The first day you pack a briefcase and
head off to a professional job interview may seem far
away, but the time to build strong skills and valuable
habits is now. Colleges are full of opportunities to develop
the qualities most important to employers.
10 Key Qualities
- Writing Skills
- Speaking Skills
- Teamwork Skills
- Problem Solving Skills
- Initiative
- Cool under Pressure
- Attention to Detail
- Time Management
- Honesty
- Love of Learning
Writing Skills
If you dread essays and other writing assignments,
consider this: in a recent survey of employers, communication
topped the list of skills they look for most. By doing
your best on every research paper and lab report you write,
you're preparing yourself for a career.
Health professionals keep patient charts, researchers
and artists depend on the money they collect by writing
grant applications, software engineers write technical
specifications, and nearly everyone writes email to people
inside and outside their organization. And before you
even get the chance to interview, you'll need to represent
yourself in cover letters and resumes.
Speaking Skills
Next time you're assigned a class presentation,
think twice before dismissing it as an unimportant part
of your education. Employers look for speaking skills
in job hopefuls and it's never too soon to practice good
eye contact and other public speaking techniques.
Teamwork Skills
How many times a week does your class count off
and break into small groups to tackle a challenge? You
practice voicing your opinions, listening and responding
to others, and reaching compromises. By the time you leave
high College, you can be an expert in teamwork, an increasingly
important skill in today's workplace.
Problem Solving Skills
Problem solving goes far beyond your algebra
textbook. Every College assignment is an opportunity to
weigh all possible solutions carefully and select the
one you think best. As a working professional, you'll
keep solving problems, whether computer programming bugs
or budget shortfalls.
Initiative
Every time you raise your hand in class, every
time you choose your own research topic, every time you
interpret a piece of literature, you take initiative.
And employers value can-do professionals who come up with
new ideas and chart their own course through projects.
Cool under Pressure
Who hasn't made the argument that testing isn't
a real-life situation? It's not like your future boss
is going to ask you to translate a Spanish passage without
a dictionary in under twenty minutes.
But try thinking of the pressure of testing as practice
for the work world's own explosive situations. You could
someday find yourself meeting tight deadlines, speaking
with irate customers, holding a scalpel, or handling dangerous
chemicals.
Attention to Detail
When you double-check your calculations for a
math problem, make sure you're using the correct homonym
in an essay, or cite sources carefully in a research paper,
you're paying close attention to detail. That habit will
come in handy in any workplace, whether you maintain a
database, keep a log of the hours you spend with clients,
or simply write emails.
Time Management
How many classes do you attend each day? How
many homework assignments do you tackle each night? And
what about sports practice, play rehearsal, and other
extracurricular?
You have the chance to be a real pro when it comes to
juggling the many demands on your time -- and that's a
good thing since most jobs require multitasking. Examples
of on-the-job juggling feats include taking care of current
clients while attracting new ones, responding to emails
while working on a major presentation, and ordering tomorrow's
produce while planning next week's menu.
Honesty
Employers need to know that they can trust you
with everything from credit cards to trade secrets. But
how can you work at honesty?
Every day that you do your own homework and resist the
temptation to cheat on exams, you exercise your integrity
muscle.
Love of Learning
Last but not least, a love of learning will see
you through the initial weeks of a new job. It will also
serve you well as you advance in your working life, taking
on new projects, building expertise, and branching into
new areas of interest. While your grandparents may have
worked for the same company their entire lives, today's
workforce is mobile, with most people changing careers,
not just jobs, throughout their lifetime.
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