Cecelia FranciscoMany say that your college experience is based on the individual. You get out of college what you put into college. If this is true, then most of you are screwed.
A few weeks ago I attended a lecture hosted by the Broadcast Pioneers down at Rowan University. Granted this was a lecture aimed towards English and communication majors, but there was one issue stressed by the guest speakers that still applies to every major. This big issue was to make contacts in your field of study.
It was that simple.
I understood their message. I thought everyone else sitting in that hall understood.
I was wrong.
About more than half of the students in attendance of that lecture walked out as soon as possible. That means that more than half of those students missed out on the chance to make some new contacts in their field of study.
So I came back to Cabrini College to do some observation of the student body’s people skills. After this basic observation I came to my conclusion; the majority of us are screwed.
When you’re sitting in your first post-grad job interview, you can rely on knowing that every other person in that room, your competition, has gone through exactly the same training. He worked his butt off in college to get the best grades possible. He found some internships related to his field of study while in college. Now, he’s sitting next to you trying to steal your prospective job.
The bottom line is that when you graduate from Cabrini College, or any institute of higher learning for that matter, every single student is going to be on the same level education wise. It is you who needs to find some difference to stand out from the next college graduate.
What are you going to do to make yourself different from everyone else? What could you possibly do to diversify yourself from all those other college graduates competing for that job?
The answer is simple: people skills.
The secret to succeeding in your field of study is to achieve a broad spectrum of networking contacts so you can rely on those contacts later. You cannot rely on those contacts if you have no people skills because you probably won’t have any contacts.
I’m not trying to say that only English and communication students are capable of holding a decent conversation. They completely ruined my faith in my own major at the symposium I attended that was meant to aid students in making new contacts.
The sad part is that you cannot buy people skills. It’s not that simple like buying a car or an education.
I mean there’s no way you can just stop at the corner store and add some personality along with your order.
This means that you must work on being personable yourself right now. Make eye contact. Shake hands. Smile every once in a while.
You are not a robot. Robots do not get jobs after they graduate. Just keep that in mind the next time you walk down the halls of Cabrini College.
