As a student or recent graduate, you may be thinking about starting your professional life by interning abroad with AIESEC which is for sure one of the best decesions you may ever take in your career path.

You are not going to learn only the basics of working life, but also apply the technical skills that you have learnt at school and  the Soft skills needed to be ready for the global job market.

Research from the (Society for Human Resource Management)* found that recruiters give first priority and value for soft skills while screening resumes and doing interviews because “These skills are key to building relationships, gaining visibility, and creating more opportunities for advancement,” says Kathy Robinson, founder of Boston career-coaching firm TurningPoint.

Here is the list of the top soft skills that recruiters search in fresh graduates you will learn during your internship.

1. Communication

Learning how to communicate with your co-workers and managers at the workplace is a key success skill that recruiters seek in recent graduates resumes and it enables you to develop your network and increase your productivity.

The best communicators are able to address and change their style according people’s categories and their understanding level. Nobody is going to teach you that at workplace and especially if you come from a technical background but being self aware and always open to feedback will enable you to master this skill which could change your career path too.

“Because it is not about how you want to communicate but how others understand that and this what can change everything for you.”

Why you need them? Well, Verbal and written communication give a look on how people are going to perceive you at work. Once you could communicate easily with your peers during your internship and express well the main information needed in a project or a task you deliver excellent work and get appreciated by your managers.

    2. Team work

83% of HR  managers ranked it as a very important quality in entry-level job candidates because having a friendly culture inside a company boost satisfaction and get to better results.

Doing an internship is not like preparing a college project where one person did all the work generally and the others got the same grades.

It’s a professional experience where you learn how to accept diversity of people and ideas and collaborate with your colleagues to bring innovation and achieve common goals which leads to the success of the company.

   3. Problem Solving

While doing your internship you will learn how to apply your school theories in real life situations and orient your solutions according to time and budget too.

The truth is that you’re going to face a lot of problems during your internship and what’s needed from you is to be resistant in face of uncertainty. Because being a problem solver does not mean knowing all the answers, even your leaders inside the firm don’t know how to resolve all the problems. What’s appreciated at workplace from trainee is to say “I don’t know this, but I will try to figure it out”.

Being solution oriented and knowing how to think on your feet can make you indispensable to an employer.

   4. Work ethics

Company is not like school where you just give excuses whenever you do a mistake. Inside an organization, you have rights to ask for and duties to deliver. Coming right out of the university, recent graduates often lack this skill because most of them didn’t experience working on practical projects with deadlines for delivery at school

During your internship you will be put in challenging situations which are time bound and this will teach you how to be accountable to your superiors and assume the results of your behaviour in a professional environment.

One of the things work ethic builds amongst peers at work is “Respect”. This is one of the key factors that makes people at your workplace believe in your ability to get stuffs done. So, you should develop a daily personal cadence and keep a high standards on your deliverables while being creative with solutions in order to win the respects of your colleagues and managers.

   5. Adaptability

Adaptability is the ability of an entity or organism to alter itself or its responses to the changed circumstances or environment. It shows your ability to learn from experience, and improves your fitness as a competitor while being able to adjust to new conditions. It’s a an advantage in the harshly competitive global economy.

As Joel Garfinkle said, executive coach and author of Getting Ahead: Three Steps to Take Your Career to the Next Level. “The speed of change in any given workplace is so rapid,” That’s why employers need people who can adapt to changes and transitions inside the company and keep their performance the same.

The most important skill that you need to learn first during your internship is how to get out of your comfort zone and be familiar with the work environment because this is the first step to grow inside the company and be noticed by the employer to win his confidence.

   6. Critical Thinking

Critical thinking refers to the flexibility to investigate information  objectively and build a reasoned judgment. it involves the analysis of sources like Data, facts, observable phenomenons, and research findings

In order for the company to stay on the competition, it needs workers who’re critical thinkers . these people can make short  conclusions from a group of data and discriminate between helpful and fewer useful details to resolve an issue or make a choice.

In your internship you’re going to learn how to be able to analyze Data, extract information and put them in use to improve business operations, suggest ideas and solutions according to your understanding of different aspects inside the company.

   Conclusion:

Soft Skills are very important at work and learning them during your internship will help you secure your entry level job easily.

Did you know that our internship programs aim to prepare students and recent graduates to the job market in a global environment while developing these most in demand soft skills that employers seek in them.

You could get your first internship with AIESEC today and could kickoff your career with learning these skills! You can explore all opportunities by either visiting the website or directly chatting with us by clicking on the blue bubble on the bottom right corner of this page!

Source*:   Source: SHRM/Mercer Entry-Level Applicant Job Skills Survey Findings