• Encourage your students to participate in discussions.

• If reading is required suggest audio books if appropriate.
• Suggest for them to listen to music as they go over material.
• Allow recordings of your training sessions or make your lessons accessible online - this is also
helpful for other learning types.
• Get students to pair up and explain concepts to each other.
3) Verbal learners: Verbal learners favour using words and linguistic skills - in speech and in
writing, such as, reading, writing, listening or speaking. They like word games, puns and rhymes etc
and are oftenstrong public speakers.
Strategies for teaching verbal learners:
• Use verbal teaching and writing activities.

• Ask them to discuss or present.
Soft Skills Page 59

• Use acronyms or mnemonic devices.

• Get the class to read aloud. Try to get them to read in a varied way rather than in monotone.
5) Logical learners: Logical learners favour using logic and reasoning. They like to classify
and categorise information and solve problems with numbers. Logical learners are especially
good at analysing cause and effect relationships.
Strategies for teaching logical learners:
• Provide the class with problem-solving tasks.

• Challenge them to work things out forthemselves.
• Ask them to interpret abstract visual information.
• Include critical thinking exercises.
• Provide statistics and facts.
6) Physical and tactile learners: Practical learners process information effectively when they
use their bodies and when they are actually doing something. They put their learning into
practice.
Strategies for teaching physical and tactile learners:
• Use physical exercises and provide hands-on experiences.

• Exercises where they are standing and walking are very effective.
• Include activities where they use a pen and paper to map out their thoughts and
problem-solve because writing is a physicalexercise.
Soft Skills Page 60

Softskills Modified

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Softskills Modified

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

R.G.

KEDIA COLLEGE OF COMMERCE

Soft Skills Page 1

Why GD became mandatory?

Who conducts a group discussion?

• Generally, group discussion is conducted by large bodies such as universities, top-rated

Why do students fail to perform well in GD?

Soft Skills Page 2

III. No proper command on language.

The process followed in GD:

How to perform GD?

Few tips for GD:

Soft Skills Page 3

• An interview is a formal meeting at which someone is asked questions in order to find

10 tips to improve interview performance:

1) Practice good nonverbal communication: It‘s about demonstrating confidence: standing

Soft Skills Page 4

Soft Skills Page 5

They are 7 presentation tips for students:

Soft Skills Page 6

Soft Skills Page 7

Having a meal in peaceful mind:

Following things should not be done while eating:

• Talk on the phone

Soft Skills Page 8

Why we conduct fresher party?

The very purpose of fresher day party is to welcome newcomers in a friendly

What are the funny events we can do for a fresher party?

Soft Skills Page 9

8) READING DIFFERENT GENRES OF TESTS RANGING FROM NEWSPAPERS

I. Answer the following questions

1. What is our most precious sense?

2. Which disability the people fear most?

3. What is the chief function of the organ of sight?

4. Name a few activities in which we use our eyes?

5. What is the average measurement of the human eye ball?

3. Quickly 4. Countless ---------------

Soft Skills Page 10

III. Give an antonym for each of the following words. ANTONYMS:

1. Eye is our most precious sense.

2. Blindness is the disability which people fear most.

5. The human eyeball measures only about 25 min in diameter

1. Costly, very valuable

2. Very minute, small particle.

5. Physical or mental handicap.

Soft Skills Page 11

5. Large Ex.no:3 Date :

The upturn in the Company‘s Performance was caused by

Soft Skills Page 12

9) READING STRATEGIES – GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS

A graphic organizer provides learners with a visual representation of information, concepts, or

Web Graphic Organizer:

Soft Skills Page 13

Venn diagram Graphic Organizer:

Soft Skills Page 14

10) Interpretation And Reports

Soft Skills Page 15

11) COVER LETTER

What is a Cover Letter?

Successful cover letters go something like this:

• How a candidate‘s work experience meets job requirements.

• How a candidate‘s skills meet job requirements.

• Why a candidate wants to work at the organization.