You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Nowadays, some employees give increasing importance to employing people with social skills in addition to good qualifications. So it is widely accepted that social skills are as important as good qualifications. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
You should write at least 250 words.
Sample Answer
In modern hypercompetitive labour force environment, employers are seeking for candidates with high capabilities to develop their companies, and under this circumstance, people with strong interpersonal skills are tending to be more favourable. However, good qualification still matters and it is also an indispensable factor.
Traditionally, once an individual acquires a good qualification, he or she is most likely to get a stable and high paid job, however, this kind of standard is gradually no longer able to catch up the society with a high developing pace. Personal and social skills, such as being able to communicate and exercise self-control as well as being multi-functional and having the correct level of self-esteem, are becoming more important in determining earnings and job promotions. Because in today’s highly shifting economy, even capable people are less prone to work as individuals, they tend to beat their competitors as a team, which means individuals must smoothly cooperate with each other.
However, good qualifications still matter and it has already been found that a top university degree is still more attractive than a normal one in the labour force market. This means good qualifications should be harnessed to build a stronger team to battle in the modern changing structure of business. A world-class group, for example, cannot have a lack of people with high qualifications as well, without them, it is less likely to build a firm foundation to compete with their rivals.
As a whole, it is true that lacking certain qualification may be a drawback for an individual. However, I believe this weakness can be easily made up by one’s excellent social skills as long as he is very good at motivating team members and uniting others’ strength to fulfil targets.
[ Written by – Phoenix Xu ]