Using the multidisciplinary gaze for career development and soft skills training within the UNITalent framework

UNITalent participants come from across the globe, with different backgrounds and academic levels. Some have just started their master's studies, and some are well on their way towards a PhD.

The UNITalent groups are very multidisciplinary, reflecting the nature of the degrees at the University of Helsinki. The participants study everything from human nutrition to social science. The participants have all done studies previously in various topics.

The UNITalent participants are from different cohorts, adding to the diversity. This is fertile ground for peer and host support, something that we value highly in UNITalent. We can always learn from each other’s knowledge and experiences. This adds to one's self-efficacy and hopefully adds to one's well- being. And the reason for coming together in UNITalent is a common curiosity towards the Finnish labour market.

The importance of soft skills

It was pointed out that everybody has these skills, so why do we need to talk more about them?

• Soft skills are not inherited traits, they are skills that can be trained.
• According to an interpretation of the T-skills model, certain skills are industry-specific, and they make up one’s academic core (or the vertical part of the T). Individuals with certain hard skills have knowledge in specific areas related to their professional sector. But we don’t keep our accumulated hard skills to ourselves, we want to put our knowledge to work.
• The horizontal part of the T represents HOW we share our expertise, or our various professional or soft skills. These are equally important as the hard skills. How do you get the information out there otherwise?
• Soft skills are transferable or even future-proof, so they are super important if you are changing sectors or career. ?They remain even if the core changes.

Communication is in my opinion the most important soft skill. It can be verbal or non- verbal, written or oral. It is interpersonal or anonymous, intercultural and context-bound, audience – specific. Mostly communication is about active listening. The list goes on! In fact, I think that in most sectors, the most important and the most difficult is communication.

The question is, can one master a skill entirely??

More important than saying that you are “good at communicating” (which means nothing, erase this sentence if you have it in your documents) – is showing HOW and WHERE (context) you have trained this skill?

Communication training, especially on inter-personal and inter-cultural level (spiced up by diversity in many forms) is something that UNITalent provides an excellent platform for.

Verbalizing your skills

Skills development takes time, usually it’s hard to evaluate how good you are at this skill, at any given time. It’s therefore productive to use the STAR model to describe or unpack your skill(s).

• STAR stands for situation, task, assignment and result – choose the order that is natural to you! A simplified example of describing a skill using this methodology could be:

“During my traineeship at X, one of my duties was to increase the company’s customer base. I developed a digital newsletter describing the company’s products and distributed it to existing customers and potential customers. The result indicated more sales for the company".

• A second R (for Relate) indicates lessons learnt.

?“I learnt that I have to start with mapping the customer network before planning the newsletter”. Or something like that.

It simple and clear for all parties. You could even go on by stating that you developed your communication skills in this task. (There are many sub-communication skills to pick out here: creating a marketing text for a specific context and audience, producing written clear text, developing digital marketing skills, forming a network means...)? A proficient user of the STAR model can combine skills in the same story.

• The STAR model further embraces the thought of standing out by being yourself. This is a method which links your skills with your real experiences. No imposters here!

For example, how does effective communication come across in your UNITalent host’s sector?

Lessons from the career monitoring survey

In the annual career monitoring survey, UH alumni mention skills that they think are important in working life. Although this survey covers mostly Finnish graduates, I think this part is valuable for all readers.

Alumni mention for instance the importance of self-direction, analytical thinking and cooperation skills in working life. Hey, you get to practice these in UNITalent also!

There are many important messages to students in the survey results. This one is definitively to remember:

According to the respondents in the survey, the ability to tell people about one′s skills is the single most important factor affecting employment. Say no more.

During the studies, students are used to examining themes from various angles. In UNITalent, the multidisciplinary gaze needs to be used in a different way, towards oneself.

• What and when do I best use the knowledge gained?
• How does the information affect my situation?
• Could I impact on my situation by talking to my peers or to my host?
• How can I, in this light, carve out my own path, taking opportunities and potential threats into consideration?

One gets to apply a critical and analytical gaze, for sure. Asking and answering questions is career skill number one.

It’s time to be creative, to learn and to invest in knowledge about the local labour market dynamics. Take time (using your collaboration skills) to get to know people and find out more about how you could position yourself, just now, in working life.?

Thanks to all involved, again.