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Tag: life skills

  • What Really Matters: Skills for Life and Finding Work

    When people are young, they often look forward to growing up. However, when they get older, they often wish that they could change the decisions that they had made. What would you tell your younger self about life and school?

    In school, the grades that students get seem very important. Later on in life, however, people might wonder why they ever cared so much about their marks. School results can be important for getting into certain programs, such as medicine, or for getting scholarships to university, but they aren’t the things that always matter most in life. Instead, the skills that people learn through their courses, volunteer work, and other activities are often more important than the facts that they know, the programs that they finish, or the marks that they receive- real life experience.

    Learning skills rather than getting grades can help in finding work when jobs are scarce, for example. In the past, university or college graduates could usually depend on getting work in their field. Even though that is no longer the case, people can still learn valuable skills in post-secondary education. The ability to concentrate, to do research, to write clearly, and to give presentations is all necessary in the workplace.

    These kinds of skills are also valuable in writing resumes and hunting for jobs. Even if you lack specific skills for a job, an employer might be willing to train you if you have other good qualities, such as the ability to focus on a task. You can emphasize these qualities on your resume, in your cover letter, and in job interviews. They might get you the job, and then you can focus on learning the particular tasks that you need to do.

    While it is best not to apply for jobs too far beyond your current skills, challenging yourself is also important. If you get into an easy but boring job, you will likely become frustrated or restless. If the job is challenging, but still within your abilities, you may find it easier to manage the work and any problems that come with it.

    Finding work can be difficult, and sometimes even the most qualified people have trouble. Being rejected for jobs is hard, but it is important to remember that there will always be other opportunities. Even if a job is difficult and you work with unpleasant people, you can take the skills that you have learned to a new position. Learning to develop personal qualities such as kindness and honesty can also be very valuable. Some even say that half the battle is learning to work and get along with other people.

    Life after high school might sound exciting or scary, but you can already start to prepare for the challenges ahead. The educational system and job market change frequently, but anything that you learn now could be useful for the future.

    Bibliography:   

    Kids Health.org. “Life after High School.” http://kidshealth.org/en/teens/after-hs.html.

    Thompson, Aly. The secret to a long life? Be kind, says 107-year-old N.S. woman http://www.ctvnews.ca/lifestyle/the-secret-to-a-long-life-be-kind-says-107-year-old-n-s-woman-1.2849948.

    Wikihow. “How to Overcome Adversity.” http://www.wikihow.com/Overcome-Adversity.

    Vadhan, Opal. “The 3 Biggest Things I Wish I Didn’t Stress Over in High School.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/opal-vadhan/the-3-biggest-things-i-wish-i-didnt-stress-over-in-high-school_b_7621834.html.

  • Am I Employable Yet?

    Am I Employable Yet?

    Taking on a post-secondary degree is an important decision that many students make. However, though this education is challenging and eye-opening, sometimes it can be difficult to translate what you learn in class to the workforce. This is particularly true of many university undergraduate degrees, which, due to their strict academic and theoretical nature, often prepare students for careers in research and academia, but sometimes do not provide much information on how to apply their skills in other fields.

    Since post-secondary is such a grand investment, you should have at least a rough idea of what kind of work you’d like to get into once you graduate. It’s important to consider whether you are building up the skills that will be necessary to secure and maintain a job in that field. Unfortunately, good grades don’t always guarantee an easy job hunt.

    Here are some employability skills that are transferable to many work environments, and what you can do now to start developing them.

    Critical thinking. Problem-solving, open-mindedness, and mental flexibility are all part of this skill, and all of these things can come in handy in the workforce. Having an employee who can always see the other side of an issue, and analyze any problem down to its core, is an asset in fields from law to business to engineering.

    What can I do now? Read and evaluate academic papers, solve logic puzzles, and voice your opinion in classroom discussions.

    Organization and time management. In many cases, large projects in the workforce no longer come with a “late-penalty” safety mechanism. That said, staying organized and on top of things is key to actually accomplishing those tasks. Procrastination may have worked in undergrad, but it won’t fly for long; think about how embarrassing it would be for a company project to fall because you didn’t hand in your work on time.

    What can I do now? Categorize your notes and course materials, plan ahead for deadlines, and keep a to-do list.

    Perseverance. Good employees don’t give up after their first try—in fact, they often keep going, trying to find alternative solutions, after a number of small failures. By doing this, you’re showing the employer that the work matters enough to keep trying. This is important in the workforce because you are often faced with competing projects and difficult group dynamics, obstacles you must work to overcome.

    What can I do now? Evaluate yourself when you make mistakes, push yourself to complete extra credit, and speak to your professors and teaching assistants for advice.

    Improvisation. The power to think on your feet is an absolutely underestimated skill. Presentations aren’t always going to go the way you want, or you might discover information that may compromise the value of the project you’re working on. Go with it. Employers will be impressed if you are able to make the best of any situation.

    What can I do now? Challenge yourself by asking “what if” questions, engage in debates, and broaden your knowledge by learning concepts from different fields.

  • What Do I Consider Success?

    What Do I Consider Success?

    Success has no age limit and it’s never a race. The concept of a predetermined age for success is merely a myth. Age is not a limiting factor in the minds of those who wish to succeed, and do. The speeds to which our minds mature over the years are not the same.

    The most prominent leaders we admire today accomplish goals at their own pace—and so can you. Whether you’re still in high school or coming towards the end of your college career, age should not be a worry when working towards your goals. Moving quickly at an unrealistic pace may foster more mistakes than warranted.

    Success is what we make of it. As students, it can become an overwhelming problem that bogs you down. Take your time and become an expert in your field of interest or expertise. There are no shortcuts to achieving success because the learning process is all dependent on self-motivation. Having the patience to move forward will bring you halfway to success already.

    If tomorrow morning you feel that it’s far too late to reach a personal or career goal you’ve set for yourself, leave the worry in the past and move forward. Success doesn’t just present itself to those that are prepared, but also those that are patient enough to see it through challenges.

    Whether you believe that money, grades or personal relationships are of the utmost priority right now, to most people, the end objective is happiness for the self. Given this as the end objective, we can better understand why it’s best to worry less about the speed to which we accomplish our short term goals.

    The key to defining your own success is to plan realistic goals. This involves the process of not only delivering tasks, but solving everyday problems, planning tasks and goals, scope of goals, analysis of resources, the search for solutions, environments, analysis and synthesis of information.

    If you’ve ever felt the need to follow the crowd, you’ve come down with a case called the “impostor system” like the rest of us. Instead of working hard to achieve goals, students might believe that there is luck in being in the right place, at the right time. Skills are what make for achieving goals and success.

    While there is much controversy over what higher education should be teaching students like you, whether this is work skills or academic knowledge and research, the intentions are still the same. Education is aimed to prepare students in leading self-sufficient and happy lives in the present and future.

  • Why Do I Need Math Skills?

    Why Do I Need Math Skills?

    As you sit in yet another math class, you might be wondering

    “Exactly what am I going to use this for in real life?”

    Even if you have a handy calculator and Google in your phone, you are learning skills relevant in so many life situations.

    Work:

    • A Cashier making change
    • A business owner creating budgets, spreadsheets, doing taxes, applying for bank loans, analyzing yearly sales, tracking employee hours.
    • A professional sports team analyst that creates computer programs using logarithms to analyze the opponent’s strengths and weaknesses. Buying and selling player contracts. Budgeting. Ticket sales and concessions.
    • An artist using programs that deal in pixels, artwork dimensions, focal lengths and composition rules.

    Fun:

    • Games that need addition and subtraction, money skills, or logic jumps.
    • Calculating how much your night out with friends will cost.
    • Splitting the taxi ride with friends, or the restaurant bill between people.
    • Estimating time, distance, cost. How long will it take to get somewhere, how much gas will it take, and how often will we need to stop?
    • Calculating the odds or probability in games of chance.

    Everything else:

    • Calculating a household budget.
    • Working out a loan for a car, or a mortgage.
    • Baking and cooking using measurements, time, and temperature.
    • Decorating your home, calculating how much carpet to buy, or how high to hang those pictures.
    • Saving for college, retirement, or another big expense.

    Now you may never pull out that advanced calculus graph ever again, and you will probably be ok to forget about imaginary numbers, but the logic and decision making skills you are building while learning these concepts in mathematics will help you make better decisions every day. Math really is universal.

  • Learning to Cook!

    Learning to Cook!

    When you’re busy with essays, homework and final projects, sometimes you forget that there are great life skills that most schools do not teach. One of them is cooking. Whether it’s to cut down costs, to impress a date or just for your own amusement, cooking is something you’ll always be glad you learned.

    It’s easy to start – just pick a simple meal that you like. It can be anything: soup, spaghetti, mashed potatoes, eggs… You already know how to make a sandwich, but grilling some of the ingredients can make it extra tasty and once you know how to do it, it won’t take very long. If you’re feeling ambitious, pick your favourite meal and see if you can make it. Ask people for help. Someone in your family will probably love to give you a few tips and walk you through some recipes. If not, pick up a cookbook or find a recipe on the internet. It can be hard at first, but it can also be a lot of fun if you’re willing to learn.

    Whether you’re moving out for college this fall or you’ll be at home for another few years, now is a great time to start cooking. When you get to college, it’s expensive to eat out even if it’s just one meal a day. You can stay home and make Kraft Dinner all the time, but that gets old pretty fast. You’ll save so much money and feel a lot better if you learn to make things yourself. Once you know how to make a few meals, you’ll start to pick up some general techniques and you can start to substitute things and add the spices that you like. Before too long, you’ll start to have your own cooking style and specialties.

    If your cooking style involves more than peanut butter sandwiches, it will be a really great tool for impressing people. If you start dating someone who comes over to your house, think how stunned they’ll be with a casserole or a homemade soup or whatever else you want to make. And it doesn’t just work for dates! Every time you have a party, you can buy a bag of tortilla chips and some canned salsa or you can make your own salsa and guacamole. There’s nothing wrong with canned salsa, but it’s a great feeling to have people eating and complimenting something you’ve prepared yourself.

    The best reason of all to learn to cook is that it can be a lot of fun! You might set off the fire alarm once or twice and that’s always stressful, but it will be worth it. It’s easier to get going now when you have the time to learn than to get thrown into an apartment one day with a pan and no idea what to do with it. So just start making something you like. Offer to barbeque for your family or work on perfecting a batch of cookies. Once you start to cook, you can only get better!