The need for integrating emotional intelligence as an essential skill for graduates with special reference to employability of engineering graduates

Abstract

Emotional intelligence has now become one of the preeminent qualifiers for professional success. A graduate who is selected for a job aspires to rise to greater levels; contribute towards sustainable growth of the organisation, while a bad recruit paves the way towards expenditure and unexpected loss to an organization. Many leading technology driven organisations like Google count more on Emotional Intelligence as required skill as against the academic excellence or school from where the student has graduated from. This paper focuses on empirical comparison of emotional intelligence of Graduates as against their capacity to handle their first job, the research was conducted on 200 engineering graduates who have recently taken up their first job in the corporate world. The data has been collected using a questionnaire method each consisting of questions which are directly aimed to analyse the preparedness to perform in their first job. The analysis includes psychological state and behavioural analysis of these Graduates.Dimensions like Self-awareness, Self- management, Self-discipline, social -awareness, effective communication and Attitude have been taken into consideration for the analysis. The findings and suggestions in this paper can be recommended to educational institutions in preparing their students with equal importance to subject knowledge. Results show that emotional skill is the key to handle practical situations and stress with the right attitude in their first job, this skill can help them become better contributors at work in the long run.