Importance of Soft Skills on Employability of Finance Graduates

Abstract

BSc Finance is a recently introduced degree program by many National Universities in Sri Lanka. Hence it is important to know what skills are required by Finance graduates in order to make them employable. Our emphasis here is on soft skills. A survey was conducted to gather data from employers regarding required soft skills of graduates. The employers ranked quality of work, ability to meet deadlines, positive attitudes towards work, and self confidence as "very high" in importance. Motivation to learn, ability to manage stress, motivation to develop skills, ability to work independently, maturity in making decisions, team playing spirit, computer literacy a, IT literacy, creativity, innovativeness, general behavior, grooming and readiness were ranked as .' high ". Good academic records were ranked "very high" and professional qualifications were ranked "high ". Extra curricular activities were ranked "moderate "and gender, marital status and family background was ranked "very low".