You’ve landed an internship in your desired industry. Maybe you’re even getting paid. Awesome! If you’re really forward-thinking, you may also already be planning your answer to the future question, “What are three skills you gained from your internship?” Hadn’t thought that far ahead? Now’s the time! By going into this new experience with intention, you can ensure the skills you gain in your internship will set you up with today’s essential soft and hard skills.
What’s the difference between soft and hard skills?
Many employers seek candidates with a combination of relevant hard skills and strong soft skills. Having both ensures technical proficiency and effective interpersonal abilities. Yet, these two different skills categories represent various types of abilities you’ll use at work.
Non-technical, interpersonal qualities get labeled soft skills. These characteristics help you effectively interact and work with others. Soft skills are in high demand as they are more difficult to teach, yet they contribute to teamwork, leadership, and communication.
Transferable across different roles and industries, soft skills include:
- Verbal and written communication
- Active listening
- Ability to motivate and inspire others
- Analytical thinking
- Adaptability
- Creativity
- Collaboration and cooperation
- Conflict resolution
- Time management
- Organization
You’ll be expected to demonstrate hard skills as well. Hard skills refer to specific technical or specialized knowledge and abilities that are measurable and can be taught and acquired through education, training, or experience.
Typically job-specific, commonly required hard skills include:
- Data analysis
- Accounting
- Graphic design
- Operating machinery
- Content development
- Programming language proficiency
What skills does someone starting a career need?
This varies depending on your individual industry and career goals. Still, there are many skills gained in internships that can serve you well, no matter what you do next. This section consider top in-demand skills, both soft and hard.
In-demand soft skills
LinkedIn annually reviews its job postings and member activity to identify the most in-demand skills. Unsurprisingly, its top five skills for 2023 all come in on the soft side. The most in-demand skill? Management. Communication, customer service, leadership and sales rounded out the top five list.
As an intern, you may not get much management experience. However, you can certainly volunteer for opportunities to support leadership, engage in customer service, and work sales. These will help you develop your communication skills too. Consciously cultivating your ability to collaborate and build rapport with others (e.g., fellow employees, managers, or clients) can play a vital role in your long-term career success.
When developing your communication skills, think broadly. This isn’t just about writing effective emails. Try to get experience speaking with different groups, making presentations, and drafting a variety of written documents.
Work ethic, independence, and self-discipline all make SmartRecruiters’ top 10 soft skills for 2023 interns. You can develop these while interning by working effectively without direct supervision, meeting your deadlines, and finding ways to contribute without being asked.
Improve your adaptability by flexing your multitasking muscles. It can help to write down all of the duties expected of you in a day. Then, prioritize your day around the task importance and deadline. Doing so can help you complete similar tasks at the same time and meet project timelines.
Future employers will also look for you to successfully problem solve. So, if you encounter a challenge, demonstrate your resilience, adaptability, and resourcefulness to overcome that hurdle. Still, keep in mind that being able to ask for help and listen to the input of other team members is a long-lasting professional skill.
Top hard skills for 2023
Looking at the skills employers required to fill on-the-job tasks, LinkedIn’s survey identified several technology-related hard skills in-demand for 2023. Software development took the top spot. Then, SQL, Python, Java, JavaScript, cloud computing, and data analysis all made the list. Finance (#3), operations (#9, and customer relationship management (#10) rounded out the top ten.
Overall, technological literacy is a fast-growing core skill, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s Future of Job Skills report. Knowledge of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data can also help, with the WEF predicting 60% growth in demand by 2027.
What does this mean for you as an intern? If you’re not already in a role that gives you exposure to different information technology, be inquisitive. You might ask questions like:
- How does this organization use its data?
- How has process automation changed your role?
- What technologies or programming languages do I need to know for this industry?
- What does this business do to understand user experience?
- What digital marketing tools do we use?
You can learn technical or hard skills while interning. Look for opportunities that expose you to AI or machine learning or expand your computer and information technology skills. Volunteer to work on projects that will develop your data analysis and data visualization skills. You might show initiative by researching trends in the data and providing a report of trends you identify.
You might also ask to sit in on meetings that help you see behind-the-scenes of business operations and financial decisions to expand your awareness. Ask team members about their business development efforts. Learn what project management tools are used, and practice with them.
Finally, if you’re in an internship that sees you working virtually, or at least in a hybrid setting, look at this also as an opportunity for growth. Instead of slacking off in the sun when you’re “working from home,” learn what you need to do individually to motivate and organize yourself to add value even when not onsite.
Skills disruption on the horizon
Entering the workforce in 2023 and the near future presents fresh challenges. The world of work is rapidly evolving. “Between now and 2027, businesses predict that 44% of workers’ core skills will be disrupted,” according to the WEF. Nevertheless, you can stay ahead of the competition by developing in-demand skills from your internships.
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