Do you have any soft skills? Of course you do! These are skills that come with no certificate or year long training course, but they’re still keywords an employer looks out for on a CV. And thankfully, most of these skills come naturally during your three or four years of degree work, and you might not even know you’ve banked them until you found this post.
But if you’re just starting out on your course, or you’re in the middle of putting a dissertation together, this guide is here to remind you that you gain more than just academic knowledge when you’re a student! So, here are the best soft skills that you should learn whilst doing any degree – the more skills you have under your belt, the better your job chances, and soft skills are amazing for padding out a resume.
Good Communication
How you talk to others, and how you ensure the line of communication is never dropped, is an amazing soft skill to have on your side. You need to be able to get the message across in the most effective and succinct way possible; don’t waste time, make sure key info is contained, and deliver it in a tone that perfectly matches the situation and/or person you’re talking to. It’s surprising how many people don’t know how to do this!
A prospective employer needs to know you can manage these steps. It’s why the art of the elevator pitch has been so carefully crafted – the longer you take to communicate, the worse the end situation ends up being.
Problem Solving
Problem solving is an umbrella term for a lot of mini skills. However, this knowhow falls under the same branch – you find a problem, you investigate, and then you fix it. And that’s something that can be in short supply in the modern workplace! Taking a bit of initiative is never bad, and the more you learn now, the better you’re likely to end up.
So, what kind of problems can you solve? Well, as long as you know what you need to do, you’ll be able to solve them all. Say, if you know you don’t have all the answers, you know you need to head online for advice – for example, if you need to free up disk space on your computer, you can check out this blog for info on just that. Simple and easy!
Managing Your Time
Finally, doing a full length degree course is going to at least teach you how to manage your time! You’ve got a lot of responsibilities to juggle, and this taste of adult working life is invaluable to your job hunt later on. Even if you tend to procrastinate, you’re still able to pull things together at the last second, and you should never discount that ability in your professional life.
Soft skills are in abundance when you’re a student! Think on what you can do, and how you can apply it.
