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Showing posts with the label Soft Skills

MOTIVATION AND GOAL SETTING

Motivation is the process that initiates, controls and sustains goal oriented behaviours. Motivation is what makes us act, whether it is learning how to play football for pleasure or reading a book to gain knowledge. Motivation is often used to describe why a person does something. For example you may be so motivated that you struggle hard to get into the course that you always wanted to study. Motivation is of two types: external and internal. External motivation is a reward or a social achievement or something that encourages us to do our best, for example, the gold medal at the end of the course or the trophy in a reality show. Most people get externally motivated to do the best that they can. Internal motivation is our own happiness or satisfaction in doing a job well, which may not earn us a medal or a trophy. Very few people are internally motivated even through this is the better form of motivation. When the reward is removed, the external motivation vanishes. Since there...

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Emotional intelligence is the ability to deal in a mature and understanding way with others in all situations, however challenging. One requirement for emotional intelligence is what we call self awareness. A person needs to have a sense of self awareness and understanding of his  or her own strengths and weaknesses to be able to handle constructive criticism from others. Being able to maturely handle emotion and exercise restraint is important in all relationships. People who have this ability are said to be self regulated. People who are emotionally intelligent people are also self motivated. They are usually resilient and optimistic when they encounter disappointment and are driven by an inner ambition rather than by other considerations. Those who have empathy are able to connect more easily than others with people around them and they show genuine consideration for others' problems. This ability is important in effective relationships and for crisis management. Peo...

CRITICAL THINKING

Critical thinking refers to the critical interpretation of an issue of artistic, social, political or philosophical importance. The most appropriate description of critical thinking is evaluative thinking. It is used in the logical assessment of situations to arrive at solutions. Critical thinking is one of the most important qualities that an employer seeks in a job seeker/interviewee. Employers list this skill as a job qualification in a broad range of job positions. Critical thinking requires Knowledge  Comprehension Application  Analysis Synthesis  Evaluation  Self questioning and reasoning are crucial in critical thinking. The requirement is basic knowledge through observation, experience, reasoning, reflection or thought communication about the subject or topic. The knowledge acquired or possessed should be comprehended and interpreted in the light of the existing knowledge that you have. Based on this, you need to check how the ideas are orde...

PRESENTATION SKILLS

   You may be asked to carry out presentations at various stages of your university life and career. This may be done as part of your degree for an assessed exam or coursework or as part of the selection process for an interview. You may be given a topic in advance or be given a short amount of time to prepare on the day of the presentation. Below are some guidelines. Who is the audience? Thinking about who your audience is and what they already know about the subject you are presenting can help shape your content. The subject you will be talking on If you have a free Choice, select something you know about and can talk about confidently. If you are given a fixed topic, prepare and research as much as you can. It is better to have too much information to work with and have to cut down accordingly, than not enough. What points do I want to get across? Once you have your information, think about the key aspects you want to get across. Too much informatio...

SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE

Social intelligence is the ability to get along well with others and to get them to cooperate with you when required. Social intelligence is mostly learned. It develops from experience with people and learning from success and failures in social settings. Employees were earlier treated and locked upon as service providers. However, now employees are treated like an organisation's key assets. These changes have come due to companies adopting the applications of social intelligence in their day to day routines at the workplace. In order to lead a meaningful life and in order to connect with others, you need to develop effective skills. In many situations, messages are sent to others via postures, movements, gestures, facial expressions, eye contact, tone of voice, etc. Many tend to believe that only good looks and good clothes are sufficient to send a suitable message across, but it is the personality that counts in effect even though the physical appearance matters, One...

INTERPERSONAL SKILLS

In our day to day life, we have to communicate with one another for our needs. lnterpersonal skills are the most necessary skills in life as we cannot interact or communicate with other people in groups or individually without them. It is found that most organisations and individuals who achieved success have used these interpersonal skills better than others. These skills are not only useful at workplaces but also in one's personal and social lives where you could reap good results in comparison with others who never use interpersonal skills at the right time at the right place. People who have good interpersonal skills are mostly perceived as optimistic, claim, confident, charismatic, dynamic and possessing good leadership qualities. The following are the the characteristics of interpersonal skills: fluent verbal communication good nonverbal communication  positive thinking  negotiation ability  listening ability problem solving skills  stres...

TIME MANAGEMENT

Time is one of the most precious commodities in our lives. There is a proverb that says, 'Time and tide wait for no man'. This shows that it is not possible to retrieve time. Everybody has 24 hours in a day, right from the prime minister of the country to the lowliest peon. How you manage your time and on what activities you spend your time is a very crucial factor in your life. Everybody knows that time is precious but only a few utilise their time previously. Success and failure are based on how you manage your time. Pleasure and pain, stress and relaxation, grief and humour - everything centres around time management. If a student uses his time usefully during his years in college, he will get good marks and a good job with no stress and no pain of failure. Finally he will taste the success of achievement and he will not need to roam around in search of a job. Success and failure are common to everybody's life in this competitive world. Both the achiever and ...