Employability Skills That Recruiters Demand

Today, it is preferable to have an employability skill while participating in a recruitment process. Therefore, it is essential for job seekers to have employability skills to get a job and succeed in terms of performance and promotions. Employability skills are also part of soft skills. These skills are the qualities which are associated with the personal character or attitude. On the other hand, hard skill is necessary to accomplish a task. Studies based on primary data have been conducted worldwide seeking to understand what recruiters want and job seekers possess. The major objective of the present study is to review this available literature on the phenomenon of soft skill. Many scholars have debated the concept of soft skills and tried to identify a set of such skills. Researchers have tried to conceptualize these skills under common themes/factors. Along with these factors, this paper reflects on the concepts of soft skill and hard skill. It seeks to discuss and review the soft skills identified in the literature.IntroductionGlobalization and advancement in technology have changed the work environment of today\u0027s organizations. The functioning of today\u0027s organizations demands skills different from what were required earlier. Earlier, there was an assumption that employees do not need any soft skill to perform effectively. The hardcore knowledge of their assigned task was important. But now the scenario has changed. Task-oriented areas such as accounting (Cole, 1999) and an information system (Solomon, 2002) also require a combination of soft skills and technical knowledge.What is Skill?The Oxford Dictionary describes skill as the \"ability to do something well\". Expertise of a skill gives you an ability to perform a particular activity with most sophistication. Considering the recruiter\u0027s lens, skills are the collection of certain behavioral attributes such as trustworthiness, ability to work without any supervision and stability (Oliver and Turton, 1982). Based on their nature and requirement, skills are broadly categorized into soft skills and hard skills.Soft SkillsSoft skills are a set of skills defined and interpreted differently by various communication scholars. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), one of the world\u0027s largest technical professional societies, states, \"Soft skills are the techniques you need to work with others.\" Kantrowitz (2005) defined soft skill as \"an interpersonal skill of an individual. It is a behavioral skill which is required when technical skills and knowledge are used in organization\".Soft skills are always related to productivity. They equip an individual to handle challenging pressures in a competitive environment. James and James (2004) describe it as a new technique of describing a set of qualities and talents which an individual brings to the organization. Ghosh (2012) defines soft skills as: \"a process of development of the human psyche and personality so that a person becomes more social and acceptable to the society at large, including the corporate world.\" He further argues that soft skill is called so because it is flexible in nature in terms of learning, listening and delivering.Soft skills are a collection of various skills such as communication skills, interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence, leadership qualities, team skills, negotiation skills, time management, stress management and business etiquettes (Seth and Seth, 2013).The common thread in all the definitions is that soft skills are tools that increase the productivity of an organization. They cannot be taught like hard skills. Soft skills have a subjective orientation and therefore it is difficult to quantify, measure, and observe.Hard SkillsThe knowledge needed to perform a task is called hard skill (Downing, 2005). Hard skill can be measured. Hard skills are the teachable abilities like singing, dancing, and knowledge of foreign languages, typing, software knowledge to handle, and operating machines. …