Marketing men and sociologists like to bring people down to a lowest common factor. It helps them sell their products or ideas. Thus, we have had the Baby Boomers, the Millennials, the Peter Pan Generation, Generation We and the Boomerang Generation. Today’s generation is also getting labelled, and it is not particularly attractive. This is Generation Awkward.

Every generation has its awkward moments. So why should the current generation get such a title. According to observers, Facebook, social media and smartphones are putting a premium on virtual existence. In most cases, the ‘friend’ at the other end of a relationship is the genuine thing. But there is no stopping Montu from Murshidabad who wants to masquerade as Monalisa from Montreal.

Away from the Internet — for one must have a life in the real world too — the lack of soft skills is telling. You go for a new job and you don’t know what to say to your colleagues on the first day. You start talking about your Facebook page and promise to make “friends” the next time you are online. But you don’t make a friend in office.

You have learnt the etiquette for writing emails — no capital letters, no flames and no oh-no moments — but you have no clue on how to write a letter to the email-unfriendly HR manager who employed you. (He isn’t really email-unfriendly; he just wants to point out the soft skills you lack.)

According to a Hay Group survey, 74 per cent of recruiters in India say they have hired graduates who lack soft skills. Some 71 per cent believe that less than a quarter of their graduates have the people skills they need. Today’s businesses require collaborative working and that flounders if you lack soft skills. The problem starts with the graduates, who themselves believe they do not need people skills; 77 per cent say they will succeed without them.

Smartphones are also reducing soft skills. It is quite common for users to refuse to take calls from a number they do not recognize. That’s partly because they don’t want to be disturbed by telemarketers. But it is also because the recipient does not know what to say to a stranger. There is an enormous communication gap beyond the first hello. “I think it’s the death of an actual civilized conversation,” says Justine Harman, Elle.com features editor.

Training in such skills can be given at two levels. First is at the institute where you are graduating from. Many colleges, well known for other areas of excellence, are finally making the effort. The placement office of IIT Chennai is offering a training programme on soft skills using the services of two outside agencies.

IIM Ahmedabad has the Leadership Zone Soft Skills Clinic as part of its executive development programme. “The clinic is open to any manager at any level in any function who wishes to develop the seven soft skills which make leaders lead effectively and inspirationally in the quest for barrier-breaking excellence.” It doesn’t come cheap; the course costs Rs 60,000. IIM Calcutta has designed a completely new curriculum for its PGP executive students to develop their soft skills. “This new curriculum will help the PGPEX students to better communicate, negotiate, understand cross-cultural business ethics and help them upgrade their EQ (emotional quotient) which will further help them in their own areas of work.” IIM Bangalore recently held a conference of the Association of Soft Skills Trainers.

All this may not be enough. Companies are doing their bit. Infosys conducts a three-day soft skills workshop — a full-time residential programme at the Infosys campus or that of a host college. Wipro has launched the Wipro Integrated Skill Enhancement Programme to impart communication and soft skills training to undergraduate students, predominantly from non-engineering colleges in India, with the aim of improving their employability.

Meanwhile, more than 1,000 small companies have sprung up to offer soft skills training. Some things don’t take too much skill — soft or otherwise.