History Instructor skills for your resume and career

The skills are as old as time. Being a good team player, enthusiasm, energy, positive attitude. Other things that I'm not sure are "soft" are writing well, communicating verbally clearly, and creating visuals that rapidly communicate complex ideas.

I think the ability to solve problems in general, generally using software of some sort, so that companies can be more efficient with their money and more insightful with the data they collect. The ability to help companies and/or governments comply with regulations is also very important because there are many regulations out there (environment, political, social, civil rights, etc.) that must be addressed, and geographers tend to be well trained to meet those challenges.

Most important advice: Take initiative and be productive.
Find practical ways to use skills even if unpaid. Volunteer work is good. Use language skills. Technology skills. Exploit technology skills around the area of interest. If you want to be a teacher find out what software they are using today; what research skills are they utilize. Make sure you log your activities during the gap year especially those that relate to the area in which you want to work. If you want to go into finance, and you're working at a lawn service, understand and learn the business model and the accounting. If you're working at Starbucks (or in any commercial environment), get a chance to do inventories, learn about the ordering process and sources and suppliers for those orders; and how people are scheduled for work. All of that is relevant experience for business.

The CFO and recruiter for Keystone Staffing Solutions emphasized having evidence in your resume of of being productive during the gap time, no matter if it's one, two or three years. Evidence of being productive is what recruiters want to see on your resume: He stresses: "What did you do to expand your knowledge and skills not only in your selected area but beyond. BEING PRODUCTIVE for yourself proves to be an indicator of how productive you will be for me."

Still on gap year. How to go about it? Use teachers, friends, family, anyone in the field or related to it to provide guidance, insight, suggestions. This can lead to projects or experience that will help in learning and growth.

Young people today find a very different job market than their parents did. Their parents were more likely to stay in a single field, and sometimes even a single employer, for much of their work lives. Today, they are likely to change fields and employers AND experience technological change. But important job skills remain constant: communication skills in writing and in person, experience in working on teams, an ability to research and analyze complex problems, and an ability to learn and re-tool to accommodate change. These are skills that are central to contemporary education in the liberal arts and humanities.

Database management skill will be in higher demand. Enterprise solutions will push out small GIS operations. It will follow the IT support revolution (from retail to wholesale outsourcing).