Dear undergraduates, It’s no longer news that your university is not going to give you everything you need to get a job after graduation. And I hope you know that once you fulfill all the necessary requirements for the award of BSc degree, you’ll have to get yourself out of the institution and face the next struggle; and at that time, learning news skills might not be so easy.
So, this is the best time you have to prepare yourself for the job market. Forget the claims about unemployment, graduates with the right skills are getting jobs every day; and believe me, if you too strive to have certain skills, employers would be running after you even before you graduate.
This is why I’m writing this to inform you about the top five technical skills you should have before you wear the graduation gown and throw the cap in the air.
1. Big Data Analysis
Nearly every industry today relies on data to make sound decision about clients and products. Because of this, every organization now needs employees who can collect, organize, and interpret data.
2. Coding and programming
Your ability to code and understand programming language will make you a strong and valuable candidate in many jobs. Nigeria is currently the third country in the world with the highest numbers of self-taught software developers.
According to the founder of FreeCodeCamp, Quincy Larson, there are over 142,000 Nigerians on his platform learning and improving their coding skills. What does this tell you? Coding and programming is a new skill everyone wants to have irrespective of what they study at universities.
3. Project Management
Being a good project manager means you’re an effective leader; you are good at paying attention to details, you can delegate tasks and measure project success,not many people can do all these. But if you have these skills, there are so many organizations out there waiting for you.
4. Social Media
I know you are virtually on all social media platforms, but your social media experience won’t impress prospective employers if you can’t explain how well you can use social media for a business or an organization.
If you are looking for jobs in PR, marketing, web development, Digital media and digital photography, it’s very important you scale-up your social media skills.
5. Technical Writing
There are jobs that’ll require you to explain complex things in a way that is easy to understand. Your ability to do this is referred to as a technical writing skill or corporate communication skill.
Your job might include sending messages to clients or manufacturers, or write press releases, web content, or manuals for clients.
Why you should have these skills.
These skills are in high demands and learning any of them now is the best way to prepare and position yourself for the challenge ahead. Don’t wait till after graduation before you begin to think about what job to take.
It’s never to late to start now. Learn some skills that will make you valuable after graduation and don’t rely solely on your degree certificate, many employers don’t really care about it anymore.
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