SOFT SKILLS- THE KEY SKILLS FOR DEVELOPING AN EFFECTIVE PERSONALITY TO CONQUER IN THE PROFESSIONAL WORLD (Pages 38-45) by Ms. Lily Agarwal in THE ENGLISH INDIA / ISSN: 2321-1172 (Online); 2347-2634 (Print)

Soft Skills also known as life skills or people skills are the behavioral competencies which an individual needs to excel to ensure success in the highly advancing professional world and also equip the person to fit aptly into a social structure. They ensure easy adaptability of a person in the social /professional life. They play a vital role in the professional success of the aspirant and also help to boost the professional life and their importance cannot be denied in this era of globalization and the age of information and knowledge. Inculcating good soft skills enables an individual to compete with the milieu of job seekers with mediocre skills and emerge successful. They also enable an individual to do well in the personal life as well. These are the right combination of psychological, social and interpersonal skills and develop the ability of an individual to develop an adaptive and a positive behavior which enables him to face the challenges of everyday life. Soft Skills include all the skills required to develop an effective personality. These skills are beyond communication skills and include a cluster of abilities and traits related to behavior, attitude and personality, like interpersonal and intrapersonal skills, presentation skills, team building and leadership skills, time management, motivational skills, listening, writing skills and all the other nuances of communication skills including body language etc. critical thinking and problem solving skills, etc.