Developing life changing soft skills for university students

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY SKILL DEVELOPMENT REPORT DEVELOPING LIFE CHANGING SOFT SKILLS FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS Group 10 Class PPHE101(1+2 2/2021)CLC 3 Academic year[.]

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY

SKILL DEVELOPMENT REPORT DEVELOPING LIFE-CHANGING SOFT SKILLS

FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Group : 10 Class : PPHE101(1+2.2/2021)CLC.3 Academic year : 2020-2021

Lecturer : Ph.D Pham Thi My Dung

Ph.D Hoang Anh Duy

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY

SKILL DEVELOPMENT REPORT

DEVELOPING LIFE-CHANGING SOFT SKILLS

FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Group : 10 Class : PPHE101(1+2.2/2021)CLC.3 Academic year : 2020-2021

Lecturer : Ph.D Pham Thi My Dung

Ph.D Hoang Anh Duy

June, 2021

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT 4

INTRODUCTION 5

I, Rationale 5

II, Objective 5

III, Scope of study 5

LITERATURE REVIEWS 6

I, Definition of soft skill 6

II, Basic soft skills 6

1 Time-management skill 6

2 Teamwork skill 8

3 Communication skill 8

4 Presentation skill 10

III, Importance of soft skills 10

IV, Where to get soft skills? 11

METHODOLOGY 13

I, Approaches 13

II, Procedure 13

FINDINGS & ANALYSIS 15

I, Story 15

II, Analyze the story 16

III, Applied skills in video-making process 18

1 Time-management skill 18

2 Teamwork skill 18

3 Communication skill 19

RECOMMENDATION 20

CONCLUSION 21

APPENDIX 22

REFERENCES 23

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ABSTRACT

Soft skills are skills that are not associated with professional knowledge but related to human intelligence, personality, and emotions As a matter of fact, soft skills are essential elements in work and life It is our group’s honor to learn 3 necessary skills, which are Teamwork, Communication, and Time Management in the Skill Development Class of Mr Hoang Anh Duy and Ms Pham Thi My Dung This course also gives us a wonderful opportunity to put knowledge gained into practice by doing a video project about how soft skills change our lives

The idea for our video stems from a real situation in our macroeconomics class Some

of the teams in our class made a failed presentation for their mid-term test and could not get a high score We realize that the failure is due to the lack of essential soft skills It is wondered why some students have been taught about soft skills but still can not apply them in their studies, as well as in life One of the main reasons is the fact that they barely practice it Our video project will tell about the changing process of a group of students with different personalities but they have one thing in common: the lack of crucial soft skills Through the video, we would like to deliver an important message:

“Learning soft skills is an active process We learn it by doing And only by doing, can

it change our lives.”

In this report, we would like to present how the video has been handled to finish The following parts will be about Introduction, Literature ReviewS, Research Methodology, Findings and Analysis, Recommendation, Conclusion, and Appendix

I Rationale

It is believed that skills play a crucial part in our life Students nowadays usually apply hard skills easily and efficiently, however most of them can hardly use soft skills effectively under specific circumstances even though some schools and universities have recently started teaching personal as well as interpersonal skills besides traditional subjects Having acknowledged this, our story aims to raise people’s awareness of the importance of these skills in improving our own growth

III Scope of study

- Execution time: From May to June, 2021

- Location: Members’ houses, Messenger app, Teams app

- Implementer: 10 members of Group 10 from class English 01, 02 and 03 quality International Business Administration – PPHE101.2 (57-2/1819)

High Video length: 14 minutes and 59 seconds

- Language: English

- Report: 23 pages (including cover pages)

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I Definition of soft skill

Nowadays, soft skills are a crucial aspect to decide the success or failure of any people, especially in work and profession Soft skills (also known as social skills) is a term related to emotional intelligence that refers to essential life skills such as communication skills, communication & presentation skills creative thinking skills

Alison (2020), stated that soft skills relate to how you work Soft skills include interpersonal (people) skills, communication skills, listening skills, time management, and empathy, among others Hiring managers typically look for job candidates with soft skills because they make someone more successful in the workplace Someone can be excellent with technical, job-specific skills, but if they can't manage their time or work within a team, they may not be successful in the workplace

II Basic soft skills

1 Time-management skill

Time management is the practice of meticulously planning and organizing time for each specific activity until all objectives are met Because time is limited, the more effective your time management abilities are, the more time you will have The efficiency of time management is measured by the outcome of the task completed rather than the speed with which it was completed

This process includes 4 main steps:

- List and prioritize tasks by day, week and month based on goals and work and life orientation

- Measure and estimate the time it takes to complete the set tasks

- Make a detailed plan, determine the order of priority to work each day

- Implement and stick to the set plan

Each of the above time management steps has tools, techniques, and skills to help form

an effective time management process that is suitable for the nature of each person's work and life What you need to do is know how to use tools to support effective time management (Indeed, 2021)

Here are some common tools used to manage time:

• Deadline: A deadline is a time or date before which a particular task must be finished

or a particular thing must be done Use the deadline for every task of your work or your study, then make sure you do not pass that, the result is you will not miss or delay any tasks of your work This is the most common tool that many companies and schools use

to manage the time or the process of the job

• Timetable: It’s very common for people to have a timetable for their job and school,

but the majority of people ignore the potential of it If you can make a detailed timetable, you can make your work in time management a lot easier There are some apps nowadays that help you to make your Timetable optimal and effective such as google calendar, Trello, sunrise, etc 16 Finding Glory

• The priority matrix (SWOT, Eisenhower): It enables you to work out what to do first,

and what can be left either until later or not done at all For example, if you leave an urgent but unimportant task, you may find that it becomes unnecessary

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2 Teamwork skill

Teamwork is also known as group work Refers to the process of coordination, interaction, and collaboration between two or more people in the same organization By dividing the common work into smaller parts, each person will be assigned the right task with their expertise or strength to complete the work quickly and with high efficiency The members of a Team often share the same expertise

Working well in a group entails:

- Working well with a group of individuals to reach a common purpose or end;

- Attending to the needs of other team members;

- Considering everyone's thoughts, not just your own;

- Working for the good of the entire group;

- Having a say and shouldering some of the blame;

- A successful team is one in which each member's unique abilities and strengths contribute to the team's success (Youth Employment UK, 2020)

3 Communication skill

Communication is a process of exchanging information between senders and receivers

to achieve goals Perhaps the most crucial life skill is the ability to communicate effectively It is what allows us to communicate with others and comprehend what is said to us To appreciate how fundamental the desire to communicate is, just watch a baby listening carefully to its mother and trying to imitate the sounds she makes

At its most basic level, communication is the act of transmitting information from one location to another It can be expressed verbally (using the voice), written (using printed

or digital media such as books, magazines, websites, or emails), graphically (using logos, maps, charts, or graphs), or non-verbally (using symbols, maps, charts, or graphs) (using body language, gestures and the tone and pitch of voice)

According to Masterclass (2021), learning to communicate effectively is a simple procedure that helps you to express yourself while also improving your personal and professional relationships Knowing how to listen carefully and clearly will aid you in expressing yourself in job interviews, business meetings, and in your personal life

The “ABC principle” in communication:

• Accuracy

• Briefvity

• Clairity

The 7Cs (5Cs) in communication:

1 Clear: The message should be clear and easily understandable to the

recipient The purpose of the communication should be clear to sender then only the receiver will be sure about it The message should emphasize on a single goal

at a time and shall not cover several ideas in a single sentence

2 Correct: The message should be correct, i.e a correct language should be

used, and the sender must ensure that there is no grammatical and spelling mistakes Also, the message should be exact and well-timed The correct messages have a greater impact on the receiver and at the same time, the morale

of the sender increases with the accurate message

3 Complete: The message should be complete, i.e it must include all the

relevant information as required by the intended audience The complete information gives answers to all the questions of the receivers and helps recipient make better decisions

4 Concrete: The communication should be concrete, which means the message

should be clear and particular such that no room for misinterpretation is left All the facts and figures should be clearly mentioned in a message so as to substantiate to whatever the sender is saying

5 Concise: The message should be precise and to the point The sender should

avoid lengthy sentences and try to convey the subject matter in the least possible words The short and brief message is more comprehensive and helps in retaining the receiver’s attention

6 Consideration: The sender must take into consideration the receiver’s

opinions, knowledge, mindset, background, etc in order to have an effective communication In order to communicate, the sender must relate to the target recipient and be involved

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7 Courteous: It implies that the sender must take into consideration both the

feelings and viewpoints of the receiver such that the message is positive and focused at the audience The message should not be biased and must include the terms that show respect for the recipient

Presentation skills and public speaking talents are not limited to certain groups of people; anyone may give a solid presentation or conduct public speaking at a professional and outstanding level This, like most specialties, necessitates preparation and practice Presentation formats and purposes can vary greatly, for example, oral (spoken), multimedia (using multiple media - images), and so on Oral (spoken), multimedia (using various media - visuals, audio, etc), powerpoint presentations, short impromptu presentations, long planned presentations, educational or training sessions, lectures, and simply giving a talk on a subject to a group on a voluntary basis for pleasure are all examples of presentation formats and purposes (Alan, 2020)

III IMPORTANCE OF SOFT SKILLS

Most managers and employers complain that young employees are too weak in soft skills, unable to meet job requirements despite having very good qualifications

80% of an individual's success is due to soft skills, not hard skills In fact, the training

of soft skills has not been included in the mainstream curriculum in schools, while its importance has been paid little attention by students accounting principles course

As a student, in addition to mastering professional knowledge at school, you need to be aware of the importance of soft skills right from the time you sit in school

Employers place a great deal of importance on soft skills, because studies show that they are a very effective measure alongside traditional job skills or so-called hard skills So

if you possess soft skills, that is an advantage before employers

If there is a lack of soft skills, it will lead to the risk of job loss and at the same time difficult to get a promotion at work

Dom (2019) said that: “Soft skills refer to both character traits and interpersonal skills that will influence how well a person can work or interact with others The term soft skills covers a wide range of skills as diverse as teamwork, time management, empathy and delegation

The importance of these soft skills is often undervalued, and there is far less training provided for them than hard skills such as coding Organizations seem to expect people

to know how to behave on the job and the importance of skills such as taking initiative, communicating effectively and listening, which often is not the case.”

IV WHERE TO GET SOFT SKILLS?

Because of their rising importance, the need to teach soft skills has become a major

of learning or improving soft skills One way is enrolling for formal training, e.g taking evening classes, languages, presentation skills, conflict or cultural management This is

a well-proven concept with the advantage of having some kind of certificate at the end

of the course, which might come in handy for job applications The slight sarcasm in the last sentence is intentional, because it is not always guaranteed that a certain course actually successfully enhanced a person’s soft skills

The other way of acquiring soft skills we looked at is self-training, usually based on books and one’s own experiences Changing personal traits often requires long-term practice and therefore self-training might be more useful for learners Additionally, during the last decade another method of selftraining has become increasingly popular: Electronic Learning, usually abbreviated to e-learning Another very pleasant way of self-training one’s soft skills is frequent socialising with friends, colleagues and other members of society This may sound astonishing, but meant here is socialising

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already that in this way we can improve our small talk capabilities, but there are a lot more soft skills especially related to Communication skills, which can be practiced while chatting and discussing with others in an informal manner: e.g language proficiency in general, listening, discussing, etiquette, self-esteem, or body language