By Emilio Lorenzo and Emily Tasca
Emilio Lorenzo is the assistant director of career advisement in NSU’s Office of Career Development. Emilio understands the importance of helping students reach their career goals and works with all students, including undergraduate, graduate and professional level students, to achieve their professional goals.
Emily Tasca is a member of the career advisement team in NSU’s Office of Career Development. She works with current students and alumni at the undergraduate, graduate and professional levels
There was once a man named Jonas who had a magic map that could guide him through any obstacles or dangers that lied beyond. Jonas embarked on a four-year journey. This collegiate land he entered was at first very mysterious; however, his map kept him on course so he would not be led astray. Jonas’s hope was to use this map to enter a world where he could spend the rest of his life doing what he loved. Four years after he began, Jonas reached a door that could not be opened with his map. In front of the door was a gatekeeper, who asked Jonas, “Why should we open the door for you?”
In our world, the gatekeepers are employers, and the door will allow us to pursue our career goals and find our dream job. To gain entrance, you must convince the gatekeeper that you’re not only the right fit for what lies beyond the door, but that you can also actually add value to this new world.
Similar to Jonas, students must be key masters, which means being able to articulate your experiences and how you will transition into a full-time working environment to the gatekeeper. The story of Jonas exemplifies the fact that each student will need a game plan to get to this point; however, it is the ability to connect the dots of the hard and soft skills, experiences and overall passion for the field that leads to career success.
In order to communicate the skills that you have and why they relate to your employer, you must first understand what is needed in their field. To start benchmarking skills needed in such sectors, a good strategy is to sit down with current professionals and evaluate the qualities that contribute to their success. Sometimes these skills are “hard skills,” which are specific, teachable abilities that apply directly to a given job. For example, using QuickBooks software is a hard skill that is needed in accounting.
Being successful in a job is not limited to just hard skills, as the “soft skills” you bring are just as important. Soft skills are defined as the cluster of personality traits, communication, language, interpersonal skills, leadership and overall qualities that make up the individual, which are developed through various experiences.
Aside from sitting down with professionals in the field, another way to learn what employers are looking for is to do your own independent research through industry-focused articles or journals. For example, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) surveys top employers every year and publishes the top ten skills employers look for. This year, the top three were leadership, teamwork and communication skills.
Now that you know the skills that you need to be successful and open that door, you can identify various avenues to help develop these qualities. Internships can be a key way to develop hard and soft skills. For example, a marketing student doing an internship would not only learn how to develop a marketing plan, a hard skill, but also how to communicate that plan to her team members and solicit feedback, which is a soft skill.
All of the experiences you gain throughout your four years will pay dividends when you, similar to Jonas, must be able to articulate them back to the gatekeeper (employer/hiring manager). These skills can be developed as mentioned in internships, but they can also be cultivated through projects, professional interactions and involvement, all things that can also be utilized as a story to exemplify that you possess such key qualities (soft skills) and applicable knowledge (hard skills).
Overall, the more examples you have to showcase that you are the right fit for your field, the more likely that you will possess the key to open the door for your career goals. A strategic plan is very important; however, gaining and understanding the relevancy of such experiences, while being able to articulate that back to the gatekeeper, is what will make you a true key master.
