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Employers look for soft skills when recruiting as they’re essential for most jobs. You may have studied or trained in something specific, but soft skills are the general skills you pick up through life experience. If you’re applying for your first job, it’s important to show you have a mix of both. Employers tend to look for a more well-rounded person that will fit the culture of their company. Use your experience on your application to match the soft skills necessary for the role you’re interested in, and the company you’ll be working for. Here are five ways to develop your soft skills.
Volunteer work
Volunteer work looks impressive on a job application as it shows that you have strong values. It’s also a good example of how you’ve learned multiple soft skills. If you’ve volunteered in the local community, for example helping the elderly or working in a soup kitchen, you will have developed communication skills and resilience. If you’ve organized your own fundraising project, you will have gained leadership and problem-solving. Whichever cause you choose to work for, you can use this to develop several soft skills. You can find volunteer opportunities online.
If you’re taking a summer off after college you could consider one of these summer enrichment programs. Internships are a great way to get practical work experience and you’ll learn skills you might not have from just being in the classroom. You can choose a field that interests you, or something completely different. You’ll likely be able to show examples of teamwork, leadership, and time management skills, for example. It all depends on the type of course you choose, but they can be very beneficial.
Logic puzzles and games
It’s said that puzzles are good for your brain. They help you develop problem-solving skills and cognitive abilities. If you don’t have time for studying or volunteering this summer, why not go geocaching or plan an escape room with your friends? Games will also teach you important social skills. You could organize a team activity with a group of friends from your college as a fundraiser, for example.
Join a team
Teamwork is a common skill that’s talked about in job interviews. Potential employers will want to get an idea of how you will fit into their team and which type of role you’ll take on. By joining a sports team, an arts and crafts group, or even a volunteer community, you’ll show you’ve got plenty of experience working in a team. This will help you land your first job.
Tutor a student
There are several must-have tutoring skills and you can use all of these in your first job. Soft skills you can learn from tutoring include patience, empathy, leadership, time management, problem-solving, and positivity. You’ll have plenty of examples to use in your job application and interviews. Even though you don’t have years of work experience under your belt yet, these types of soft skills are what count for landing your first job.
