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%.

Academic internship is an integral part of any management education program. Academic internship is defined as an opportunity to integrate work-related experience into graduate education by participating in scheduled and supervised work (Gault et al., 2010). Littke (2004) defines internships as “real work integrated into the everyday world of the school” (p. 24). The temporary assignment of a project at the work site is a window to the real world of work (Bazzoni, 2000) and can be considered as an important opportunity to hone the technical as well as the soft skills required for goal attainment and organizational success. These Summer Internship Projects (SIP), popularly known as SIP in the Indian management education context, can be considered as a knowledge transfer platform (Narayan et al., 2010). The SIPs that can span from 8 to 14 weeks can assist the students during their actual stint at work (Sagen et al., 2000).

The role of soft skills in the success of a new age manager cannot be underestimated. Caudrin (1999) has shown that while hiring management graduates, organizations look for three most desirable skills: communication skills, interpersonal skills and initiativetaking ability. Thus, soft skills are as important as domain knowledge and conceptual understanding and are given equal importance by corporates today. The current study focuses on the importance of soft skills during the internship and its impact on the overall impression created by the intern on the industry mentor.

Soft Skills Journal, Soft Skills, Predictor, Perceived Internship, Effectiveness, Permanent Placement, Summer Internship Projects (SIP), ITES companies, FMCG companies, Opportunity.