‘Transferrable skills’ was the theme of last week – that innate ‘skill’ or ‘habit’ that you have, or have acquired, that are of value in other various areas of your life. Take, for instance, your natural ability to communicate very well or being extremely clever with technology. Even character traits such punctuality comes with other potential attributes such as reliability, accountability and trustworthiness in terms of completing projects and just showing up!
This week I want to reassure you that the ‘other skills’ that you might not have (yet) can be worked on and developed. And I really want to encourage you to start now! There is a time to be a student and enjoy all that comes with it, but, there is a time to start equipping yourself so that you are ready for the working world.
To help you, explore your area of interest and become aware of the traits that contribute to people within that profession to excell. For instance, if you are interested in entering the legal field, being able to absorb large amounts of information, able to work within a team, a solution seeker, logical and able manage demanding hours are just some of the traits needed … but also are traits that you are able to develop. What makes for effective entrepreneurs, or very brilliant people within the advertising and marketing field, or impactful engineers? Find out and step into that ‘way of being’.
You will be entering the workplace with your unique input however even seemingly simple habits such as establishing structure and routine throughout your day might be the place where you need to start. Do you need to ‘practice’ pushing through when faced with challenging projects? Perhaps you can become a much better communicator when working within a team or learn the skills to negotiate. Are you consistent in handing in assignments timeously – and follow through to the end with tasks? When you are disappointed in your marks, how mature are you in your response? Becoming a master at attentive listening will serve you extremely well too.
Do keep learning, whether through courses on line or through books – it encourages you, teaches you, keeps your horizons open and alerts you to new useful insights. Learning to ‘touch type’, improving on your knowledge of a particular computer programme or ensuring that you remain very current on political issues and debates might also add to your ‘essential skill set’.
If you are currently at university or at the stage where you are ‘inbetween’ chapters, please do start looking at yourself through the lens of an employer and do what you need to do to professionalise yourself. A useful question to ask yourself would be: what would you be looking for if you were employing somebody? – and step into that!