Experts urge students to sharpen soft skills

To be adequately prepared for the world of work, Senior Manager, People Performance and Culture, KPMG Nigeria, Edememe Oladiji-Wusu, has urged students to sharpen their soft skills.

While speaking at Anchor University’s Accounting and Finance Day 2022, themed, ‘Enhancing employability skills of business graduates in the competitive market,’ Oladiji-Wusu said technical skills are no longer sufficient in the market place and emhasised the need to compliment them with soft skills.

She explained that soft skills, including creativity, persuasion, collaboration, adaptability, time management, willingness to learn, dependability and communication skills, are personal attributes that help one thrive in the workspace.

According to her, a survey from LinkedIn in 2019 suggested that 91 per cent of Human Resource (HR) professors agree that soft skills are important to the future of recruiting, while 92 per cent say soft skills matter as much as, or more than hard skills.

Oladiji-Wusu called on the students to embrace internship opportunities, update their curriculum vitae regularly and express themselves appropriately.

She stressed the need to be active on social media, especially LinkedIn to boost their professional journey. She gave an instance of people, who, through the app, had been opportuned and mentored.

Dean, Faculty of Social and Management Sciences, Prof Olushola Oyero, said the programme was aimed at exposing students to industry standards, so they could fit into the workplace and also help the school upgrade its curriculum.

He noted that Nigeria has challenges with employability, adding though there are threats of artificial intelligence taking over jobs, people would remain relevant, as they are needed to programme the devices.

According to Oyero, accounting and finance are things that every human cannot do without as one major reason businesses fail is because they lack accounting skills.