To equip the prospective graduates to be able to compete with other universities’ graduates, Universitas Diponegoro had held a Soft Skills training Webinar on Thursday (16/09) at 09.00 GMT+7 through the Zoom meeting platform.

The Soft Skills training webinar had the theme “Hit the Job Market, Improve your Soft Skills”. The event which was attended by hundreds of prospective Undip graduates was also attended by the Vice Rector I for Academic and Student Affairs, Prof. Budi Setiyono, S.Sos., M.Pol.Admin., Ph.D., the Dean of the Faculty of Psychology Undip, Prof. Dian Ratna Sawitri, S.Psi., M.Sc., Ph.D., the Director of Academic Affairs for Student Affairs and Alumni, Hanifa Maher Denny, S.KM., MPH., Ph.D., the Vice Director of Student Affairs and Alumni, Dr. Nuswantoro Dwiwarno, S.H., M.H., the Head of the Academic and Student Administration Bureau, Edy Surahmad, S.Pd., M.Sc., and also invited the Director of Human Resources of PT Pelindo III, Edi Priyanto.

In his remarks, the Vice Rector I for Academic and Student Affairs, Prof. Budi Setiyono, S.Sos., M.Pol.Admin., Ph.D., welcomed the soft skills briefing webinar for prospective Undip graduates. “On behalf of the University’s leaders, we welcome and are very pleased with this initiative activity carried out this morning,” said Prof. Budi. That webinar was a form of Undip’s concern for prospective graduates. So that, they would have provisions that can later be used in their careers.

“This is a form of concern from the university towards students. So that, they can have good careers in the future, become useful, useful people, and contribute to solving various problems that exist in our society, nation and country or even mankind throughout the world. “, explained Prof. Budi.

Prof. Budi hoped that the activity could strengthen the identity and abilities of prospective graduates against various kinds of challenges and obstacles that would later be faced in the world of work. So, it was necessary to have various kinds of competency skills, not only hard skills but also soft skills.

“The ability to master the soft skills cannot be taken easily. If someone succeeds in life, it is not only because of the hard skills. Yet, we need the touches of soft skills”, added Prof. Budi.

As previously known, the Covid-19 pandemic had caused an era of disruption for all fields of work. Prof. Dian Ratna Sawitri, S.Psi., M.Sc., Ph.D., said that there were several fields of work with disrupted physical proximity, including health, tourism, office work, classroom teaching and training. With the disruption, there would be several replacement jobs. “What will be faced later will be different from 5 years ago. The future of work after Covid-19 will have Remote Work, Digitization, and Automatization,” said Prof Dian.

Prof. Dian added that although in general some meetings were currently conducted online/virtually, it was expected that the networking would continue. Besides, prospective graduates were expected to always update their personal data history. “It is important to update the resume. Both in statically written information and through the activities you do, such as an internship at a company,” said the Dean of the Faculty of Psychology. That would make it easier for others to understand us.

Another thing that needed to be adjusted according to Prof. Dian was to be prepared with a different pattern of employee recruitment from the year before the Covid-19 pandemic, for example, virtual/online tests and interviews. Then, prepare yourself with the working from home conditions or working remotely to stay productive.

HR Director of PT Pelindo III, Edi Priyanto (left), Vice Director of Student Affairs and Alumni, Dr. Nuswantoro Dwiwarno, S.H., M.H. (middle), and the Dean of the Undip Faculty of Psychology, Prof. Dian Ratna Sawitri, S.Psi., M.Sc., Ph.D. (right), during a question and answer session with Undip prospective graduates.

The era of disruption in the field of work that had occurred had caused prospective graduates to worry about their future careers. HR Director of PT Pelindo III, Edi Priyanto, said that he should consider work as part of worship. “Think of work as part of worship, so that every time we work we always carry the intention to benefit others by providing the best solution,” said Edi.

Furthermore, according to Edi Priyanto, there was a need for disruptive innovation to deal with the current industrial disruption, one of which was teamwork or collaboration. “The current era requires collaboration. So, those who are not familiar with teamwork must start learning because nowadays every activity requires collaboration,” explained Edi.

In addition, there was a need for communication and critical thinking. Collaborative activities, communication, and critical thinking would give birth to a creativity-innovation. With the current conditions, forming soft skills could still be done online/virtually.

Edi added that the soft skills that prospective graduates needed to possess included Communication, Self Motivation, Leadership, Responsibility, Teamwork, Problem Solving, Decisiveness, Time management, Flexibility, and Negotiation.

Source: undip.ac.id