Do Soft Skills Matter?

– Implications for Educators

Based on Recruiters’ Perspective

Deepa S* and Manisha Seth**

Soft skills are very critical in the workplace today. These skills mirror the
ability to communicate and interact with others. They are unique because
they emphasize on action. They have become indispensable for every
person in the present context. This paper deals with the significance of
soft skills for getting a job and for further promotions and progress in the
workplace. People who are flexible and have the zeal to understand and
learn new technologies are sought after by organizations as part of their
growth process. The need to provide training in soft skills is seriously
being considered today. This study is an attempt to find out the importance
that middle to top level executives, who are involved in recruiting employees,
attach to soft skills.

Introduction
Organizations today have transformed into places where people cannot function in
seclusion. Teamwork or group work is the need of the day in most industries. There
are many organizations that do not necessarily design jobs on the basis of a team.
Nonetheless, they require a fair amount of interaction between people within and across
functional realms to successfully carry out a piece of work. The opportune discoveries
made through the Hawthorne studies are now accepted as basic and universal principles
of life in any organization. In this setting, soft skills have become indispensable to
function competently in any interpersonal relationship.
‘Soft skills’ is an umbrella term covering various survival skills such as
communication and interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence, leadership qualities,
team skills, negotiation skills, time and stress management and business etiquettes. In
recent years, the corporate world felt that soft skills are crucial at the workplace and
its training must be a part of the curriculum during education. In career terms, soft
skills soften the edges and provide a competitive advantage over others. However, those
who ignore this critical aspect of personality learn its importance the hard way when
their promotion is overlooked.

* Assistant Professor, Managerial Communication, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, Kerala,

India; and is the corresponding author. E-mail: deepa@iimk.ac.in
** Assistant Professor, Human Resource Management, Jaipuria Institute of Management, Lucknow, Uttar
Pradesh, India. E-mail: manisha.seth@jaipuria.ac.in

© 2013
Do Soft IUP. AllMatter?
Skills Rights –Reserved.
Implications for Educators Based on Recruiters’ Perspective 7
 Soft skills are “attitudes and behaviors displayed in interactions among individuals
that affect the outcomes of various interpersonal encounters” (Muir, 2004). These are
skills that refer to the ability to communicate and interact with other employees in a
positive manner.

Soft skills are necessary in the workplace for professional success. They are vital
at every level of an organization if it is to function smoothly and productively. Hard
skills are technical competencies and domain knowledge, while soft skills are a
combination of people skills, interpersonal skills, communication skills and emotional
intelligence. Companies search for a mélange of both soft and hard skills among their
employees to deliver goods and services effectively to their clients. It is rightly said that
people rise in organizations because of their hard skills and fall due to a shortage of
soft skills.

Kelly Pierce points out in “eSight Trend Watch: Increased Value in Soft Skills,” that
“There is a growing recognition that interpersonal skills are not simply helpful in
business today; they are essential in today’s highly focused, downsized and streamlined
organizations where people tend to work in a series of small, often temporary
workgroups or teams organized to accomplish short-term objectives.” He lists such
qualities as “attitude, initiative, cooperation, teamwork, communication, perception”
among the skills that are valued in the contemporary workplace.
Soft skills deal with these behavioral aspects relevant in personal and corporate life.
Today, we find employers taking hard skills as a given or as the basic requirement and
the soft skills ‘including communicating, relationship building, work ethic and problem
solving’ (Johnson, 2006), as an important consideration in deciding upon the choice
of a candidate for any job.
The purpose of this paper is to understand the prospective employers’ perception
about importance of soft skills while hiring MBAs and provide information that may
be utilized by educators to enhance the soft skills of students entering the workforce.

Literature Review
Rainsbury et al. (2002) categorized the competencies of superior managers identified
by Spencer and Spencer (1993) as hard skills or soft skills. Only three of the 20
competencies were classified as hard skills, while the remaining 17 were organized
as soft skills. The categories of soft skills, include achievement and action, impact and
influence, managerial (team management and developing others), and personal
effectiveness.
The last few years have witnessed a growing awareness and a need to identify the
intangible factors which play a very important role in an individual’s success at the
workplace. Varied studies have been done in the past related to such areas. Many experts
have in the past worked on and concluded that these extra skills which help to attain

8 The IUP Journal of Soft Skills, Vol. VII, No. 1, 2013

success at the workplace are certainly precious. Jacobs and Marshall discussed the
importance of the definite class of skills that allow value additions to a person’s worth.
Though none of them uses the term, they actually deem it to be soft skill.
For decades, the center of management was on the so-called ‘hard’ skills, i.e., the
emphasis centered on technical skills imperative to effectively perform within the
organization. These skills tended to be more job-specific or more closely related to the
actual task being performed.
Today, employers look for managers with the vital soft skills. These skills tend to
be more generic in nature. In other words, these are skills strategic to effective
performance across all job categories. And these soft skills have come to play an even
more central role in management positions in today’s setting. As the world has changed
and the nature of work has changed, the skill set required for managers has also
undergone a change.
Studies by Stanford Research Institute and the Carnegie Mellon Foundation among
Fortune 500 CEOs found that 75% of long-term job success depended on people skills
and only 25% on technical skills. In fact, this stands true at other levels as well. For
effective performance in the workplace, companies need their employees to not only
have domain knowledge, technical and analytical skills, but also skills to deal with the
external world of clients, customers, vendors, the government and public, and to work
in a collaborative manner with their colleagues.
The annual rankings of MBA colleges often place communication and interpersonal
skills as the most decisive skills needed for success in the corporate world.
Distinguished academician Prof. Henry Mintzberg, while speaking on the importance
of soft skills for MBAs, referred to the crucial ‘soft skills’—leadership, teamwork,
communication and the ability to think ‘outside the box’ of a discipline—that separate
the rest in the management world.
In a poll on Melcrum’s Black Belt Training website, the skill that was voted the most
vital for internal communicators to master in order to carry out their roles with utmost
efficacy was building effective relationships.
Other surveys and studies also show that employers are often more concerned about
soft skills or attitudes rather than technical knowledge or competencies. Empirical
studies of work find that employers and workers also feel generic skills, such as problem
solving, communications and the ability to work in teams, are more significant for
workplace success. Another study on developing soft skills in vocation high school
graduates talks about the importance of developing soft skills in students for their
betterment and future career growth.
A 2007 study of recruiters found that communication skills are the most desired
characteristics needed in a candidate for an ideal job.

Do Soft Skills Matter? – Implications for Educators Based on Recruiters’ Perspective 9

 According to a survey by Harvard University, 80% achievements in career are
determined by soft skills and only 20% by hard skills. In the book, Lesson from the
Top by Neff and Citrin, the duo talk about 10 top success tips, out of which eight are
concerned with soft skills and only two criteria talk about hard skills.
Similarly, a literature review undertaken by researchers to understand best practices
revealed that soft skills are given much importance by the employers worldwide.
Luthans et al. (1985 and 1998), on the basis of their study conducted on more than
450 managers, ascertained that the average managers spend most of their time in traditional
management activities, whereas in the case of managers who were successful (defined
in terms of speed of promotion within their organization), networking skills made the
largest contribution to their success. In the case of effective managers (defined in terms
of the quantity and quality of their performance and the satisfaction and commitment of
their subordinates and coworkers), communication skills made the largest contribution.
A literature review undertaken by researchers to understand best practices made
known that soft skills are given much importance by the employers universally.
According to them, it was found that in IT companies, projects failed not due to the
lack of technical skills but due to the lack of interpersonal and communication skills.
Bill (2004) showed that communication skills, self-esteem and work ethics are the main
factors that determine one’s achievement in his/her work. Several other works, especially
on customer-focused services, have shown that customer-focused soft skills can make
a big contribution to profitability even in industries regarded as highly technical. To
achieve success in today’s job market, employees need a combination of occupation-
specific hard skills and soft skills.
According to Duncan and Dunifon (1998), “soft skills are as good a predictor of labor
market success as level of formal education”. Similarly, commenting on the need for
high school students to develop such skills, experts have agreed on several hard skills.
And over and above that, the two most important soft skills are the ability to
communicate effectively and the ability to work productively with people from different
backgrounds. Thus, the review of literature shows that there is a need for other types
of skills than the routine hard skills to succeed in the work place, but none has
completely and satisfactorily understood the skill requirements; and there is limited
research done to generate specific guidance that is useful to educators and students.
According to Harvey and Knight (1996), “employers are not looking for trainees but
people equipped to learn and deal with change. Employers want graduates who are
adaptable and flexible, who can communicate well and relate to a wide range of people,
who are aware of, but not indoctrinated into, the world of work and the culture of
organizations, and who, most importantly, have inquiring minds, are willing and quick
to learn, are critical, can synthesize and are innovative.”
Contrary to the popular belief, soft skills do make a difference in the business world
(Workforce, 1999). Even though managers still need typical techniques taught in MBA

10 The IUP Journal of Soft Skills, Vol. VII, No. 1, 2013

programs, they need additional tools to be effective. Today’s managers need a variety
of soft skills in communication, negotiation, and team building to effectively manage
technological change and corporate stress resulting from downsizing and rapid growth
(Deverell, 1994). Another study conducted by Caudrin (1999) revealed that while
hiring MBAs, corporations seek the three most desired capabilities—communication
skills, interpersonal skills and initiative—all of which are elements of emotional
intelligence.
For a long time, recruitment and selection processes concentrated on finding people
with the right technical or domain expertise. The focus was on the so-called hard skills.
So, the requirements normally spelt out the area and the technical expertise required
for a job. The person-job fit was measured typically on the basis of these qualifications.
Later, employers realized that while the core skills are present, successful interpersonal
relationships played a major role in achieving results. The success of a department or
an organization depended on domain knowledge and also as much, if not more, on
the ability of a group of individuals to work in a team and optimize their individual
resources.
The 21st century workforce has experienced tremendous changes due to advances
in technology; consequently, the ‘old way’ of doing things may be effective but not
efficient (Redmann and Kotrlik, 2004). The National Business Education Association
(NBEA) stated that the shortage of skills confronting today’s dynamic workforce goes
beyond the academic and hands-on occupational skills. Therefore, the best way to
prepare potential employees for tomorrow’s workforce is to develop not only technical,
but also human-relation abilities (Policies Commission for Business and Economic
Education (PCBEE), 2000).
Defining ‘soft skills’, Perreault (2004) stated that these are personal qualities,
attributes, or the level of commitment of a person that set him or her apart from other
individuals who may have similar skills and experience. According to James and James
(2004), ‘soft skills’ is a new way to describe a set of abilities or talents that an individual
can bring to the workplace. Soft skills characterize certain career attributes that
individuals may possess such as team skills, communication skills, leadership skills,
customer service skills and problem solving skills. “Employers Value Communication
and Interpersonal Abilities” (2004) suggests that one who communicates effectively, gets
along with others, embraces teamwork, takes initiative, and has strong work ethics is
considered to have an accomplished a set of soft skills. Sutton (2002) found that soft
skills are so important that employers identify them as ‘the number one differentiator’
for job applicants in all types of industries (p. 40). According to Sutton, soft skills have
become extremely important in all types of occupations. Glenn (2008) added that hiring
individuals who possess soft skills is instrumental for high-performing organizations
to retain a competitive edge. Wilhelm (2004) agreed and claimed that employers rate
soft skills highest in importance for entry-level success in the workplace.

Do Soft Skills Matter? – Implications for Educators Based on Recruiters’ Perspective 11

 Literature supports the conclusion that proficiency in soft skills is extremely
important from employers’ perspective. However, many employees in business are
reported to be lacking in soft skills. Also, literature revealed that research is needed
in the area of soft skills so that enhanced instructional methodology may be developed
and applied by business educators.
The paradigm shift in the 21st century workforce has forced employees to be well
armed with soft skills (Ganzel, 2001). James and James (2004) confirmed that soft skills
have become extremely crucial even in technical environments. This endorses the view
of Evenson (1999) who believed that equipping students with soft skills could make
the difference in obtaining and retaining the jobs for which they have been prepared.
The NBEA believes that skills emphasized in the 20th century must be refocused.
To ensure success, students entering the 21st century workforce must possess non-
technical soft skills along with technical competence (PCBEE, 2000). A complex labor
market has been generated due to the multifaceted 21st century business world; therefore,
organizations are seeking versatile individuals, who possess professional skills, even
for entry-level jobs (Employers Value Communication and Interpersonal Abilities, 2004).
According to Christopher (2006), employers want graduates with strong interpersonal
abilities. Quite a lot of researchers (Sutton, 2002; Glenn, 2003; NBEA, 2004; and
Wilhelm, 2004) substantiated that mastery of soft skills is instrumental to success for
individuals entering the 21st century workforce.
With time, companies aren’t just assessing their current staff and future recruits on
their business skills. They are now evaluating them on a multitude of soft skills like
how well they relate to and communicate with others. It is a bit shocking and somewhat
disturbing when someone exhibits the old autocratic style of bullying management
tactics.
Measuring these soft skills is not easy. But in the most progressive companies,
managers are looking for people’s ability to communicate clearly and openly, and to listen
and respond empathetically. They also want them to have equally well-honed written
skills so that their correspondence (including e-mails) does not undo all the good work
their face-to-face communication creates.
A few companies are untouched by the ever-widening authority of other cultures
and good soft skills ease better communication and people’s ability to manage differences
efficiently. Already everyone has some form of soft skills (probably a lot more than they
realize). They just need to look at areas in their personal life where they get on with
others, feel confident in the way they interact, can solve problems, are good at
encouraging, can network with the best of them. All these skills are soft skills and all
of them are transferable to the workplace.
It is unfortunate that people lightly esteem the significance of soft skills. In fact, the
concept of soft skills is a developing ambit that people must take seriously; people have

12 The IUP Journal of Soft Skills, Vol. VII, No. 1, 2013

to be educated about them. Whenever a new discipline surfaces, people resist and mostly
do not respect it because there is no strong research to substantiate its relevance.
However, over a period of time people start accepting and respecting the discipline.
For example, there were many people who initially did not take management as a
discipline seriously and expressed their reservations. Today, management as a discipline
is a reality, having a sacred and respectable position like many other disciplines in the
world. Similarly, soft skills will evolve as a discipline during the course of time when
more research is done. It is often difficult to quantify soft skills (unlike hard skills),
but soft skills are both intrapersonal and interpersonal competencies that determine a
person’s ability to gel well with others and excel in the corporate world (Rao, 2012).

Research Methodology
Data regarding the views of employers and managers involved in interviewing and
recruiting people and their expectations from new recruits was collected with the help
of a questionnaire (Appendix), comprising questions on how much importance is being
given to soft skills while recruiting new persons or experienced persons. The
respondents were asked to rate the seven broad categories of skills included in ‘soft
skills’ and the typical soft skills they look for when recruiting. About 160 mid-level
to top level executives from about 4-5 sectors located in Delhi, Noida, Nasik, Lucknow,
Indore and Mumbai were sent questionnaires. 135 responses were received, out of
which 100 were found complete in all respects. Finally, the data collected through the
questionnaire was analyzed and the results were compared to the previously held beliefs
and theories. Telephonic discussions with some recruiters also provided insights into
their perception of soft skills.

Findings and Analysis

The findings were generally on expected lines, with 86% respondents agreeing that soft
skills are indeed very important to succeed at the work place (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Are Soft Skills Important at the Workplace?

3%
11%

86%
Yes No Can’t Say

Do Soft Skills Matter? – Implications for Educators Based on Recruiters’ Perspective 13

 But when asked about the quality of new entrants entering the workforce today, 60%
said that the new entrants do not possess the necessary soft skills to succeed at the
workplace. And an overwhelming majority, that is 82% respondents, agreed that there
were gaps between the industry requirements and the products churned out by the
colleges and universities of today. On the question whether they thought that the new
entrants can acquire soft skills on joining a good organization, 50% felt that they would.
And 85% strongly felt that adding soft skills in college curricula will improve the quality
of the workforce.
When asked what ratio they would offer to soft skills and work experience while
recruiting, 68% of the respondents stated 60:40 if it is an entry level job, 50:50 if it
is a mid level management position and 60:40 in case of a higher management position.
The respondents were also asked to divide a percentage score of 100 among the six
must-have soft skills to succeed at the workplace. The results showed that
communication skills received the maximum weightage of 22%, while interpersonal
skills followed a close second with 20%, teamwork and leadership qualities received
16% and 15%, respectively, time management got 13%, while conflict management
received 14% weightage (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Must-Have Soft Skills to Succeed at the Workplace

14%
22%

13%

20%
15%

16%

Communication Skills Interpersonal Skills Teamwork

Leadership Qualities Time Management Conflict Management

While expressing his thoughts on how much importance is attached to soft skills while
recruiting candidates for entry level jobs in Management, Himojyoti Sengupta, Human
Resources – North, Reliance General Insurance Company Ltd., opines, “The said skill set
is very much important for an entry level position but it is hard to find. The same gives

14 The IUP Journal of Soft Skills, Vol. VII, No. 1, 2013

an edge over other candidates.” When asked whether the organization got the candidates
with required soft skills, he stated that they needed to provide the necessary training.
In this regard, Khyati Seth, Assistant Manager – HR, Abhitech IT Solutions Private
Limited states, “Soft skills are a very important aspect considered while selecting a
candidate, especially for the freshers. As observed, the quality of the candidates is
deteriorating day by day, they lack basic skills like communication and social
behavior”. She further says, “We do not get candidates with the required set of soft
skills. Also, the time and resources involved in the training of the candidates are very
high”.
Mohit Kumar, AVP – HR, Aditya Birla Group said, “We hire candidates from
management institutes under Young Leaders’ program. We have a competency framework
in our organization. We believe that soft skills like communication, influencing, teamwork,
getting things done, developing self and others are very important for people to
successfully perform and excel in the various roles in the organization. Proficiency levels
for these competencies for various roles in job hierarchy are very much defined, including
that for entry level roles. We look forward to people demonstrating these competencies
appropriately while we make a hiring decision.” He added, “We get the candidates with
required soft skills. Training is a continuous process and it is equally important for people
having these competencies to further hone their skills to the next level.”
Tanmay Panda, Head HR, National Payment Corporation of India, said that soft skills
are indeed very important while recruiting candidates for entry level jobs in
management. He added that they are generally required to train the employees in the
crucial soft skills.
Nidhi Bhatnagar, Human Resources, Fidelity Info Services, while expressing her
views on the importance of soft skills in recruiting stated, “It is always important to
be really good at soft skills. However, the weightage of this parameter actually depends
on the role that one is appearing for. For instance if one has appeared for a HR job,
soft skills will be given high weightage along with the other prerequisites, lack of soft
skills might even result in elimination/rejection, since a HR professional needs to cater
to the aspirations and emotions of human capital, it is important that one has excellent
soft skills. On the other hand, if one applies for a sales job, soft skills need to be modified
in a way where the person is able to crack a deal, the conviction required over there
will be slightly different, the weightage of soft skills parameter might differ/might be
less as well, however it will carry its due importance”.
On probing whether they got candidates with the required soft skills or they needed
to train them, Nidhi Bhatnagar said, “We cannot expect excellent soft skills in candidates
applying for entry level jobs, as it will be quite unfair to them since they do not hold
a practical exposure to the corporate world. We certainly believe in training the
candidate in case we feel that he/she has all the prerequisites for the role and needs
slight polishing on soft skills. We too would not want to lose such good resources,

Do Soft Skills Matter? – Implications for Educators Based on Recruiters’ Perspective 15

yes; they need to have that aptitude and attitude to learn which paves way for us to
make them shine as any other seasoned employees. Training them on soft skills is
something which is always an option as that is a very softer aspect which can be evolved
in a person to bring about that desired change in one’s personality, both professionally
and personally.”

Conclusion
Recruitment managers respect and expect technical expertise. Results show that they
do prefer people with experience, but at the same time, they also look for certain other
qualities in them. However, technical or the so-called hard skills soon become outdated
when there is no motivation to keep learning new ones. So, they also look for people
who are flexible and have the passion to appreciate and learn new technologies as part
of their growth process. And as Beck and Yaeger pointed out, “The ability to effectively
communicate with the managers, superiors, bosses and coworkers plays a definite role
in workplace success.” Furthermore, “the interpersonal skills, alignment with the
corporate culture, the ability to work as an effective and contributing team member and
the political savvy to know how to get things done in the organization” also determine
a person’s long-term success in an organization. Therefore, our results have shown that
in generic terms, hiring managers are not happy with the new workforce coming out
of the colleges and they do think that they should be much better equipped with soft
skills in addition to hard skills. On the basis of these results, we have made an attempt
to provide to the educators a guideline to design the soft skills course curriculum in
such a way so as to bridge the gap that exists between the existing one and the industry
expectations. The results also pointed out that the basic skills should include good
communication style along with the ability to work in teams and ability to get things
done on time as well as manage conflicts tactfully.
This study may be quite useful to business educators because the findings reported
help to recognize the most important workforce skills. In addition, this information may
allow educators to more effectively include employability skills in their courses.
Scope for Further Research: This study was basically a preliminary (probing) research
to tap into the minds of recruiters across Indian companies and find out the importance
of soft skills in their scheme of things, particularly the recruitment process. Although
an attempt was made to take samples from across India from the banking, insurance,
automobile, real estate and retail sectors, there is a lot of scope for further research. All
these companies have a more urgent need for employees having better soft skills. Research
can be extended to these as well as other sectors like hospitality and aviation, to further
look into the difference these skills would make to their career graph. Besides, it would
be interesting to know how the educators feel about the industry requirement of teaching
soft skills at the college/b-school level. The desire to raise academic performance and, at
the same time, provide opportunities for students to be successful at the workplace creates
sizeable challenges for educators. And expanding the curriculum to meet the new skill

16 The IUP Journal of Soft Skills, Vol. VII, No. 1, 2013

demands raises several questions such as: What should be the college and university
curriculum that can inculcate problem solving, teamwork, interpersonal and communication
skills in students? Further research in this area could provide exciting ideas to bridge the
existing gap between education curricula and industry demands.

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Appendix
Questionnaire

Name (Optional): Mr./Ms.: ------------------------------------

Designation: -------------------------------------
Organization: -------------------------------------
Location:- --------------------------------------
Gender: --------------------------------------

Age Group (Years): 20-30 30-40 40-50 >50

Mark your perception on the following statements where 1 – Strongly Agree, 3 – Neutral
and 5 – Strongly Disagree
S.
Statements 1 2 3 4 5
No.
1. Soft skills are crucial to achieve success at the workplace.
2. Soft skills are important criteria when interviewing job
applicants.
3. Soft skills are more important than experience in similar
position.

Do Soft Skills Matter? – Implications for Educators Based on Recruiters’ Perspective 19

 Appendix (Cont.)
Questionnaire

S.
Statements 1 2 3 4 5
No.
4. New entrants/joiners possess the required soft skills to be
successful at the workplace.
5. There is a gap between the industry requirements and the
products of the colleges today.
6. Recruiters are satisfied with the current workforce available
for their industry/sector.
7. Soft skills can be acquired even after joining a good
company or an organization.
8. Adding soft skills in the college curricula will provide
better equipped personnel.

What ratio would you offer to Soft skills and work experience?

S. No. Statements 40:60 50:50 60:40

1. For considering lower level management positions
2. For considering middle level management positions
3. For considering higher management positions

Rate the following soft skills in order of their importance (1-6) with 1 being the topmost
essential skill and 6 the least essential that a new job applicant/fresher must possess to
join an organization:

S. No. Soft Skill Order

1 2 3 4 5 6
1. Team Work
2. Conflict Management
3. Communication Skills
4. Time Management
5. Interpersonal Skills
6. Leadership Qualities

Reference # 50J-2013-03-01-01

20 The IUP Journal of Soft Skills, Vol. VII, No. 1, 2013

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without
permission.