4 Proven Ways to Build Job Skills While You're in College
According to the U.S Department of Commerce, in recent years one of the three students has a full-time job while studying in college, and the percentage of part-time working students has reached 81%. The reasons why college students want to find a job are not only getting the additional money but also the confidence and experience for the area they’re planning to develop themselves in.
Since the level of competition in this area is pretty high, it’s really important to figure out how you can develop the critical skills that the hiring managers are looking for in candidates. For sure, there are several skills that can help you to get your job right after the interview, or make you the perfect candidate for employers. Here are a few tips for the simple and effective development of job skills for college students.
Find an Internship
One of the proven ways to prepare yourself for a future job is to find an internship that can perfectly fit your studying routine to get some on-the-job training. With getting some experience via an internship, you will be able to:
- learn more about the field you’re planning to work at;
- take some interesting projects;
- develop your teamwork skills while co-working with experienced employees, etc.
No matter whether it is an unpaid or low-paid program, it still remains a good chance to discover more insights about the workflow and in-house processes of the real company. Having an internship under your belt is also a top way to improve resume impact, since prospective employers will appreciate your proactive approach to acquiring relevant skills and first-hand experiences.
Look for Externships During the Study Break
Another great chance to dive into real-work job opportunities is to find a temporary internship for discovering more about the industry you’re planning to work in. If you're into maths, find a private maths tutor who can provide you with an internship in that field.
This can help you to shed some light on critical skills that can help your future development, like sales skills, focus time management, collaboration skills, some foreign languages knowledge, communication, or the other specific skills you can use for your working routine.
Participate in the Projects Developing
To make the wow effect on the interview, it’s a great idea to find some projects related to your interests or the field of your future occupation. The experience got from the projects’ development can greatly benefit by improving your skills in:
- critical thinking;
- business plan creating;
- prototype model design;
- research competencies;
- leadership improving and others.
By contributing to the specific app development project you can not only gain additional skills in different areas but also provide your potential employers with some good examples of your projects. Furthermore, it shows your capabilities to be employed for more serious projects, which at present is significantly important for most companies and organizations.
Train Your Communication Skills
According to a recent survey of the top companies and small organizations by the nonprofit National Association of Colleges and Employers, communication skills are one of the most essential qualities by the job recruiters. The reason is that such candidates can easily adapt to the new working environment and are perfect teamwork members.
For example, as it is well known there are quite a number of Spanish communities in Miami providing employees with workspaces and in this regard the most local students in the aim of developing their communication skills get used to visiting Spanish classes, which help to gain more confidence during the project presentations. That’s the exact skill most employers are looking for in their candidates: confidence and persuasion. Furthermore, improving this skill helps you to introduce all your strong sides and reasons why you fit this job, that is why college students need to train this skill at first.
Conclusion
Skills development can be really challenging sometimes, and it takes some time to prepare yourself for getting prepared for a job. But as soon as you have managed it - you’ll certainly succeed in your career development!