Digital media strategist skills for your resume and career

Today, teamwork is paramount. A young professional must work with and communicate effectively with a wide array of internal constituencies. You definitely need interpersonal skills -- whether you are working in person or over Zoom or another video platform. The ability to work independently to problem-solve. Media cycles are now measured in nano-seconds, so a supervisor needs to be able to trust that you can handle what comes your way without constantly checking in. Tone -- the insight to understand how different platforms you use for planning or dealing with sources/constituents/colleagues -- who may be of different ages or from different cultures -- require mindfulness about how and what you communicate.

Media is about storytelling -- whether it's an ad, a social media campaign, a magazine story, etc. Being able to use the tools of your trade, whatever they may be -- algorithms, editing suites, etc. The most important skill, though, is understanding the essence of those tools -- what is they are intended to accomplish. If you understand that, you can easily adapt when tools change -- which they frequently do.

If a graduate chooses to take a gap year, I recommend that they still take on activities to help them develop more skills. Find a nonprofit to volunteer and ask them if they could use your skills. Treat it as an internship or a job and find ways to hone your skills. Some skills marketing majors can focus on including social media content and campaign planning and delivery, digital marketing, and measurement. Build your portfolio with quantifiable results. Whether volunteering for one organization or several short stints in different organizations, engage in activities that will enhance your portfolio and demonstrate to future employers that you are growing.

While the exact skills that young graduates will need in the future years are impossible to predict, since they may not have even been invented yet, there are essential skills that they will need no matter where the future takes us. These skills include being a good communicator, a self-starter with grit, and of course, the ability to empathize with others and treat people as part of the team. Most of the skills that I think are important would fall under "leadership," no matter what their discipline is.

If someone wants to work an entry-level job in any field, they will most likely go a trade school route whereas, if they go for a traditional education path, they most likely want to be leaders in their field. Leadership is a skill that can be applied across disciplines, making that student with a degree in darkroom film photography much more marketable. Heidelberg University believes in this so much that we offer an MBA to any undergrad student for free.

Stand-out technical skills likely vary by field. For example, when working with big data, database management, and data mining and modeling would be extremely important. I also imagine that programming skills would be an asset. Thinking of my field (Management) in particular, here are some technical skills that I'd emphasize: writing skills, proficiency in using collaborative decision-making tools, project management, and familiarity with productivity trackers. Finally, in an earlier question I noted that organizations may embrace more remote work; in that situation, I can see how critical it will be for managers to show that they can effectively establish goals, rally enthusiasm, coach and mentor employees from a distance. A lesson the pandemic has taught many organizations is that forging human connections in remote work is a challenge, and those who have developed the skills to do this are invaluable.