Companies hiring MBA graduates are increasingly looking for candidates with strong soft skills, a report published by QS last month reveals. And this should serve as a wake-up call for MBA candidates in Asia. Students from this part of the world attending business school often don't take soft skills as seriously as they should.
But saying that soft skills are increasingly important does not mean that hard skills - marketing, finance, and IT - no longer matter. It is simply assumed by companies that MBA graduates will be strong in these areas, so interpersonal skills, communication skills, strategic thinking and leadership are what are needed to give candidates a competitive edge.
Students in Asia, where about half of the respondents to the survey were located, have traditionally been strong in hard skills and weak in soft skills, says Ross Geraghty, managing editor, TopMBA.com.
'MBA programmes globally have taken this demand on board, and many top business schools are attempting what can be a tricky balancing act - shoring up MBA's soft skills while, simultaneously, trying to firm up the traditional knowledge that MBAs will need,' Geraghty says. 'After all, a great communicator with little idea of financial models is going to severely limit their job opportunities when leaving business school.'
Many MBA candidates in Asia fail to appreciate the importance of soft skills, looking upon the effort spent developing them as a waste of time. 'According to recruiters, too many business school graduates hit the job market lacking the demanded skills that go beyond the qualification,' Geraghty says.
According to Nigel Banister, CEO and chief global officer at the Manchester Business School Worldwide, two of the biggest trends over the past couple of years are growing globalisation and the consistent growth in part-time programmes.