The ultimate purpose of college often gets lost in the endless runs to the library, nearest java joint, apartment/dorm room, cafe, coffee shop or lecture hall (for office hours). Of course, we 24/7 know and remember that our entire existence here depends on our grades and our search for gaining an edification that would not be possible elsewhere in our lifetime. We came here for homework, and for obtaining a world-class of an education as we possibly can. Our bank accounts and student loans rely on our efforts here. After all, we only go to college — undergrad college — once.
Still, it often becomes hard to memorize the fact that our first and foremost priority at college is to make sure that we gain an education that will allow us to secure a prosperous job that pays, puts our skills — and our degree — to good use, and hopefully, makes the world a better place through a positive impact. So read on, for 7 skills — some soft, some “hard” — that will help polish your resume so that you could make the absolute most out of college.
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Coding
Learning programming languages not only teaches you to think like a computer but also gives you essential mathematical, problem-solving skills that will proffer critical thinking and reasoning skills applicable in both theory and practice. Therefore, studying online resources on how to code, such as Codeacademy, Udemy, EdX, and learning popular programming languages like Python, Java, C++, HTML/CSS, and other such languages — working your way up the programming languages chain ladder — will be well worth your time, since nearly everyone — including those not working remotely in the CS or software industry — knows strong coding skills. They portray an individual who is up-to-date with the 21st-century technical practices of Millennials. I also see tons of ads on my Facebook feeds daily about how you can learn to “build a website from scratch in just 10 days!” through Codeacademy, Udemy, etc.. Look them up and turn your novice web developing skills into expert ones; who knows? You might become a full-stack (or even back-end) developer one day!
2. Excel, Access, Outlook
MS Office Suite should be almost second nature by now. Excel, Quickbooks application and other such software, like MS Outlook, Access, and word-processing software are key to succeeding in any industry. Tons of online courses exist to help hone your skills in such lucrative software. They may not make you exactly “stand out” but they are nevertheless extremely essential and indispensable for every individual employee. They succeed in the workplace far easier and more achievable.
3. WordPress, Web Design and Cloud Computing
Knowing how to create your own website, to customize it, to personalize it, and to make it work for your specific audience — whether that be for a general population who wishes to get more about you due to natural human curiosity, or for employers and acclaimed tech firms who wish to study your exact skills and CS portfolio in a more detailed fashion, or simply for yourself in order to look back on yourself and appreciate how you have grown over the past year or so in skill set, ability, capability, potential, and outcome — is a talent that can be tamed to maximum capacity. Many entry-level employees and recent graduates nowadays have fully-equipped websites ready to showcase what they can do, why they can do it and how. In addition to having uniquely designed blogs that seem as if they have been engineered by professional website designers, it’s amazing to note that anyone could create these websites through the help of YouTube videos, some CS/Architecture friends, and WordPress tutorials. Take advantage of all types of online resources available to you and your interviews may be far easier that way! Moreover, quite recently, AI skills have become a hotshot in career and resume development fields; it’s time to learn to some artificial intelligence (AI)!
4. Photoshop and Illustrator
My high school photography taught me a lot; I just wish I had the brains to remember it all till now or the discipline to keep on refreshing and reviewing it to cement it into my long-term memory effectively and permanently. Adobe Photoshop is the more common photo-editing software that I’ve heard is good to start with, and I have extremely limited experience personally in the software myself. I did make a photography portfolio using it, but I still consider it to be a very ‘mild’ and amateur use of all the enhanced and advanced tools that the application offers. So, please invest some time in studying the various, diverse tutorials available online (most for free) so that you could not only make that one blemish go away but make most flaws vanish and make photos look more beautiful and landscapes look more evergreen and effervescent than ever before. Illustrator, I believe, is a good secondary photo-editing software to get familiar with, and is the less common one employers tend to see on resumes. So learning this application would certainly help you stand out from the highly competent and increasingly competitive crowd of today. Oh, and if you’re a Sony person, go ahead and have a go at Sony Vegas movie editing software; you do you!
5. Commercial Awareness and Business Acumen
This is about knowing how a business or industry works and what makes a company tick. Showing that you have an understanding of what the organization wants to achieve through its products and services, and how it competes in its marketplace. It’s a hard skill to “learn”, per se, in the classroom or online in front of our PCs, so experience is definitely the real teacher here. Going out, selling yourself, practicing elevator pitches on real human people, and working in the real world — even in small office settings — will teach more practical and pragmatic skills than any course could ever give you. Thus, internships really are king in the twenty-first century today.
6. Linkedin Learning Skills Videos
You could pay for the “Premium” feature if you wish, but try the first few free ones to get the hang of it. They are small in number but are still incredibly helpful in boosting your skill set and rejuvenating your productivity. The speakers make the content all the more engaging and so do the quizzes that help reinforce the material taught. ‘Certificates’ are automatically added to and featured on your account. They have learning skills videos in all sorts of fields, including Time Management, Window to Action, Alertness and Attention Spans — all of which could serve well in ‘fluffing’ up your resume/curriculum vitae.
7. CPR First Aid and other Industry-Specific Software
I see this under almost every single LinkedIn profile. Saving lives = better hiring chances = good jobs in general = good salary = hopefully, contributes to a better quality of life and happiness overall. By “industry-specific” software, I mean: For example, Accountants should be familiar with Quickbooks software and other tax-savvy and finance-related software that help firms, producers and clients understand the entire significance of the whole number-crunching process.
Aside from the usual skills set of creativity, critical thinking and reasoning skills, problem-solving skills, teamwork, strong analytical skills, willingness to learn, attention to detail, interpersonal skills, leadership/management skills, confidence, personal integrity, among others, that are inherently expected from employees — including us entry-level candidates — these top seven skills are sure to make your recruiters and hiring managers smile at your resume, leading to happier bank accounts, salary negotiations, and offer letters (with signing bonuses, hopefully!). So please, take initiative and implement them: your resume will thank you!