Gone are the days when careers were made with education and studies alone. With technological advancements, there has been a paradigm shift from theoretical knowledge to emphasis on skills.
Having said this, the importance of education doesn’t come to an end. It has become imperative that good education also includes skill development and enhancement so that the personality gets holistically developed.
Skills are the abilities or the expertise to do a particular task. Skills can be divided into hard skills and soft skills. Hard skills like degrees, certificates are quantifiable but the soft skills like people skills, communication can’t be measured accurately and are very subjective.
Getting ready with skills that can help in easing your way out for your future career path, you need to work diligently on bringing about improvement in the self. Following skills top the list of desired skills to be worked upon.
People Management
Despite the intervention of technology in almost every sector, the importance of people has not gone down. We still have to interact with people at every step and it is extremely important to be good at people skills including communication, politeness, sympathy, negotiation and so on. Students who are good at people skills make their way through any situation that falls upon them.
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Quotient or EQ has gained much relevance lately. A person who has a good IQ clubbed with a higher EQ is able to manage things well because a higher EQ results in higher understanding and a better grasp over changing situations.
Critical Thinking and Analysis
Critical thinking starts with asking a lot of questions. Students are high on curiosity and as the questions of why and how for what they do, are able to understand their actions better and eventually these students get better with time. Being observant is another prerequisite for honing this particular skill.
Working Under pressure and Time Management
Both these skills are interlinked to each other. If you have the time management skills and are able to meet deadlines, there is seldom any work pressure. Prioritizing tasks is the first step towards managing your time well. Setting a time table and sticking to it also helps.
Creativity
Thinking out of the box is something that makes you stand apart from the crowd. Everybody can follow the guidelines and do the monotonous routine tasks in the very same manner on day to day basis. Only a few are able to come up with creative ways to break the monotony. While some say creativity is an inborn thing, we believe that overtime creativity can be improved upon. This is related to decision making and also to your logical thought processes.
Other noteworthy skills include
- Digital fluency
- Communication – written as well as verbal
- Self awareness and self management
- Ethical and moral values
And the list goes on
Conclusion
While hard skills create the way for you, soft skills make walking on that road easy and effective. Developing new skills over time with the help of practice, internships, summer schools, taking part in competitions and so on, is crucial to success.
For knowing personalized tips for improving upon your skills, you may discuss your profile with our counselors.
