Soft skills for employability from lecturers’ perspectives

The Hard and Soft skills that aid in situation assessment are Critical Thinking skills. Critical thinking (CT) skills especially Soft skills is reportedly a job barrier in Malaysia. Even though CT has been a part of the school curriculum since the 1990s and reached the university level in 2008, employers assert that Malaysian graduates lack soft skills. In addition, the Malaysian government has encouraged the use of CT skills in higher education institutions through the introduction of Soft skills, which include communication skills, problem solving and thinking skills, continuous learning skills and information management skills, work in group skills, leadership skills, entrepreneurship skills and professional ethics. This study focuses on the Soft skills for graduates’ employability through three objectives: to investigate the Soft skills needed by graduates, to check whether graduates have the soft skills needed for employment, and whether these skills are being taught at university. The research methodology consists of a survey aimed at lecturers at the Language Centre, National Defence University of Malaysia (NDUM), following a mixed model approach. The online survey has both close and open-ended questions and is analysed using SPSS v.25.0 and manual thematic analysis. Results indicate that the most wanted Soft skills are Communication Skills, Problem Solving and Thinking Skills, and Teamwork Skills. Lecturers agree that graduates or new employees need to be equipped with the Soft skills needed for employment and they perceive those skills are taught at the university. The lecturers agree on the importance of Soft skills, and this is supported by the overall findings. This research suggests that the higher educational institutions to teach the Soft skills either through a course specifically for Soft skills or integrated into courses to meet employers’ needs.