In the contemporary scenario, education is making major strides away from the erstwhile 'rote learning' which was its primary focus. Now, many companies look for individuals who do not just have a bag full of academic qualifications, but rather skills and experience that they bring with them making them work-ready.

Vasitum, a recruitment start-up, and Talerang, employability and training organisation, recenty conducted a survey about vital career skills for success in the workplace.

The findings revealed that there is a consensus among all about the importance of skill development for jobs. Skill development is no longer a matter of choice. It is inevitable to adapt, survive and succeed.

In parallel to developing and sustaining an academic awareness of one's field, one needs to constantly review the career ecosystem. Adapting skills and attitude is now imperative to succeed in the years to come.

The survey saw maximum participation from millennial's, who are actively employed currently and received feedback from more than 1000 people. About 45.5% are graduates and 31.8% are employed full-time with various companies, but not necessarily having years of experience. About 14.9% are trained professionals who say that they acquired the necessary skill-set on the job and not during their education. This goes to show the skill-gap that the existing education regime needs to address on an urgent basis. Over 86.5% of participants feel that skill development plays an important role in one's career.

Problem-solving emerged as the most important skill with about 64.7%, required for a successful career. Problem-solving is having the competence and capability to gauge an issue and find a way to solve it, rather than wait for things to fall in place. This was followed closely by communication skills at 60.9% and creativity at 57.1%. People also appreciate skills such as teamwork at 55.1%, leadership at 52.6% and negotiation at 24.4%. Individuals who can solve problems are more employable than those who are looking for others to fix things for them. This also means taking logical and matured decisions and doing what is best for the business.

About 47.4% said that their formal education has not much helped to develop skills required for their workplace. Thus, there is a uniform consensus that skill development does play a critical role in the success of one's career. A few competencies that graduates and companies consider important are "Appreciation of diversity and multiculturalism" and "Capacity for generating new ideas."

Only 12.3% said that they were adversely affected by the pandemic and lockdown, as a result of which they had to take a salary cut. Otherwise almost 40.6% claimed that their work was unaffected by the ongoing crisis. About 23.9% feel comfortable switching jobs even in such hard times and believe that job search engines like Vasitum, Linkedin and Naukri.com help to a large extent.

Vikram Wadhawan, Founder & CEO - Vasitum, remarks that "the findings haven't really been eye-opening because it's a long-held opinion about the current education regime and the employment scenario that skill development plays a significant role in making one job-ready".