In most of the coaching/training and counseling and talks with individuals, I came across job seekers with and without work experience discussing their skills and career graphs and expressing their concerns about those skills that can help them in their job search and career growth/graphs. 

Unfortunately, most of them did not identify what they lacked in was more to do with 'soft skills'.

According to a study by MIT Sloan, a trial of controlled soft-skills training for 12 months in 5 different factories furnished 250% ROI in eight months. Their soft skills training in time management, teamwork, Critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making made their complex tasks easy. They ultimately improved employee, employer, and business growth.

Importance of Soft Skills 

Soft skills determine your ability to interact and work with individuals or teams. Soft skills even determine your personality and behavior in your day-to-day life. 

They reflect our communication style, working style, and ethics and values we believe and follow both in the workplace and in social life. 

Unlike technical or hard skills, they are not something you'll learn in a course, like data analysis, coding ability, or typing speed. Hard skills are measurable. In comparison, soft skills are non-measurable, subjective, and applied to all individuals in all roles and industries.  

Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

It can be defined as the reasoning abilities of an individual. It is how the individual gauges and handles the situation by applying information and logical thinking. 

• To learn, understand and apply skills, logical reasoning, information is learned, understood, and applied to skills, logical reasoning, calculative, abstract and spatial thinking
• Able to filter out Irrelevant information.

Emotional Quotient (EQ)

Emotional intelligence is also about the ability to analyze, assess, understand and manage self and others' emotions with a positive attitude. 

• Understanding emotional meanings and use facilitating thinking
• Own emotions are identified, evaluated, controlled, and expressed
• Identify others' emotions by means of sense and assess with positive thinking

Emotional intelligence is the buzzword of today's business. Soft skills complement hard skills (the element of a person's 'IQ' , which are the occupational requirements of a job/business and many other activities. And soft skills directly relate to a person's 'EQ'.

Soft skills are behavioral competencies. Also known as interpersonal skills or people skills, they include proficiency such as communication skills, conflict resolution, negotiation, personal effectiveness, creative problem solving, strategic thinking, team building, influencing skills, and selling skills, to name a few. 

Personality traits, social graces, communication, language, personal habits, and relationship management all encompass soft skills.

A person's soft skill, EQ, is an integral part of their individual contribution to the success of an organization/business. Particularly those organizations dealing with customers face-to-face are generally more successful if they train their staff to use these skills. 

Screening or training for personal habits or traits such as dependability and conscientiousness can yield significant Return On Investment (ROI) for an organization/business. For this reason, employers increasingly seek soft skills in addition to standard qualifications.

Key Factors Driving the Indian Soft Skills Training Market

According to the new market research report by IMARC Group, "India Soft Skills Training Market: Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027.' the India soft skills training market is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 15.14% during 2022-2027.

The widespread adoption of soft skill training across various industrial verticals can be attributed to the increasing need to bridge the skill gap amongst professionals in India. 

Additionally, the widespread adoption of online soft skill training programs, especially during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and consequent lockdowns, is propelling the market growth. 

Moreover, the emergence of e-learning platforms and their integration with virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions are impelling market growth. 

Apart from this, the initiatives undertaken by the Government of India (GoI), in alliance with educational institutions to develop collaborative learning methods and training curricula, are contributing to market growth across the country. 

 

This article was contributed by our expert Anuradha Madishetty

Frequently Asked Questions Answered by Anuradha Madishetty

Q1. How do soft skills impact employee performance and productivity? 

Soft skills training helps the employee to focus on enhancing skills such as communication, critical thinking, time management, problem-solving, positive attitude, emotional intelligence, and teamwork. 

It assists employees in developing favorable personality traits and navigating the professional environment to attain personal and business objectives. 

Besides this, it aids in improving customer service, sales, employee retention, and the overall productivity of employees.

Q2. What are the key factors driving the global soft skills training market?

The increasing focus on the holistic development of employees and the rising need for professional individuals with expert interpersonal and communicative skills is primarily driving the global soft skills training market. 

Q3. What are the current trends and dynamics in the soft skills training market? 

The growing requirement to close employee skill gaps is driving the soft skills training market share. Corporate are extensively spending on these types of training to improve its employees' personality skills and communication abilities for their firm's long-term success. According to our soft skills training industry analysis, businesses that invest in soft skills training for their staff are the ones who are rising in revenue and leading their industries. 

According to a recent MIT Sloan research, a 12-month soft skills training program in five separate factories provided a 250% return on investment (ROI) in just eight months. This proves that soft skill training is essential wherever people study or work. 

As a result, many businesses are investing in these types of training, thereby expanding the soft skill training market size. 

However, lack of soft skill training expertise and budget constraints among small and medium enterprises are some factors restricting the soft skills training industry growth. 

Q4. How big is the corporate training market? 

The corporate Training Market in India is a competitive and fragmented space.

The Corporate Training Market in India has been segmented based on industry verticals, courses offered, sector, mode of learning, types of training services, major cities etc.

Companies with experienced faculty and trainers with an established clientele using advanced technology are sought after. Microlearning concepts and technologies like AR/VR, Meta verse and AI-ML is going to be high in future training methodologies and modules.
 
Corporate Training Market India
 
By Industry Verticals
 
IT/ITES industry is the largest contributor to the overall revenue of the corporate training market, followed by Telecom.
 
Others include hospitality, tourism, real estate, etc., and the covid-19 impact was most on these sectors and therefore witnessed a contraction in growth. 

Q5. What are the key regions in the Indian soft skills training market? 

• North India
• West and Central India
• South India
• East India