4.2: Professional Skill Building

If you lived and worked in the 1700s in the United States, what skills would you need to be gainfully employed? What kind of person would your employer want you to be? How different would your skills and aptitudes be then compared to today?

Many industries that developed during the 1600s–1700s, such as health care, publishing, manufacturing, construction, finance, and farming, are still with us today. The professional abilities, aptitudes, and values required in those industries are many of the same ones employers seek today (Bruce Hill, 2020).

For example, in the healthcare field then, just like today, employers looked for professionals with scientific acumen, active listening skills, a service orientation, oral comprehension abilities, and teamwork skills. In the financial field then, just like today, employers looked for economics and accounting skills, mathematical reasoning skills, clerical and administrative skills, and deductive reasoning (Bruce Hill, 2020).

Why is it that with the passage of time and all the changes in the work world, some skills remain unchanged (or little changed)?

The answer might lie in the fact there are two main types of skills that employers look for: hard skills and soft skills.

• Hard skills are concrete or objective abilities that you learn and perhaps have mastered. They are skills you can easily quantify, like using a computer, speaking a foreign language, or operating a machine. You might earn a certificate, a college degree, or other credentials that attest to your hard-skill competencies. Obviously, because of changes in technology, the hard skills required by industries today are vastly different from those required centuries ago (Bruce Hill, 2020).
• Soft skills, on the other hand, are subjective skills that have changed very little over time. Such skills might pertain to the way you relate to people, or the way you think, or the ways in which you behave—for example, listening attentively, working well in groups, and speaking clearly. Soft skills are sometimes also called “transferable skills” because you can easily transfer them from job to job or profession to profession without much training. Indeed, if you had a time machine, you could probably transfer your soft skills from one time period to another (Bruce Hill, 2020).

What Employers Want in an Employee

Employers want individuals who have the necessary hard and soft skills to do the job well and adapt to changes in the workplace. Soft skills especially are in demand today because employers often expect to train new employees in a hard skill—by teaching new computer software, for instance—but teaching soft skills such as developing rapport with coworkers or knowing how to manage conflict is much more difficult. An employer would prefer to hire an inexperienced worker who can pay close attention to details than hire an experienced worker who might cause problems on a work team.

In this chapter, we look at ways of identifying and building particular hard and soft skills that will be necessary for your career path. We also explain how to use your time and resources wisely to acquire critical skills for your career goals.

Specific Skills Necessary for Your Career Path

The table below lists resources to help you determine which concrete skills are needed for all kinds of professions. You can discover where you might gain some of the skills and which college courses you might take to learn specific skills. Please remember that you will develop skills throughout your lifetime, and your current skills do not define or limit your career options.

Spend some time reviewing each resource. You will find many interesting and exciting options. When you’re finished, you may decide there are so many interesting professions in the world that it’s difficult to choose just one, which can be a good problem to have!

Online Resources for Skills Assessment

Career Aptitude Test (Rasmussen College):  This test helps you match your skills to a particular career that’s right for you. Use a sliding scale to indicate your level of skill in the following skill areas: artistic, interpersonal, communication, managerial, mathematics, mechanical, and science. Press the Update Results button and receive a customized list of career suggestions tailored to you, based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. You can filter by salary, expected growth, and education.

Skills Matcher (Career OneStop from the U.S. Department of Labor):  Use the Skills Matcher to create a list of your skills, and match your skills to job types that use those skills. Plan to spend about 20 minutes completing your profile. You can start with a job type to find skills you need for a current or future job. If you are not sure what kind of job is right for you, start by rating your own skills to find a job type match. When your skills profile is complete, you can print or save for future review.

O*Net OnLine (U.S. Department of Labor):  This U.S. government website helps job seekers answer two of their toughest questions: “What jobs can I get with my skills and training?” and “What skills and training do I need to get this job?” Browse groups of similar occupations to explore careers. Choose from industry, field of work, science area, and more. Focus on occupations that use a specific tool or software. Explore occupations that need your skills. Connect to a wealth of O*NET data. Enter a code or title from another classification to find the related O*NET-SOC occupation. 

Transferable Skills for Any Career Path

Transferable (soft) skills may be used in multiple professions. These skills include, but are by no means limited to, skills listed below:

• Dependability and punctuality (showing up on time, ready to work, not being a liability)
• Self-motivation
• Enthusiasm
• Commitment
• Willingness to learn (lifelong learner)
• Ability to accept constructive criticism
• Problem-solving
• Customer service
• Adaptability (willing to change and take on new challenges)
• Cooperation (team player)
• Positive attitude
• Strong communication, both written and verbal
• Taking and following instructions
• Critical thinking
• Recognizing and knowing limits
• Ethics
• Safety consciousness
• Honesty
• Self-management of time

These skills are transferable because they are positive attributes that are valuable in practically any kind of work. These skills also do not require much training from an employer—you have them already and take them with you wherever you go. Soft skills are a big part of your “total me” package.

So, identify the soft skills that are strongest for you and the skills that prospective employers are looking for. By comparing both sets, you can more directly gear your job search to your strongest professional qualities.

Activity 4.2

Skills Assessment

Step 1:

Complete the first TWO pages of the Florida State University Transferable Skills Checklist at Florida State University Transferable Skills Checklist [career.fsu.edu]

Step 2:

Which of these are well developed? How did you develop them?

Which of these skills you just listed do you need to develop more? How will you develop these skills?

Step 3: Write a brief "Experiography"- (an account of significance in your life)

Choose from one of the following categories:

Work experience

Activity experience—school, clubs, etc

• Life events
• Leisure time or hobbies
• People in your life
• Life frustrations
• Life rewards

The best way to complete this experiography is to think about major experiences in your life from the above categories and choose one to write about. Describe the experience in as much detail as you can. Describe what happened, your feelings about it, people involved, and what you learned from it. Remember, neither the chronology nor the order of significance is important. What is important is that you describe people or events that have had an impact on who you are right now. Keep in mind that the writing needs to be specific enough for you to be able to analyze these experiences for particular skills you have demonstrated.

Step 4: Identify/discuss the skills you developed/demonstrated in your experiography.

Food for Thought: What skills have you developed or demonstrated?

According to a 2021 article by Amy Borsetti on LinkedIn, "skills are the new currency in the world of work.” A good practice is to start a skills list or folder that lists the skills you have demonstrated/developed in school, during leisure activities, or during past or present jobs. Review the skills the next time you are writing a resume or interviewing for a job.

Acquiring Necessary Skills (both in and out of class) for Your Career Goals

“Lifelong learning” is a buzz phrase in the twentieth-first century because we are awash in new technology and information all the time, and those who know how to learn, continuously, are in the best position to keep up and take advantage of these changes. Think of all the information resources around you: colleges and universities, libraries, the Internet, videos, games, books, films—the list goes on.

With these resources at your disposal, how can you best position yourself for lifelong learning and a strong, viable career? Which hard and soft skills are most important? What are employers really looking for?

The following list was inspired by the remarks of Mark Atwood, director of open-source engagement at Hewlett-Packard Enterprise. His remarks contain excellent practical advice.

• Learn how to write clearly. After you’ve written something, have people edit it. Then rewrite it, taking into account the feedback you received. Write all the time.
• Learn how to speak. Speak clearly on the phone and at a table. For public speaking, try Toastmasters. “Meet and speak. Speak and write.”
• Be reachable. Publish your email so that people can contact you. Don’t worry about spam.
• Learn about computers and computing, even if you aren’t gearing for a career in information technology. Learn something entirely new every six to twelve months.
• Build relationships within your community. Use tools like Meetup.com and search for clubs at local schools, libraries, and centers. Then, seek out remote people around the country and world. Learn about them and their projects first by searching the Internet.
• Attend conferences and events. This is a great way to network with people and meet them face-to-face.
• Find a project and get involved. Start reading questions and answers, then start answering questions.
• Collaborate with people all over the world.
• Keep your LinkedIn profile and social media profiles up-to-date. Be findable.
• Keep learning. Skills will often beat smarts. Be sure to schedule time for learning and having fun!

Words of Wisdom

Words of Wisdom Vicki L. Brown, from Foundations of Academic Success: Words of Wisdom had the following message: “Do not let your college degree define who you are but rather, let the knowledge and skills you’ve acquired define who you are.” Transferable I was supposed to be a teacher. Growing up, I had a classroom in the basement. I had a chalkboard, chalk, desks, textbooks, homework assignments, pens, pencils, paper—you name it, I had it! My brother and sister called me “Miss Brown.” All I ever wanted to be was an elementary school teacher—until I went to college. As an elementary education major in college, I participated in a variety of classes—classes on literacy, math and science, philosophies of teaching, child development theory, principles of education, foundations of classroom behavior, and a whole list of others. We learned how to write a lesson plan, manage a classroom, how to set up a classroom, and much, much more. In addition to my studies, I got involved in campus life. I joined the swimming and diving team, participated in campus activities, and joined clubs. I served as a captain of the swimming and diving team, became an Orientation Leader and a Resident Assistant, and completely immersed myself in the college experience. It was through these co-curricular activities that I was introduced to the world of higher education and a potentially new career choice for myself. Through my academic and co-curricular activities, I gained valuable knowledge from all those I came in contact with—my peers, professors, Residence Hall Directors, and many college administrators. They encouraged me to explore what it was that I really wanted to do with my life. The more I got involved in my college experience, the more I learned about myself: what I’m good at, what I’m not good at, what I wanted to, and what I didn’t want to do. As I started to sort through my options, I continued my studies, receiving both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in elementary education. While attending graduate school, I also worked as a Graduate Residence Hall Director. It was during that time when I finally made the decision to pursue a career in higher education administration/student affairs administration and leave my plans of being an elementary school teacher behind. The decision wasn’t as difficult as one might think. When some listen to my story, I often hear, “You’ve wasted all that time and money . . .” But, the truth is I gained valuable, lifelong skills from the people I met, the classes I took, the jobs I’ve had, and the activities I involved myself in. Each and every skill you acquire is transferable. This is perhaps the best lesson I’ve ever learned in college. The countless lesson plans I had to write for my education classes and student teaching have helped me prepare practice plans as the head coach for the men’s and women’s swimming and diving team. The skills I learned while planning programs and activities for my residents as a Resident Assistant, Hall Director, and Area Coordinator have helped me plan campus events as the Director of Student Activities in the Center for Student Leadership & Involvement. The classroom management techniques I learned in college have helped me to manage my office, staff, team, committees, etc. The communication and development theories I’ve learned have taught me how to have meaningful conversations with others and how best to meet their needs. Each and every skill you learn throughout your academic, personal, and professional career are valuable and transferable. Do not let your college degree define who you are but rather, let the knowledge and skills you’ve acquired define who you are.

21st Century Skills

Due to the rapid changes in the global economy and the advancement of technology, the American workplace has changed dramatically in the last ten years and continues to change every day. As a current college student, you need to gain the knowledge, skills and abilities that employers currently are seeking. As stated earlier in this chapter, soft skills may remain the same even as the work world changes, but new hard skills will continue to be developed and become in demand while older hard skills may fall by the wayside (Martinez & Shaker, 2021).

Below is a link to a video that was created based on the work of a team of educators, employers, workforce development boards, and research organizations in California to build college/career-ready, 21st Century employability skills program called “New World of Work (NWoW) 21st Century Skills Training” (MDRC, 2022).

Please click on the following link to view a video from the New World of Work about “21st Century Skills:” Video 21st Century Skills [www.youtube.com]