What is soft skills

“Soft skills” is one of the fashionable terms floating around these day. This is the important things that everyone need and must have nowdays. ‘Skill’ as defined by the Oxford Dictionary is “The ability to do something well”. Soft skills normally referred as ‘‘people skills,’’. They are not easily taught although they are very much needed in life. These skills can be typically categorized into three major categories namely, personal attributes, interpersonal skills, and problem solving and decision making skills. There are no specific skills that are listed as ‘‘Soft’’skills, the Malaysian Institute of Higher Learning interprets soft skills as incorporating aspects of generic skills which include non-academic skills. Soft skills also refer to wide-ranging personal and interpersonal skills. Academic and technical skills can be more easily defined, observed and measured. However, the measurement of personal and interpersonal skills requires complex factors. These are difficult to define, observe and measure and hence they are intangible. Vast research and expert opinions have been sought in the effort to determine the specific soft skills to be implemented and used in higher institutions of learning. Based on the research findings obtained, seven soft skills have been identified and chosen to be implemented in all institutions of higher learning here. They are communication skills, critical thinking and problem solving skills, team work, leadership skill, lifelong learning and information management skills, entrepreneurship skills, and ethics, professional and moral skills.

Each of the above soft skills comprised of several sub skills. These sub skills are divided into two categories of implementation. The first category is the soft skills that are every individual must have which is acquired every individual and the second category represents soft skills that are good to have which is an additional generic skill and bonus for those who have it.