College teaches students many, many, useful things that you will use for the rest of your life. Just kidding, I could not tell you half the things I have already learned and forgotten. But hey, Generals are “important.” Moving on. Going into my final year of college I have learned my things specific to my future career field, as well as many things about life, relationships, and being an “adult.”
Here is a collection of skills I have learned, and how I will be using them in my professional life:
Keep: Timeliness.
College has taught me how to manage my time effectively in order to work on multiple projects at once, study for a full-schedule’s worth of tests and somehow manage to get everything done on time.
This will transition smoothly over to the working world where supervisors will be asking many things from you all at once, and you will get them all done brilliantly.
Leave behind: Procrastination.
While procrastination is a worthy skill that every college student has nearly perfected, it does not necessarily work in the workplace. While sometimes just “getting it done” is the most important thing, the work has to still be good. Faking it for a grade is one thing, but faking it for a paying client is another.
While giving a B.S. presentation that was complied in an entire night and presenting on 1 hour and 37 minutes worth of sleep, one 20 ounce Red Bull and four dining all donuts works in college, your superiors will likely notice your facial ticks and the powder sugar on your polo.
Keep: Working Together.
In college I have fine-tuned the ability to cohesively work in a team and contribute an appropriate and fair amount to each task. Working on long-term, large-scale projects as an upperclassman in college has prepared me for the real world.
Leave behind: Unfair workloads.
One thing about group projects is that they are awful. Everyone has had that project, that team, that partner that just sucks. Long passed are the days of teamwork being “everybody do your share.” People are lazy, unreliable and sometimes the only thing that can be done is for the rest of the team, or you, step up and crush it. The benefit of groups in the professional world is that lack of participation will lead to someone likely getting fired, not just causing added stress.
Keep: Openness.
Communicating effectively, efficiently, and professionally is honestly one of the most important skills I have learned in college. I now have the ability to share my thoughts and ideas in a manner that will get myself understood and heard.
This will be one of the most important skills I will use in the competitive workplace. Being able to communicate my thoughts and ideas while standing out, without sticking out, will put my once step closer to achieving my goals.
Leave behind: Profanity.
College campuses are insanely vulgar places. While honesty and speaking one’s mind happens all the time, so do additional exclamations. Frequent profanity is something myself and 95% of all college students have to filter out of our daily dialect upon graduation. In most cases it will not be common place nor professional nor appropriate and can get one in hot water pretty quickly.
4. Expressing One's Self
Keep: Staying True to You.
College is where most people find themselves and what they are truly passionate about, or at least it is a great start. The real world is a scary place, and college is a little protective bubble for the most part. Decisions will have to be made between choosing a career that makes one happy or one that pays well. Sadly, entry-level positions do not offer the best of both worlds. Not straying too far from one's moral compass in the name of professional success is something everyone will have to deal with.Leave behind: Over-Sensitivity.
There is a little bit of confidence can go a long way. Sometimes a bruised ego is is unavoidable in the workplace. Everyone has a belief that their work is the best and that it should be fully appreciated, but that does not always happen. Over-sensitivity or overreactions to rejections is something all college students go through at least once. A surprisingly bad grade on a test, harsh comments on a paper, it happens. But these reactions are not cute or beneficial or professional if they go too far. It can lead to a sense of entitlement that all the other generations already think Millennials possess. Checking one's ego at the door every day, learning from mistakes and earning respect is the best way our generation can prove doubters wrong that we are sensitive and entitled.
5. Being able to learn and adapt
Keep: The ability to multitask
Oh multitasking. It's practically a sport. Whether it is juggling school, personal relationships or a healthy (or unhealthy) lifestyle, these are all things college students are talented at. This will be true in the real world. Being able to balance work duties, office friendships and everything else adulthood has to offer is one of the most important life skills. Being able to focus on your career while having a life will be one of the hardest challenges facing any adult. But having that balance is key to maintaining *some* sanity.
Leave behind: Trying to get away with not actually reading things
Let's be honest, a majority of college students never fully read their assigned texts. Some do never even open the textbook until mid-terms and Finals Week. And then there are the excessive emails. Only the important one's are opened, let alone read. This is something that will not bode well in the real world. It will be important to treat every memo, email and any other form of written communication like it is the most important document since the Declaration of Independence. Nothing is more embarrassing than not knowing what is going on because you were too lazy to spend 45 seconds reading an email.
Whether or not things taught in the classroom are applicable in the real world, we all learn things during our years of postsecondary education. How we apply them will be the real designator of success.
