Public relations and communications director skills for your resume and career

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That is a difficult question. I say this mainly because I am biased in my response. I fundamentally believe all young graduates need some necessary fundamental skills (regardless of their chosen major). In the coming years, I think students need: a) critical thinking and problem-solving skills, b) resume construction skills, c) communication skills, and d) life skills.

Critical thinking and problem skills: these skills are essential because they are applicable in all aspects of life, even if we cannot clearly and distinctly see that. For instance, let's say that a student who has majored in chemistry must write a personal statement for graduate school. Just taking this general example, we can see that she would be required to make an argument (understood in the broadest sense possible) to the committee to select her over other equally (if not more) qualified candidates. The student would have to construct a coherent, compelling, and precise narrative to move the readers of her application. Teaching since 2009 and at various universities, I have noticed that a lot of students are not taught such critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Resume construction skills: such skills are quite self-explanatory. A lot of my students who have graduated have asked me to write letters of recommendation for them. Most of the time, they would send me their resume. I have noticed that some students do not know how to properly organize their information in the outline (say, what goes first etc.). Other students do not know what should be included in the resume. Some students do not know how much information per item must be included. In some summaries, I have seen paragraphs and paragraphs. I have witnessed insufficient data (e.g., 2-3 words describing their previous jobs).

Communication Skills: more often than not, a lot of my students struggle with in-class student presentations. I have also noticed that many students do not actively participate in class discussions. I speculate that they are afraid of being wrong or genuinely not knowing the answer to some of the questions. Whatever the source of their silence may be, it does not change the fact that some students are afraid to speak their minds. But lacking such communication skills can play a significant role in the actual interview process (for instance). If students cannot articulate their thoughts clearly and distinctly, especially during an interview, they may be less inclined to hire the person. Thus, we need to empower our students to speak their minds, even if they may be wrong at times. In my opinion, being wrong is part of life. We learn from our mistakes. However, being silent is worse than being wrong because when we are silent, our interlocuters can assume many things about us and our lack of responses.

Life skills: no one teaches us life skills. Regardless of one's major, such skills need to be taught in some way. I do not know how such skills would be taught, but that they should be taught. By "life skills," I mean skills that play a central role in determining the outcome of certain events and actions, especially as they pertain to life as such. For instance, based on my perception of teaching students since 2009, no one teaches students to have contingency plans. No one teaches students that effort does not equal outcome. That is, a student can put all the effort into making sure that a particular event or situation actualizes itself in their favor; the work remains independent of the action, mainly because there are so many factors that shape the outcome (and most of those factors are outside of our control). No one teaches students the skill of resilience. The list goes on. I fundamentally believe that such life skills are essential and that students should be oriented to such gifts.

Certainly, the technological skills needed in the present include expertise with managing work expectations through virtual platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom. Given that new employees may need to work from home for several more months, self-motivation will be an important asset. Finally, given that distance work has now been a major form of employment for nearly a year, businesses will be needing to re-evaluate how work is done. There has certainly been a shift in how work is done, and many employees will have found that they may be even more productive from home. Employers will need to reconsider the importance of business sites and locations of their employees. They will need to be flexible in their thinking to consider arrangements in which their employees will be most productive.

One thing I've heard from several managers recently is a frustration with the lengths they've had to take
to maintain engagement from their employees in this new work-from-home reality. Many workers who
were reliably plugging away when in the office quickly lost their drive without a direct supervisor looking
over their shoulder, and this change has been one of the biggest challenges of efficient remote work.
Moving forward, I expect firms to correct for this frustration by placing a premium on self-starters.
Individuals who can be reliably counted on to complete their tasks, even when they are not kept under
the direct watchful eye of a manager, will be particularly valued. To meet this demand, students need to
use their college experience as an opportunity to build and craft a sense of self-motivation.

A very recent analysis of 82 million job postings uncovered a critical demand by employers for what often is referred to as durable skills (America Succeeds, 2021). By contrast to hard skills, durable skills, sometimes referred to as soft skills, comprise important professional capabilities (Leadership, Critical Thinking, Communication, etc.) and personal qualities (Creativity, Mindfulness, Fortitude, etc.) that last throughout a person's entire career. In this analysis, two key findings are:
-In the job postings, the top five durable skills were requested nearly four (3.8) times more than the top five hard skills.
-Also, Communication and Leadership were in the highest demand, requested by 50+% of postings. These two durable (soft) skills sets include the following specific knowledge and skills.

A third durable skill or competency identified in the job postings, closely related to Leadership and Communication, is Collaboration. The Collaboration knowledge and skills connected to Communication and Leadership are interpersonal communications, coordinating, teamwork, team-oriented, team leadership, collaboration, team building, cooperation, and virtual teams.