Since higher education is a preparation for the professional journey, professors engage students in activities that depict work. As such, group assignments introduce students to work in a team. During class presentations, the way students deliver, persuade, and engage the audience builds their communication skills. When they explore and weigh different alternatives, they improve their critical analysis. While they supervise a team in a competition, they develop leadership skills. Likewise, they execute time management and multitasking skills when prioritizing assignments. In essence, interpersonal communication, critical analysis, teamwork, multitasking, time management, creativity, and leadership are some examples of transferrable skills.
By now, you might be wondering why these skills are called transferrable. It’s because these skills are not specific to any position or organization. You can utilize them for any role and workplace as they’re portable and compatible throughout your professional journey. It is even more exciting to know that these skills are interconnected and complement each other over time. Therefore, if you seek to accelerate your career prospects, you should master these skills.
The following passages further explore skills that you should harness during higher education.
Table of Contents
1. Working in a team
Even though today’s academic institutes focus on familiarizing students with teamwork, they comprehend its importance and implementation during their higher studies. Irrespective of any specialty, higher studies introduce flexibility in students to tackle teamwork. That is how, later on, individuals learn to Influence Work Culture Positively with an MBA degree and especially through the skills it imparts.
They also learn to become more flexible to acknowledge and work with fellows from diverse backgrounds and expertise. While working in a group, workers endeavor to contribute and complement each other rather than show off their capabilities or compete. That’s why teamwork is the most critical aspect of professionalism, where you think beyond your inclinations and work for the success of a team, project, and organization. Ultimately, the success of the team counts as your success. Thus, teamwork is essential to adjust in an organization with multicultural representation.
2. Proficiency in critical analysis
Workplaces evolve, and they have to accommodate and satisfy demands and ensure their survival. Sometimes, they have to transform their functions to ensure they remain functional during innovations. That’s because responding to innovations is not a simple activity if workers lack analysis skills. Most importantly, how organizations adopt changes and streamline their business operations following the new norms is full of complexities. Apart from that, they have to scrutinize how they can improve their work performance, services, and customer engagement while transforming.
They also have to observe their competitors and plan their strategic moves for the future. For that, organizations have to identify, scheme, and engage every coming generation of customers. There can be several other scenarios where businesses experience the need to implement critical analysis skills during their transformation. It is why business-related higher studies do not merely cater to leadership, resource management, and administration skills. The curriculum also polishes critical thinking and problem-solving skills in graduates. Otherwise, they cannot respond to the increasing complexities of their workplaces.
3. The ability to govern and lead
The ability to govern and lead is a crucial expertise that will expose you to several opportunities in the professional world. As such, you will have to supervise a group of workers in your professional journey. For instance, at times, you’ll have to scheme, administer, and oversee a fundraising event. Or you’ll find yourself governing and chairing an inter or intra-organizational meeting to convince staff members or outsider clients. In the same way, some projects will require you to lead your way independently and fulfill requirements with all your might and wisdom.
If you plan and envision proficiently, success will become more likely. In essence, you will have to demonstrate leadership skills even while performing at the lower level of an organization. Besides, leadership is not a standalone skill; it depends upon your capability to work in teams, evaluate critically, communicate persuasively, multitask, and much more. And you can utilize it for varying situations and assignments.
4. Interpersonal communication
Proficiency in interpersonal communication is also one of the inseparable parts of any career path. Without effective communication, you cannot articulate and convey your point of view to your audience. It serves as an effective tool to create common grounds for participants to interact and collaborate. It also helps individuals understand and welcome others’ opinions as well.
Effective interpersonal skills help professionals to form teams and succeed in group projects. As a result, individuals can approach and become approachable. Given the significance of communication skills, it is one of the vital requirements in almost every job description. That’s why higher studies introduce specific subjects to enhance students’ communication. For instance, interaction in the classrooms helps students overcome their hesitation. Presentations and assignments further allow them to strengthen their confidence and communicate effectively. Likewise, interdisciplinary competitions introduce them to real-life scenarios where they break the ice and come out of their comfort zones.
5. Performing several tasks simultaneously
Growing complexities of the professional world require every worker to improve their ability to perform several assignments or activities at a time. This expertise is called multitasking. It has a close correlation with the advancement of technology and evolving workplaces. It’s because, nowadays, most workplaces do not only have a physical outlet. Organizations provide their services via physical and virtual means across the globe, which requires workers to respond to every portal and its engagements simultaneously.
Thus, they cannot fulfill the operational requirements of their jobs if they do not attend to several tasks in parallel. As such, a healthcare expert multitasks to fulfill varying responsibilities of the hospital and patients. Even while catering to one patient, they have to stay connected to administration, laboratory, nursing staff, and even patient’s attendants. It means multitasking is the necessity of modern workplaces.
6. Exposure to growing digitization
With today’s rapidly digitizing commercial arena, acquiring proficiency in technical skills is vital for budding professionals. Almost every job requirement enlists that job seekers should have familiarity with frequently used digital applications. As such, if you are not proficient in Microsoft Office, you cannot carry out the daily work-related requirements of the job. If you lack internet surfing skills, you cannot carry out research independently. Your digital literacy is essential to connect to the workplace via email, management software, the company’s social media, and others.
In essence, even if your field does not relate to technology, acquiring digital expertise is essential to succeed today. For instance, how will anthropologists compile demographic data and identify trends if they do not learn processing software? Likewise, an academic institute cannot process and secure applicants’ information if their workers do not have digital database awareness.
Conclusion
Though higher education primarily focuses on developing core professional expertise in individuals, transferable skills have also become inevitable. These are the skills that accompany you throughout your career and are crucial to success in any professional field. Therefore, you must pay attention to these skills and enrich them during your higher education. As a result, you’ll face no challenges in adjusting to the corporate world.
