7 Skills to Master While in College to Boost Employability Chances: As a college student, you have vast opportunities open right in front of you. This is your chance to learn plenty of skills to build an edge in the job market. However, just a college or university degree will not be sufficient to land a dream job anymore. You will need additional skills that make you flexible and employable across different jobs, some of which may not be even in existence today. The good news is there are some universal skills that any student can master, and stay relevant in a competitive and fast-changing job market. Let us look at the top 7 skills that can make a difference:
1. Learn Coding and Computer Skills:
Numerous business stalwarts have rated coding as the single most important skill that will boost your employability in the future. Look around you, and you will learn the reason why: there is an app for everything. Every business process is computerized, and moving into the ‘clouds’.
There is really no excuse for not learning this skill when you can learn to code free. Besides coding, you could also learn graphic design and basic web designing.
2. Numeracy and Quantitative Skills:
A facility to work with hard numbers and logically interpret data is a universally needed skill – irrespective of your primary job description. Buyer statistics, financial information, budgeting, allocating finances, ordering supplies – you cannot escape these activities in any form of business. At the very least, you would still need to calculate your taxes and holiday time!
A command on number skills also indicates the candidate’s critical thinking and reasoning abilities that every prospective employee will value.
If your core courses do not include subjects like statistics or analytics, check whether you could pick an elective course.
3. Polish Your Interview Skills:
Scoring an interview and then performing well in the discussions is an important skill if you want to land any job. Start practicing early to excel in a face-to-face interview situation. The speaking skills that you have already developed will come in handy – as will the non-verbal and body language signals that complement your spoken words.
Craft and perfect your elevator pitch – a concise statement that highlights your strengths, and shows why you are suitable for a particular position.
4. Impress With Excellent Communication:
Public speaking, meetings, presentations and debates in college will help to polish your speech. Also, focus on learning non-verbal cues that complement effective speaking.
When it comes to writing skills, practice really makes one perfect. You can always take an effective course on writing, be it creative or business writing, or ask for advice and help from experts at EssayOnTime, which ideal for times when you are neck deep in assignments and projects.
5. Build Relationships with Teamwork:
You need to work well with other people to achieve business goals, and that is why teamwork is an essential skill. It also involves the ability to delegate your tasks, accept responsibility for outcomes, and forge working relationships with different people.
In college, you could accept more group assignments to experience working with people with different viewpoints. Volunteer for community work, and join a sports team.
With remote working and work from home becoming a regular feature of modern jobs, it is useful to learn about collaboration platforms like Trello for example.
6. Problem Solving and Decision Making:
Decision making capability is critical as every job involves choosing the best way to achieve a particular objective. While the skill of decision making is best honed over a period of time, you need to demonstrate an ability to listen carefully, understand the problem, and analyze the underlying issues.
Problem solving skills help in finding the best solutions in case of troubles. A logical thinking process is essential to develop these skills.
You can naturally develop problem solving by taking up more research assignments, and taking up internship positions where you get to deal with real customers.
7. Build a Brand with Social Media:
Your social media presence is a virtual business card, and a valuable opportunity to create a brand for yourself even as a student. You can expect pretty much every prospective employer to Google your name, and look at your social media profiles.
Businesses are using social media to interact with their audience, market their products and services, and even for customer service. Recruiters will definitely value a candidate that can show a good command of different social media and networking platforms.
The above skills will not only help you in the immediate task of scoring a job but also in your long-term career goals. These will provide you with the edge to beat the stiff competition, and open more opportunities to prove yourself with actual performance. Once you master a skill, proudly display it on your resume!
Any effort and money that you invest would result in handsome returns over your entire career, even if you plan to branch out on your own.