Do Soft Skills matter? A Study on Employability of Engineering Graduates in Bangladesh

Abstract

Objective: University graduates in Bangladesh are presently confronted with high job competition. Because of less job availability, engineering graduates are facing more challenges in getting job opportunities than business graduates. Moreover, engineering graduates are more proficient in technical skills than with their human skills. The most important barrier for engineering graduates’ employability at their initial stage of career is that they have less focus on acquisition of their soft skills. Therefore, this study is concentrating to analyse the current situation of the engineering graduates’ soft skills deficiency and to investigate the impact of having soft skills on employability. Methodology:The nature of the study is qualitative and data has been gathered through in-depth interview and Focus Group Discussion (FGD). Respondents of in-depth interview are experienced engineers and HR experts who are working in engineering based organizations especially at the power solution service providing companies in Bangladesh. FGD among final year undergraduate engineering students has also been conducted to validate the interview data. Thematic analysis is used to analyse the qualitative data. Findings:The impact of having soft skills in getting employment of new graduates at the entry level is identified in this paper. Value Added: Higher education can assist in developing employability through increasing employment prospect and also achieving individual learning goals. However, fresh engineering graduates have social skills gap and lack of practical knowledge which can be reduced through acquiring soft skills. Different techniques such as self-training, institutional training, joining language sessions, attending presentation skills development classes and social programs can assist graduates in the acquisition of soft skills. Recommendations: As the most important reason of engineers’ unemployment is the lacking of collaboration between industry and academic institutions, this study focuses to draw the attention of engineering students, educational institutes and policy makers to highlight the importance of developing soft skills for employability and career growth.

Evaluating Rwanda Polytechnic Graduates’ Self-assessment on the Application of Soft Skills in the Workplace.

“…This shows that the application of these soft skills has not yet reached an excellent level. These results are similar to those reported in Bangladesh about teamwork skills (Afroze et al, 2019) and in Malaysia about moral skills (Esa et al, 2014). In these two cases, the application of these interpersonal skills in the workplace were also at low level.…”

Understanding Waiting Time from Graduation to First Employment: Survival Analysis-Based Evidence from Ethiopia

“…In addition, internships can allow students to acquire practical experiences and communication skills which could allow them to manage job interviews that cannot be acquired in classroom settings. e findings of the study by [28][29][30][31][32] support our argument stating that various soft skills such as leadership skills, teamwork skills, communication skills, and solving problems contributed to graduates' integration into work. Between the first 10 and 50 weeks following graduation, the unemployment rate curve for students who attended their selected area of study is consistently lower than that of students who did not attend their preferred field of study.…”

Strategies for Developing Soft Skills Among Higher Engineering Courses

“…Afroze et al (2019) and Chaibate et al (2020) highlight the need for engineers to develop and acquire not only technical skills, skills that we would situate in the hard fields, but also soft skills, skills that do not result directly from learning technical or technical–practical content normally included in the discipline curricula of engineering courses. Chaibate et al (2020) also talk about the need for “hybrid” skills in the professional area of engineering, referring to the need for simultaneous use of several skills and different types.…”

“…It is assumed that academia should rethink the classical models of education and take up the challenge of preparing students for the new challenges of the world of work, training them to solve everyday problems, lead and manage groups, and assume proactivity in ideas and solutions to the problems they will encounter in the work environment (Guerra-Báez, 2019). Afroze et al (2019) and Chaibate et al (2020) highlight the need for engineers to develop and acquire not only technical skills, skills that we would situate in the hard fields, but also soft skills, skills that do not result directly from learning technical or technical-practical content normally included in the discipline curricula of engineering courses. Chaibate et al ( 2020) also talk about the need for "hybrid" skills in the professional area of engineering, referring to the need for simultaneous use of several skills and different types.…”