FreshGraduates SoftSkills-Vs-HardEducation 2012-03-21 f

Journal for School of Soft Knocks

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Important skills that employers look for in graduates,

and suggestions to equip graduates accordingly

Add 'soft' skills to 'hard' education before graduation

Fiq Abdullah, March 2012


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Abstract

Less than half the fresh graduates in Malaysia do not find a job within six months upon

graduation.

Employers blame graduates' shortfalls in generic competencies (cognitive, social, emotional).

Resulting idling, discontinuity and re-training make for huge costs to graduates and

employers as well as to economy and society. Many graduates eventually end up 'side-

stepping' and 'hopping' jobs, with consequences to workforce quantity, work quality and

depth in the respective fields of knowledge.

Academics - handling research as well as education - are asked to teach and train students

explicitly the generic competencies; this should benefit also their own cause.

Key words: graduates, competencies, soft skills, employability


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Table of contents

1. Introduction............................................................................................................................4

2. Learning generic competencies complementing academic knowledge .................................5

2.1. Skills that employers expect from graduate employees..................................................5

2.2. What are soft skills?........................................................................................................6

2.3. Why are soft skills important? ........................................................................................7

2.4. Soft skills sought after by employers..............................................................................7

2.4.1. Interpersonal skills ...................................................................................................8

2.4.2. Integrity....................................................................................................................9

2.4.3. Work ethics ..............................................................................................................9

2.4.4. Achievement orientation..........................................................................................9

2.4.5. Problem-solving and decision-making ..................................................................10

2.5. Infusing appropriate skills in graduates ........................................................................10

2.6. Suggestions for employability ......................................................................................11

2.6.1. Explicit personal development programmes during studies ..................................11

2.6.2. Vocational programmes inbetween studies ...........................................................11

3. Conclusion ...........................................................................................................................12

References


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1. Introduction

In Malaysia, a high percentage of graduates from institutes of higher education do not find an

adequate job. Recent numbers from the Ministry of Higher Education (2010, according to

Rahmah Ismail et al. 2011) show that only 45% of the fresh graduates enter employment

within the first six months upon graduation.

Studies relate this occurrence to 'job mis-match' between demand of employers and supply

from universities and colleges, whereby employers perceive or experience that fresh

graduates do not match their expectations and requirements.

Employers often refer to lacking 'employability' of fresh graduates: The latter would lack

competencies important for making them 'hit the ground running'. Often enough, shortfalls in

generic competencies such as soft skills are referred to.

Employers and recruiters suggest that the education institutes would not sufficiently teach

and prepare its protégés (the students) for the later requirements in 'real life' in the

workplaces. They claim that education curricula emphasize specialization in the respective

academic fields, but neglect to prepare students for 'real life' and workplace later. Lacking

'generic competencies', fresh graduates require tremendous effort (involving time and cost)

from their first employers to retrain them, making them to 'liabilities in the corporations'

(Quek 2005). As a result, employers shy away from employing fresh graduates.

Note: To be fair, obviously other factors also play a role in employing graduates, such as first

of all the overall economic situation.

The resulting increased level of unemployment among fresh graduates leads to huge cost on

graduates, on businesses as well as on economy and society as a whole: Graduates will either

'hang around' without producing anything, or eventually start working in unrelated fields,

possibly below their academic qualification and far from fully making use of what they have

studied. Eventually knowledge and skill acquired during education will wane, which poses

also loss to economy and society.


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The lack of application and pursuing work in their learned field constitutes also a loss to the

educational institutes that have 'produced' these people in the first place: The latter will not

further advance in their field, will not give back or 'feed back' to the respective field, which

will not augur well for the respective academic area neither will it help spreading its

application. In such circumstances, knowledge will stay rather skin-deep and not pervade

further.

2. Learning generic competencies complementing academic knowledge

Acquiring generic competencies during studies will help the individual graduates, the

employers in private and public sectors, and the nation's economy and society as a whole, and

it ultimately furthers activity, discussion, examination and hence progress, growth and

innovation in the respective field of knowledge, which feeds the interest of academia in this

field.

Therefore, as education is placed in the hands of academics, institutions of higher education

should complement the teaching of discipline-specific knowledge with the necessary

elements of social, cognitive and emotional competence.

At the outset, this requires education institutions and employers to identify which are these

skills.

2.1. Skills that employers expect from graduate employees

Employers worldwide want employees that are well-rounded with knowledge specific to the

discipline of their business (functional 'hard skills'), preferably supplemented with experience

from working in this field, and that have generic competencies that are needed to 'operate' in

the role in their workplace. The latter are typically referred to as (operational) 'soft skills'; in

fact, they are needed practically in any workplace i.e. they are not considered specific to the

respective job and area of functional/technical knowledge alone.

Both hard and soft skills together make up 'employability': Harvey (1999, p. 4) defines

employability as "the propensity (of the future employee) ... to exhibit attributes that

employers anticipate will be necessary for the future effective functioning of their

organization”.


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Employability means having competencies - 'technical' knowledge, and further skills and

attributes (or dispositions) - that make a person more likely to find employment as well as to

sustain and to be successful in the found occupation. In this sense, employability refers to

'workreadiness', i.e. employees do not require long 'learning curves' when start working

(Mason 1998, Mason, Williams & Cranmer 2009).

Employers will look for 'employability' in employment candidates.

2.2. What are soft skills?

According to Towner (2000, in James & Baldock 2004), soft skills are “those attributes that

enable effective teamwork, communication, presentation, leadership, customer service, and

innovative problem-solving”.

Kate Lorenz (2007) defines soft skills as “a cluster of personal qualities, habits, attitudes and

social graces that make someone a good employee and a compatible co-worker”.

Similarly, Moss & Tilly (2001 p.44) refer to soft skills as “skills, abilities and traits that

pertain to personality, attitude, and behaviour rather than to formal or technical knowledge”.

MacLeod (2000, in Malhi 2009b p.6) lists "ability to communicate effectively, creativity,

analytical thinking, problem-solving skills, leadership skills, team-building skills, listening

skills, diplomacy, flexibility, change-readiness, and self-awareness" as soft skills.

In some cases, also fundamental skills such as computer literacy or even generally literacy

and numeracy are stated as soft skills.

To summarize: Soft skills are the non-technical intra- and inter-personal traits and skills that

are required to perform in the workplace and also to get a job in the first place (Quek 2005,

Rawlings et al. 2005, Wilton 2008).

Soft skills are not job-specific but applicable across a wide range of jobs, lines of work and

organisations, no matter which position or title (Rawlings et al. 2005, Wilton 2008).

Soft skills refer to personality, cognitive and social competence regardless the specific job,

i.e. attitudes, traits and behaviours like sense of responsibility, integrity, (good) values and

manners, resilience, time management, self-esteem, and self-projection.

Soft skills here incorporates personality behaviours, habits, traits and attitudes, i.e. is used in


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a rather 'loose' meaning. Often soft skills are also referred to as 'generic competencies',

'employability skills' or 'transferable skills'.

2.3. Why are soft skills important?

Soft skills have become important for many reasons.

The emerging trend to fast-paced and knowledge-based economy with increasing service

content comprises multiple responsibilities for the individual, with more participatory

management elements under reduced supervision, and increased customer orientation. In the

words of Davis & Muir (2004): “The effective knowledge worker works in teams, multitasks,

and is a critical and creative thinker.”

This reflects in the importance of soft skills: For example, a study performed by Carnegie

Mellon Foundation and Stanford Research Institute interviewing Fortune 500 CEOs found

"75% of long-term job success depended on people skills, and only 25% on technical

knowledge" (Cholayil 2011, Jayawardene 2010, Malhi 2009a). And that 87% of people that

lost employment or failed to be promoted had “improper work habits and attitudes rather than

insufficient job skills or knowledge” (Malhi 2009b p.12).

In consequence, recruiters and employers take academic knowledge as given, while soft skills

make individuals sticking out from the average pack.

2.4. Soft skills sought after by employers

According to a survey conducted 2007 by Malhi & Wahab (2008 p.61) with over 300 human

resource and hiring managers from approximately 100 Malaysian companies, the ten soft

skill most sought-after by employers are integrity, ability and willingness to learn,

communication capabilities, initiative, sense for achievement (self-motivation, with desire to

excel), ability to teamwork, interpersonal skills, flexibility, self-esteem, and critical thinking.

A survey of more than 500 job advertisements for graduates in New Straits Times and The

Star in the period between June and December 2006 (Malhi 2009a p.5/6) revealed that the

most highly valued soft skills were: "oral and written communication skills, interpersonal

skills (relating well with others), ability to work in a team, problem-solving and decision-

making, leadership, achievement orientation (self-motivation), pro-activity (initiative),


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integrity, self-esteem (self-confidence), enthusiasm, resilience, positive job orientation

(having high standards, being reliable), ability to work independently with minimal

supervision, and maturity (emotional stability, ability to perform well under pressure)".

Malaysia's Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) has made out seven soft skills that

graduates should possess; these are skills relating to communication, problem-solving and

critical thinking, working in teams, lifelong learning and information literacy,

entrepreneurship, professional ethics and morality, leadership (Malhi 2009a p.2).

The soft skills mentioned in studies performed in Malaysia are also referred to in research in

other than Malaysian contexts (ACCI 2002, De Leon & Borchers 1998, Poole & Zahn 1993).

This is no surprise considering the fall of borders in the globalized world, as so aptly

described in the 'flat world' by Thomas Friedman (2007).

From the soft skills that Malaysian employers and recruiters most often list, a selection may

be elaborated further (Malhi & Normah 2005):

- interpersonal skills

- integrity

- work ethics

- achievement orientation

- problem-solving and decision-making

2.4.1. Interpersonal skills

The workplace environment requires employees to relate well with others. The relationships

refer to people sitting at desks nearby, coworkers in the same department or in project teams

one is assigned to, and also people outside the company, be they from suppliers, customers,

or authorities (Cruez 2003, Sonia 2008).

For many tasks, employees are required to work in teams, hence ability and willingness to

work in teams is essential.

To contribute to discussions and decision-making, oral and written communication and

presentation skills are required (Agus et al. 2011). These do not only refer to formulating and

expressing - 'sending' in communication theory - the own argument but also 'receiving' i.e.


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understanding what others say or write.

2.4.2. Integrity

According to Jensen (2009), integrity can be defined as a condition of being 'whole', or

'complete'. A person is 'whole' when his/her word is whole, i.e. when he/she honours his/her

word.

There are two ways to 'honour word': By keeping word, and in time, as promised, or, as soon

as knowing not being able to keep word, by informing all parties involved, and 'cleaning up

any mess' that this (not keeping word) causes in those people's lives.

Note that for integrity, the focus is not on 'keeping word' alone but on 'honouring word'. With

this, integrity is basis to be trusted by others.

Integrity is important at the workplace because it creates workability. Integrity is necessary

but not sufficient condition for (maximum) performance. Out-of-integrity behaviour has huge

impact on performance.

With this potential impact on performance, integrity is not only 'nice-to-have' behaviour.

2.4.3. Work ethics

Work ethics refer to the responsibility that individual employees take on when working in the

'community' of an organisation, as they become accountable for their own contribution as

well as the work and results performed by the work group they belong to.

Strong work ethics start with would-be formalities like being punctual, and extend to skills

such as initiative, pro-activeness, work planning, prioritizing and willingness to 'walk the

extra mile' (Agus et al. 2011, Bank Negara Malaysia 2003, Cruez 2003, Sonia 2008).

2.4.4. Achievement orientation

The workplace requires employees to deliver results. Achievement orientation is therefore

essential. It is based on a high level of self-motivation as (particularly today's) workplaces


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call for higher participation in often cross-functional team settings, with multiple

responsibilities but minimal supervision.

Employees, therefore, need to exhibit great inner desire to excel.

2.4.5. Problem-solving and decision-making

While typically tasks and assignments at universities and colleges are readily formulated,

tasks in real workplaces are often not so well defined and clear in the first place. Employees

often need to filter out what is the real problem, what is the actual task at hand. Such

decisions are often the first steps in delivering results or solving problems.

Ability to make decisions, and not to procrastinate or 'hiding behind the bush' are essential in

performing at work.

Coming to decisions and finding solutions requires disciplined application of methodology

and involves also gathering information, searching for alternatives and critical thinking (Agus

et al. 2011), however, not to the extent that analysis leads to paralysis.

2.5. Infusing appropriate skills in graduates

How can graduates, educational institutions, businesses and government ensure appropriate

skills in graduates?

The simple answer: Teach students for employability, not only knowledge.

To ensure appropriate skills in graduates, all the affected parties can contribute: The

educational institutions by including the learning of soft skills in their curricula, the

government by introducing respective policies, regulations, incentives and enforcements, the

businesses by cooperating with the academia to provide their requirements and to enable

training before graduates start their working lives, and last but not least the students

themselves.

Educational institutions need to subscribe to teaching for employability (The Edge Malaysia

2008), to produce graduates that are as 'work-ready' as they can get.

Besides teaching disciplinary 'technical' knowledge through academic methods by lecturers,

this involves instilling social, cognitive and emotional competence.


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Those at universities that still sit in an academic ivory tower (New Sunday Times 2002, New

Straits Times 2004) should realize that “education systems do not exist in social and

economic isolation, but function to meet the particular needs of a particular society at a

particular time” (Maclean & Ordonez, 2007, pp.123-124).

Including soft skills is not "toxic to academic values" (Harvey & Knight 2003) as it actually

complements and even enhances use and application of the subject knowledge. Or as

management scholar Richard Boyatzis (1995 p.51) formulated it fittingly for his field of

expertise: "Graduate management programmes based on the approach of building knowledge

in students are not adequate to prepare people for management."

2.6. Suggestions for employability

To instill generic competencies in students, various researchers and practitioners have made a

number of suggestions, while some of them have already been practiced in or outside

Malaysia.

2.6.1. Explicit personal development programmes during studies

Some researchers suggest that educational institutions adopt stand-alone programmes for

learning "personal development" such as the 14-week course of the same name introduced in

2001 by Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) (Malhi 2009a p.14).

In similar vein has the Singapore Management University (SMU) included a programme in

their curriculum that includes internship, community service and sessions to learn business

etiquette such as meeting, networking, dressing, personal grooming and dining etiquette

(Singapore Management University 2008).

Government's supervisory agencies for the education sector can make such programmes

mandatory, or even offer or sponsor them.

2.6.2. Vocational programmes inbetween studies

An ample extent of stints at 'real' workplaces of private and public employers, such as


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through internships or other practical hands-on placements, bring to mind the practice in the

educational system in some European countries. There, students are required to spend longer

periods at workplaces. The practical work experience from such exposure equips them with

'lessons from real life' and contributes to their raising to become more well-rounded

employees when entering the workforce. These experiences also help to bridge perception

gaps between future employees and employers.

3. Conclusion

High-skilled human capital drives economic growth and innovation.

Workers with the appropriate skill sets do not only possess the functional competencies

specific to their (technical) job area (the 'hard skills') but also hold strong cognitive, social

and emotional competencies - the 'soft skills'. The latter are generic ('transferable')

competencies that are required across practically all workplaces and work environments.

Employers seek employees that have well-rounded skill sets, and this concerns also fresh

graduates. Therefore the institutions of education must complement the teaching in their

respective fields of knowledge with the explicit training of 'generic competencies'. The

resulting enhanced employability has positive impact on graduate employees and employers,

and hence on economy and society.

Failing in this mandate threatens to result in fresh graduates idling, career discontinuity, and

entails re-training, all of which amounts to high cost to those affected.

The seamless transition from education to employment also enables maxed-out application

and implementation of the graduates' stock of academic knowledge while their (academic)

'iron is hot'; ultimately, this contributes also to advancement and promotion of the respective

(academic) field.

All in all, teaching students to employability by adding explicitly soft skill curriculum to

'hard skill' knowledge results in a win-win situation for all involved.

.

..


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ATTACHMENT

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