The World Health Organization (WHO) defined life skills as “abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life”. This set of skills learnt through life’s experiences or within a classroom teach people to tackle the everyday challenges of life. They are a variety of behaviours that when used responsibly in personal and professional work yields the most productive results.

Soft skills represent psychologically related social skills, which direct the way a person behaves in a given situation, and include reflective skills. These reflective skills are important in solving problems as they compel the individual to think critically. Such thinking increases self-esteem, and tolerance, which supports the competency to take action based upon accurate decision making ability.

Soft skills are linked to more effective collaboration and reduced retention rates in the workplace, according to studies. The technology and science sectors are particularly keen to employ more people with excellent soft skills. Prior until today, those professions hired people based on their technical and cognitive abilities. Core competencies including mentorship, problem-solving, listening, cooperation, and empathy are crucial to a company’s success, according to multiyear studies on effective management and teams like Google’s Project Oxygen (started in 2009). All this is possible because soft skills focus more on people than the processes.

The major task of Soft skills is to develop and enhance self-awareness skills, communication skills, team work, self-management, and most importantly critical and reflective thinking. However, we need to remember that soft skills are not meant to replace the hard skills, but they are meant to complement each other. That is the real meaning in acquiring soft skills that accelerate the rate of success.

In view of the above argument, we see that Higher Education Institutions have begun to recognise that many graduates are found to be employable because they lack the soft skills needed to keep them in the job where they need effective interpersonal and communication skills to create a cordial work atmosphere. It is these skills that place them in demand within the job market. Thus, we can say that employable graduates should possess competencies that go beyond the classroom. The difference between suitable applicants and ideal candidates is soft skills. Building relationships, increasing visibility, and expanding career chances all depend on soft skills.

The cornerstone of developing behavioural skills or soft skills lies in Effective Communication, both verbal and non-verbal. Communication paves the way for healthy relationships with our colleagues, employers, clients and others. What we communicate may be important, but how we communicate is crucial, and this is best enhanced with appropriate Soft skills training.