Reimagining career education between Career and being Career Ready towards Academic programs that actually teach in-demand career skills.

Well, we all know that there is a disconnection between what colleges or universities are looking for and what a company is looking for. Universities need to understand that only teaching theory is not enough, employers want a person who has skills and practical experience of his or her work. Completing a college degree is not just enough for the young generation. Also, it does not imply that a student will have all the qualities that an employer wants.

Students study because they need a career that gives them a chance to earn more and more money. They wish to upgrade their lifestyle. As it goes on, colleges are the hub for the students to rectify their skills and talents. Students also want more involvement from universities or colleges to make them perfect in their fields.

So, when it is said that there is a disconnection between the companies and universities, it implies that there is a difference of requirements. Universities have to work towards it. Universities have to make our talented workforce into a skilled workforce. Moreover, students also say that hard skills and soft skills should be an indispensable part of their curriculum. These skills help students to grow more. Nowadays, skills are more important than completing a college degree.

When we talk about skills, they can be categorized into two categories: –

1. Soft Skills
2. Hard Skills

Soft Skills and Hard Skills, both are very important for college students. These hard and soft skills give students an advantage in researching a job. Employers not only want a student with good grades, but they wish to hire a student who is exceptionally good in both hard skills and soft skills.

SOFT SKILLS –  Soft skills are all about your interpersonal skills. These include your personal traits, thinking and behavior. Soft skills are difficult to define, hard to measure and are universal.

Let’s look at some of the examples of soft skills: –

• Communication
• Problem Solving
• Work Ethic
• Conflict Resolution
• Team work
• Adaptability
• Creativity
• Time Management
• Patience
• Strategic Thinking
• Innovation
• Punctuality
• Leadership
• Good Listening Skills
• Responsibility
• Good Decision Making
• Multitasking
• Collaboration
• General Awareness

There are many more examples which cannot be defined. These skills depend from person to person.

HARD SKILLS – Hard skills are all about your experience in your work and your qualifications for the job. It can describe if you can become an asset for the company or not. Hard skills can be easily defined, are measurable and they are specific. An employer can measure or test these skills. Hard skills are the backbone of the job because these skills refer to professional skills.

Let’s look at some of the examples of hard skills: –

• Technical Skills
• Analytical Skills
• Management Skills
• Computer Skills 

Further examples can be: – 

• Coding
• Sales
• Surgical proficiency
• Affiliate marketing
• Proficiency in a foreign language
• Blockchain
• Cloud Computing
• Bookkeeping
• Business Analysis

Hard Skills depend on the profession of a person. They can vary from subject to subject and profession to profession.

Colleges and Universities should consider to focus on both Soft Skills and Hard Skills. Nowadays each and every student has some or other talent. So, these skills are everyone’s own personal skills. These skills are unique and vary person to person. Colleges and Universities should teach these skills, and make these skills an important part of the academic session. These skills are important for Career growth of students.

Universities have to figure out how to make students make themselves more professional through education and skills. However, only skills are not important for a job or a career. They should cover the overall landscape and look at the weaknesses and strengths in their system. They should decide how to deliver and make students more aware about the needs of employers and not only the existing but future labor demand.

Colleges should consider creating micro-credential programs that directly align with industry needs, such as boot camps or individual courses.

TOP CAREER SKILLS IN DEMAND

 These are some of the skills that can make you different from other job candidates. These skills are the most demanded skills today. These skills will help your career grow and help you to expand your knowledge.

1. Mobile App Development

It refers to developing software designs and programming. As increasing demand for smartphones and tablets, mobile apps have become means for work and communication.

2. Cloud Computing

This is in great demand as more and more people can easily store their files and back up their data. Cloud engineers are responsible for managing these clouds.

3. Analysis

Analytical skills refer to finding a suitable solution for a problem. These types of people are in great demand because companies want to have those people who can investigate the problem and quickly find the solution.

4. SEO/SEM Marketing

As all things have gone digital, so many companies have realized the importance of digital marketing. These skills are very high in demand. People with these skills bring more traffic to the site and this automatically leads to an increase in customers.

5. Industrial Design

It refers to designing industrial products like cars, mobiles, which are used by almost all of us. The work of industrial designers is to focus on appearance and functionality of the product. This process requires a lot of steps as the design and functionality needs to be perfect so that people buy it.

6. Translation

With the increase in globalization, there are many opportunities for translators. Translators are ones who are fluent in both the languages – you translate. You need to have general knowledge about the culture of the countries as well.

CONCLUSION

Colleges and Universities need to focus more on skills rather than theory. Because of less practical knowledge in students, there is a disconnection between companies and colleges. Companies want students who are skilled and have practical knowledge.

So, universities have to change the curriculum so that students can have better opportunities. Also, both hard and soft skills are very important for students. Soft skills help students to make their career easy. Hard skills are core skills which are unique to everyone.

In the end, there are many skills in demand. Some of them are – cloud computing, mobile app development, translation, analysis, industrial design, and SEO/SEM Marketing. Universities have to figure out between making the career of the students and making them career ready