To fit into any industry, candidates need both functional and people skills, with functional skills being more important for junior roles and people skills for more senior roles. However, self-awareness and a proactive attitude are the most important qualities at any level as they help with change management, crisis management, and decision making. While soft skills are important, non-subject thinking skills are also valued by many companies, who use aptitude tests rather than just interviews to assess skills like logical thinking and problem solving under pressure. However, some company tests are not scientifically designed. Technical skills are important for junior roles where candidates do technical work, and for specialist career tracks where strong existing knowledge and creativity are valued. Both soft

1. Soma Pal
Fitting into the Industry
To fit into any industry, a candidate (fresher or lateral hire) needs to have the right mix of
functional and people skills. Functional skills are more critical at the junior roles and people
skills become more critical as one goes up the ladder. However, the most important thing that
is required, irrespective of role and level, is ‘self-awareness and ‘proactive attitude’. The two
qualities prepare a role-holder for change management, crisis management, and decision
making. Self-awareness makes a person realize her potential and areas of improvement;
proactive attitude makes the person take preventive steps and think about possibilities
(negative and positive) rather than wait for things to be told to her.
Soft-skills are not the only requirement to be absorbed. However, non-subject related
thinking skills are important. That is why most corporate organizations conduct aptitude tests,
rather than just subject related interviews/ tests. For instance, a time-bound logical thinking
test that uses pictures rather than subject-problems will check how comfortable and
competent the person is in solving unstructured and unfamiliar problems in a crisis situation.
We believe a person who scores well in such unstructured tests is more likely to be a better
manager. (However, unfortunately, many corporate organizations use logical thinking tests
that are unscientifically made rather than use those that follow the principles of psychometric
testing. This does not give a representative picture of the candidate’s capabilities.)
Technical skills are important at two levels: First, at a junior level, they are important because
most organizations give technical tasks to the freshers, rather than managerial tasks and
therefore they do the selection based on scores, aptitude tests and technical interviews.
Secondly, it becomes important if a person wants to have specialist career tracks, e.g. if the
person wants to be a designer rather than a project manager. In these cases, most MNCs
conduct stringent tests that not only check a person’s existing technical knowledge, but also
potential for technical creativity/ innovation.
I really wouldn’t want to compare soft skills with technical skills. Both are important and they
are very different from each other. Both are needed for different types of problem solving. For
those who wish to go for operational jobs, soft skills are more important; for those who wish
to go for specialist roles, technical skills will be more important. It all depends on what the
individual has as a career goal.