The Relationship Between Labour Market Core Skills Requirements And University Graduate Soft Skills Competence
[A CASE STUDY OF NORTH-WEST, NIGERIA]

Soft Skills: can be defined as interpersonal, human, people or behavioural skills necessary for applying technical skills and knowledge in the workplace (Rainsbury, Hodges, Burchell & Lay, 2002). James and James (2004) suggested that soft skills are a new way to describe a set of abilities or talents that an individual can bring to the workplace. Some authors describe soft skills as “micro social” skills and categorize them as: intrapersonal and interpersonal skills; personal and social skills; and cognitive skills (Muzio, Fisher, Thomas & Peters, 2007).
Pardy Group (2012) described soft skills as those not closely associated with a specific programme of study (major) or career field but are applicable to all workplaces or careers, and can “transfer” across all disciplines; so often soft skills are referred to as transferable skills. He further described soft skills as the non-technical skills necessary for success in the workplace. Such as interpersonal skills, human relations skills, social skills, organisational management skills, time management skills, critical thinking skills, problem solving skills, and so on. Soft skills are hard to observe, quantify, or measure because they are associated with behaviours and personality traits of an individual.
Ciappei (2015) categorized soft skills as political and ethical skills. This is as presented in figure 4.