Mangaluru: The Department of Commerce, St Agnes College (Autonomous), has raised the curtain for a five day certificate course in soft skills for professional competency in collaboration with ‘I brain’ (Intelligent Brain), Bengaluru on 16 July 2015 at 9 am in the college auditorium.
Sr Dr Maria Roopa AC, Joint Secretary and Local Manager of St Agnes Institutions, inaugurated the workshop. In her inaugural address, she said that soft skills play a vital role in achieving professional success. They help one to excel at the workplace and its importance cannot be denied in this age of information and knowledge. Soft skills are elusive, hard to pin down and intangible. They are the personal character traits or qualities that each of us have. They make up who we are, generally encompassing our attitudes, habits and how we interact with our people. They are much less tangible than hard or technical skills and unlike them, you do not learn soft skills by enrolling in a training programme.
In an age when relationship between individuals and organisations are getting more and more complex, it is not enough to have only an excellent IQ. The ability to deal with one’s feelings and understand the feelings of others in any given situation helps one to complement academic intelligence or cognitive capacities with the humane achievement and understanding of issues. This ability is known as emotional intelligence.
“They will enable us with a strong conceptual and practical framework to build, develop and manage teams. They play an important role in the development of our overall personality, thereby enhancing your career prospectus. Training in soft skills provides strong practical orientation and helps in building and improving skills in communication, the effective use of English, business correspondence, presentations, team building, leadership, interviews and inter personal skills. The participants of this workshop are privileged ones. Make the best use of this, good luck,” she added.
Prof Sr M Supriya AC, Principal of St Agnes College Mangaluru, in her presidential address remarked, “Soft skills make a person competent, confident and committed not only at the work place but also at their homes and in the society. It also contributes to their success as responsible citizens of the nation.”
This was followed by a short address by Ronit Nanjappa, Director of I brain, who spoke on the concept of I brain and how it will contribute towards building one’s career. Govind Leeladhara Joshi (Customer Relationship Manager, Yahoo, Germany and a Trainer in I brain) spoke on the need of women leaders in the society and how they are emotionally and intellectually stronger today.
Ajay Kumar (Talent acquisition, TCS Hyderabad and Trainer in I brain) spoke on the relevance of aptitude tests for interviews as well as careers in the corporate world. Dr Devi Prabha Alva, Head of the Department of Commerce and Coordinator of the workshop, welcomed the dignitaries and also extended a warm welcome to the media persons and the participatants. Aishwarya, a final year student of B.Com, delivered the vote of thanks. The inaugural programme was compered by Fazana, Secretary of St Agnes College Commerce Students Association (SACCSA). 154 students of B.Com, BBM, BSc and B.CA participated in the workshop.
Relations between the Individuals and the Organization is the KEY to future success in developing Soft Skills and all the basic necessities of our daily life. The more we educate people and the Institutions is to our advantage. In countries such as India where the population is increasing by the hour, each and every individual has a duty to learn and digest the necessities of life so that our daily challenges are met with timely precautions and preventions.
Talent Acquisition is a good “Terminology” that should be encouraged at all levels. People have so many talents and abilities that need be tapped at all levels and under all circumstances. People such as Dr. Devi Prabha and many others have a strong role to play in the daily societal life in Mangalore where communities are growing with young generation with bright ideas and bright feelings. All that people need in India is a constant touch of knowledge on the daily realities of life so that each person comes forward and extends their hand of help.