Guest Writer

The significance of soft skills

For hospitality industry professionals working in guest facing roles, soft skills are often the foundation of excellent customer service, writes Vaibhav Pradhan

The term ‘soft skills’ is a catch-all phrase that is often used to describe an employee's non-technical skills and abilities. Attributes such as being able to solve problems, working well in a team environment, and motivating others are the kind of characteristics that are usually grouped into this category. In the unique context of the hospitality industry, especially in front-line or front-of-the-house roles, soft skills are often the foundation of excellent customer service. Although most hospitality industry jobs involve some level of technical skill, many hiring managers in the field see the technical aspect of the job as being of secondary importance.

Technical abilities may be important to get jobs in the initial years of one’s career, but when it comes to growing in an organisation it is one’s personality that counts, especially on a large platform where people with similar technical expertise, proficiency and competitiveness are vying for promotions.

The training aspect

In a country like India, ‘soft skills’ training becomes even more important since the education system does not include personality development anywhere in its stream of academic curricula. Corporate houses are forced to invest more and more on soft skills training in order to groom their employees to present themselves in a better manner and improve their performance.

Nowadays companies recruit employees not merely considering their technical expertise but also after seeing how proficient they are in portraying their soft skills. A high premium is placed on individuals having both technical abilities as well as the requisite soft skills in the present, rapidly growing and competitive corporate world.

Technical skills can be taught, and although soft skills can often be improved, there is really no substitute for a candidate who has a natural flair for things like exemplary customer care, a team-oriented outlook, and effective communication skills. In fact, according to Bonnie J Knutson, professor in the School of Hospitality Business at the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University, managers in the hospitality industry often make a point of ‘hiring the attitude’, rather than focusing solely on a candidate's experience or technical skill set.

As globalisation and competitiveness become the benchmark of any multinational organisation, it becomes obviously important for employees to be equipped with good soft skills. This is all the more true for India being a prominent hub for outsourcing manpower. In other words, corporate responsibility should extend into ensuring that this basic need of soft skills for newly inducted sets of employees to remain employable, is met in a planned and effective manner. Otherwise, the loss will be borne by both the employers and the employees.

However, from an industry-specific standpoint, soft skills that enhance a candidate's ability to provide excellent customer service will probably be most attractive to a hiring manager. Service quality is enormously important in the hospitality industry; in fact, recent market research ranks it among the top three factors that customers consider when selecting a hotel or restaurant.

Keeping this in mind, you should emphasise soft skills that relate directly to your ability to provide excellent guest service. If you have past experiences that have helped you cultivate flexibility, diplomacy, personal effectiveness, negotiation, persuasion, empathy, decision- making, and other similar attributes, make it your mission to get these points across in your interview. From a broad perspective, hiring managers in the hospitality industry are likely to be impressed by the same type of soft skills that are in demand in every industry. Simply put, candidates who convincingly display characteristics such as leadership, teamwork, conflict management, problem solving, creativity, and communication skills are always going to have a sizable edge in the hiring process.

Vaibhav Pradhan is HOD - Hospitality Management, IMC of ITI Karjat