Employability Skills and Workplace Practices
Employability Skills and Workplace Practices
This domain tests the non-technical competences an employer expects: communication, documentation, teamwork, safety culture, basic labour-law entitlements and digital working.
Core rules
- Communication: clear spoken instructions, active listening, confirming a job brief in writing, using drawings and checklists instead of memory.
- A resume lists qualifications, trade skills, tools handled, safety training and references; an interview answer should give a real situation, the action taken and the result.
- Digital skills: email with a clear subject line, PDF attachments, spreadsheets for job costing, messaging etiquette, protecting customer data.
- Workplace behaviour: punctuality, PPE, reporting near-misses, refusing unsafe work, cooperating with other trades.
- Entitlements: minimum wages, working hours, overtime, PF at 12% of basic plus DA by employee and employer, ESI at 0.75% employee and 3.25% employer, gratuity, POSH protection.
- 5S and Kaizen: small continuous improvements from the shop floor.
- Green skills: safe disposal of lamps, batteries, cable offcuts and transformer oil; energy conservation.
Worked example
An employee has basic pay ₹12 000 and DA ₹3 000, gross ₹15 000. PF = 12% of (basic + DA) = 0.12 × 15 000 = ₹1 800 employee deduction; the employer contributes a matching ₹1 800. ESI employee share = 0.75% of gross = ₹112.50. If take-home is quoted ignoring PF, the offer looks ₹1 800 higher than it really is.
Traps that cost marks
- Calculating PF on gross pay instead of basic plus DA.
- Writing a resume with no trade-specific skills or safety training.
- Saying I will try instead of confirming scope, time and materials.
- Treating PPE as optional on a quick job.
- Forgetting that employer PF and ESI contributions are additional to salary, not deductions from it.