As a fresh graduate, you will need a combination of both personal and professional skills that will make companies hire you on the spot. While some jobs require unique and technical skills, there are some general skills that are necessary for you to impress your prospective employer.
Personal skills
Personal skills are also perceived as soft, interpersonal or people skills. They are those skills you must possess, irrespective of the job position you are seeking. They include such skills as leadership, professionalism, dependability, loyalty, positive attitude, self-confidence, learnability, teamwork, problem-solving, self-motivation, analytical skills and so on.
Professional skills
Professional skills are also recognized as hard or technical skills. They are specific skills you will desire to present to your prospective employer to make you outstanding for the job. Technical skills are taught in school or on the job. They include writing skills, computer programming, foreign language proficiency, machine skills, data analysis, copywriting, graphic design, statistics, event planning, information technology (IT), and so on. Several people have been able to turn these skills into a sellable career and have excelled greatly in them.
Hybrid skills
Hybrid skills are a combination of both soft and hard skills. You are expected to possess both skills in order to succeed in your job. Customer service is an example of hybrid skills because it combines both soft and hard skills.
Job specific skills
These are skills that are needed for a certain position. You usually obtain them through education or while on the job. To understand job-specific skills, pay attention to the job description while searching for a job to comprehend the key or specific points the employers are expected of their candidates. For example, if the job description says, “Must be a writer with a certificate from Udemy”, then no matter your years of mastery as a writer, if you are not an Udemy certified writer, you may not get the job.
In your resume, it is crucial for you to list your personal skills in the section called ‘Strengths’. The ‘skills’ section is for you to list all your professional or hard skills. The strengths appear near the top of the resume, while the skills appear near the bottom. These skills are elements you can learn, develop and cultivate over time. You can as well start now before you graduate to gain more experience.
How to Develop New Skills
If you seek to obtain a job in an industry that requires different skills from the ones you possess, you will require to expand your skills and acquire the unappropriated ones for a better opportunity to excel in the industry. The following are some means to do just that:
Set certain goals for yourself
You will need to set certain goals in order to improve on yourself and stay on the track of development. Your goals must be measurable, realizable and relevant to the profession. You must also set a timeline to achieve them.
Get a mentor
A mentor assists you to walk the way he had already walked. He typically knows the way and helps you to prevent likely pitfalls on the way. You will need a mentor in the business whom you can trust to guide you properly in your new journey. You can reach out to someone you know who can fit in and then, get informed with him before letting him know your mission.
Enroll in a course
Most online courses are accessible in all fields of life. You could enrol in the course that will suit the job description you need in the industry. Take continuing education courses in the job-related field in order to remain relevant in the industry. Some universities and colleges offer some related courses in various industries. Some companies even offer some assistance to their employees to boost their education.
Do not neglect company training
Some businesses train their staff in specialized skill sets using experts in different fields. Find out the courses that are vital to your professional growth and enjoy the offer.
Enlist a professional body in your field
This will help you to grow your network and take advantage of job opportunities in the industry. You may also discover some relevant skills you will need to excel. To join the professional body, you can start from the local level, then continue to the national and international levels.
How to Maintain a Healthy Work-Life Balance
As a graduate, you might find yourself in an industry where you can work remotely from anywhere and may find it difficult to balance out work and other aspects of life. You may find yourself putting up the wrong priorities while trying your decent to remain sane.
It seems so simple to maintain a healthy work-life balance when you work remotely from home or when you have no employer to be accountable to. Sadly, it is not always that easy for one to balance it out. Whether you are an employee or you work autonomously, you will need the following tips to maintain a healthy work-life balance.
Concentrate on what you can do: You cannot be a jack of all trade unless you want to break down when you are meant to be up and doing. Therefore, focus on your strengths and let go of others by outsourcing them.
Prioritize your time: Priorities are always crucial and should be placed on the right scale. You could have a to-do list with different tasks, in order to put the most important at the top of the list. You can categorize them as follows:
Serious and important
Important but not urgent
Urgent but not important
Neither urgent nor important
Have time for yourself: It is very good to put your clients first, but do not do that to the penalty of your own self. Take care of your health, have time for your family and friends, build time for ‘only me’ and assure you prioritize. Know when to work and when to relax.
Set time for your work: Set work hours and ensure you stick to them. It is better to work during the day and rest at night unless there is a need for you to work into the night. Make sure it is not often that way to avoid breaking down.
Do what you love: Make time for your hobbies and that stuff you love doing. It will help to clear your head. It will also assist to nurture the creativity aspect of you.
Invest in your growth: You could use the chance to take up some courses on a part-time basis and accumulate your skills the more. You could also get a master’s degree using this opportunity or pursue your dreams by acquiring the right skills. A business coach will also be valuable at this point.
Take care of your mental health: There are times work may seem not come, your customers no longer patronize you and other motives you may run out of work to do. At that time, fear, self-doubt and anxiety creep in and crumble all your actions. You will need to do some mental exercise like pondering, reading or other things to steady your mind.
Take a break: In your timetable, make out time for a break. Even if it is an hour, build it out each day and rest your nerves. Get up and stretch your body every fifteen minutes to keep your blood circulating nicely.
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Grow your network: Surround yourself with people who have the foresight and can always give you honest critique whenever you want advice or feedback. Meet up with them over a cup of coffee from time to time and have some hearty discussions. Get them to assess your achievements so far and ensure they are being honest with you. As you progress, keep adding to and subtracting from the number, based on their current relevance to your life.
Be realistic: Always take an analysis of how your day went. Find out the things that worked and those that did not work; things that need improvement and those that were perfect as they were. Brainstorm on how you are going to improve upon your job, knowing full well that a thousand other people are just doing the same kind of job and everyone is working to have all the clients out there.
There are so many industries today you can choose to look for a job. Make sure you have the crucial job skill set to make you outstanding in your job search. In case you lack the required skills, you have the option of acquiring them while waiting for the job. However, some companies offer on-the-job training and you might be fortunate to be selected. There are still some jobs and businesses that give you an option to work independently. You can select to do so based on your experience and how much you can get attached to your clients. You do not have an excuse to sit at home after graduation, get yourself fixed up somewhere and remain relevant in your field.
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