Soft Skills for Enhancing Employability

Employability is defined as a set of achievements, understanding and personal attributes that make individuals gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations. Interestingly, employability is not simply about getting a job. Also, simply by securing technical skills, employment does not become automatic. While technical skills are very important for success in business, there are other non-technical skills which hold equal importance in the employability factor of an individual. These non-technical skills are called soft skills. Of late, the development and possession of these soft skills is also being seen as the potential for employability of an individual. Obviously, the theme of employability is changing. Creating lifelong employment capabilities in individuals is a role found to be played by the enhancement of soft skills so much so that the terms, soft skills and employability, are used interchangeably. It is also seriously realized that the organizational effectiveness and sustainability does not solely depend on ‘technical skills’ but to great extent on ‘soft skills’. This paper attempts to identify such skill sets that influence employability from employer’s perspective. The intention of the author is also to throw light on the change and the nature of employability skills and wider perspectives of employability in the 21st century