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The Effects of Generic Competences on Employment Outcomes
--Ronald Lievens and W I E Wesseling
In many OECD countries, youth are experiencing difficulties in obtaining employment after graduation. This paper examines through a longitudinal study whether the development of generic competences, in a work experience scheme, improved their employment status, person-job fit, and job satisfaction. The survey was conducted among 149 trainees, as well as their supervisors, at three points in time. The results indicated that competence mastery and person-job fit differed between participants who left the program early and who completed it, and between those who obtained employment at their training company and those obtained outside their training company. The paper also discusses theoretical and practical implications of these findings. © 2015 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Soft Skills as a Predictor of Perceived Internship Effectiveness
and Permanent Placement Opportunity
--Deepika Dabke
The study aims at examining the association between soft skills of management interns and its impact on the effectiveness perception of industry mentors. Sixty industry mentors, who had one first year management intern under their supervision, were administered a 39- item soft skills questionnaire, based on the framework proposed by Robles (2012). The intern was assessed on 11 soft skills. Each mentor rated the degree to which the intern possessed the specific soft skill on a five-point rating scale. The mentors also indicated their satisfaction with the intern’s quality of work and the degree to which the mentor may consider the intern for final placement. A Pearson’s correlation coefficient indicated that internship effectiveness perception of the mentor was positively associated with all the aspects of soft skills. The possibility of a permanent placement offering was also positively associated with all the aspects of soft skills. A multiple regression analysis indicated that interpersonal skills, courtesy, and positive attitude were positive predictors of internship effectiveness, explaining a variance of 55%. Similarly, professionalism, teamwork, and interpersonal skills emerged as the positive predictors of a chance of being considered for a permanent placement, explaining a variance of 58%. © 2015 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
The Importance of Non-Verbal Communication
--Deepika Phutela
Non-verbal communication regulates relationships and can support or even replace verbal communications in many situations. Different genders and cultures use non-verbal communication differently and these differences can impact the nature of interpersonal communication. Nonverbal communication can become a barrier or tear down barriers to effective communication. According to researchers, non-verbal rules may differ as per the situation, and each situation determines its set of rules. Different types of people have very different yet distinct sets of non-verbal communication behaviors. This paper is an overview of different types of non-verbal communication such as body language, hand movement, facial expressions, and eye contact. Non-verbal communication involves multiple channels, is continuous and more ambiguous in nature, and often contradicts the spoken word. When non-verbal and verbal communications conflict, individuals tend to rely on non-verbal clues as a means to interpret the true meaning of a communication. © 2015 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Soft Skills: A Panacea for Enhancing Engineering Graduates’
Employability in IT Industry
--Priti Vyas and Gajendra Singh Chauhan
Information technology is always volatile as new gadgets and innovation dominate the sector’s constantly shifting environment. In such ever changing landscape, meeting the IT employers’ skills need from the current and emerging IT workers’ skills has been a serious and genuine consideration. Human Resource practitioners and employers still find the graduates lacking or mismatching relevant soft skills competencies required in their job positions. This paper is an empirical investigation to determine how accurately IT students view the soft skills necessary to be a successful IT professional, and how well their perceptions match to those soft skills actually sought in IT market. Further, this study identifies the soft skills necessary to become successful IT professionals and the most common gaps from academia’s perspective. Results from this study can be useful to employers seeking specific work (soft) skills and to students seeking to fulfill the employers’ needs. © 2015 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
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