Doctoral students in arts and humanities: Soft skills, self-perceived employability, and mindfulness

Abstract

There is a need to examine how doctoral students in Arts and Humanities (A&H) can bolster their psychological capital in seeking employment that can potentially impact future career trajectories. This article reports a study on soft skills and self-perceived employability of A& H doctoral students from universities in select South Asian cities who participated in online mindfulness training (OMT) sessions vis-à-vis a waitlist control group. A&H doctoral students who participated in the OMT sessions reported higher posttest scores on soft skills (self-determination, resilience, empathy, assertiveness, social support, and team work) and self-perceived employability measures. Female A&H doctoral students, ever-singles, and those with higher OMT compliance in terms of attendance and homework completion, gained more on outcomes. With some refinements for male and gender non-disclosing students, those currently married or having experienced marital disruptions, mindfulness programmes could add to competence employability models focusing on strategic self-enhancement to address graduate labour market volatility. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2025.

Keywords

Author Keywords

employability soft skills Arts and humanities Doctoral students Job prospects Mindfulness training

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations

Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, MH, India

Funding & Acknowledgements

No funding information

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Doctoral students in arts and humanities: Soft skills, self-perceived employability, and mindfulness

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