Whether you’re studying for a bachelor’s degree or a more advanced program, getting a degree gives you the option to quickly become an expert in your subject of choice. And whatever degree program you choose to study, it can also help you develop a wide range of key transferable skills that can help you find and land the right career for you in the future. Transferable skills refer to any skills that you can apply in a wide range of different jobs and industries like time management skills, communication skills, research skills, and more. These ‘bonus’ skills can not only help you become more successful as a student but can also make you a better candidate for future work in almost any career path or industry.
Studying for your degree online can provide a situation where you’ll need to use some transferable skills even more, allowing you to seriously fine-tune and improve them for your success as a student and your future career. Here are some of the main transferable skills that you’ll develop as an online student that you can list on your resume for better career prospects when you graduate.
Time Management:
Time management skills are probably the most obvious type of transferable skill that you will be able to develop as an online student at SBU Online. Studying online often requires you to juggle your education with other commitments and due to the flexibility that online and distance learning programs provide, they are a popular choice among people who need to continue working full-time or have family commitments to uphold while getting their degree. However, the flexible nature of online programs means that you are in charge of managing your own time. You’ll need to use your time management skills to put together a schedule that works for you and allows you to get everything you need to do done while making sure that any assignments and coursework are also submitted on time.
Organization:
Organization skills are closely linked with time management skills and studying for your degree online will also give you a great chance to develop these skills much further. Good organization skills are absolutely essential for your success as an online student. Whether you are organizing your notes from your study sessions and virtual lectures to use later in assignments, organizing your time so that you can fit studying around your full-time job, or planning for the future so that you know what you need to do and at what times to ensure that you’re on track and working to deadlines, this is a skill that you will likely be required to use in the future regardless of the type of employment that you end up in.
Networking:
Networking online is becoming more and more commonplace today. Whether you are used to online networking using sites like LinkedIn or are more of an in-person networker, studying online means that you need to quickly brush up on those online networking skills since there’s no option to just start talking with the person who’s sitting next to you in class. Online students are often provided with a wide range of different options for networking and communication with peers and professors, including online chat rooms, group chats, social media groups, and more.
Presenting Ideas:
Depending on the online degree program that you choose to take, you may be required to give presentations – typically, these will be done virtually, however, you will have a lot of opportunities to use this to improve your presentation skills and find areas where you can improve for your future employment. In almost every job, you’ll usually need to present information or a report in some form or another, and many online degree programs give you the chance to learn more about doing this and practice it as a vital skill that will come in handy in the future.
Research:
Research skills are essential whether you decide to study online or on-campus. However, the difference between learning on campus and online is that as a distance learning student, you might be relying heavily on your own research and your ability to self-study. Many online degree programs are completely flexible when it comes to how you learn. You’ll simply be provided with learning materials and left to do research and learning to make sense of them. Being able to research not only the materials that are provided to you, but also be able to do your own research around the subject from other sources such as books, articles, websites, journals, and more, will help you succeed as a student and can be a very useful skill to have in many different career options in future.
Reasoning:
Essays and papers are often a key part of studying for a degree online, no matter what subject you choose to major in. Throughout the process of completing these assignments, you will have the chance to seriously develop your reasoning skills. Whether you’re researching a topic, evaluating resources, or coming up with a compelling argument for your latest essay, studying for a degree online will allow you to strengthen your ability to weigh up the pros and cons in almost any situation – something that’s often highly valued in a wide range of work settings.
Decision Making:
While you might not realize it at the time, almost everything you will do at college is the result of a series of small decisions. For example, if you are writing an assignment, you’ll be making decisions as you go along when it comes to the topic you choose to write about, the resources and evidence that you use to back it up, the writing style and tone that you use, your choice of words, and the arguments that you make. Studying online often involves even more decisions since you are fully in charge of when, where, and how long you are going to study for on any given day, meaning that good decision-making skills are something that you will naturally develop as you go along, even if you’re not focusing on making better decisions but rather just deciding on something that works best at the time.
Overcoming Obstacles:
It’s hard to find any career today where there are going to be absolutely no obstacles to overcome. As an online student, you’re definitely going to get a lot of practice when it comes to dealing with obstacles, planning for them, overcoming them, and learning from them so that you are better prepared in the future if something similar happens. As an online student, you might run into issues such as a lack of time, feeling demotivated, feeling isolated and lonely, or struggling with tech – all of which could be obstacles standing in the way of you getting the qualification and the career that you want. While getting over these obstacles might seem difficult and not very pleasant to go through at the time, the skills you will develop as a result of getting through the tough periods of studying for your degree online can prove to be invaluable for your career in the future.
Self-Motivation:
Studying for your degree online requires a huge amount of self-motivation. It’s definitely a great way to improve your skills as a self-starter and learn how to keep yourself going even when you don’t feel like it or when things are getting tough. As an online student, you will often be left on your own to study and put in the effort required to get what you want out of your degree. You are fully in charge and it’s important that you quickly learn to keep your motivation and passion going even when you’re a few years into your program and things are getting harder. The ability to keep oneself motivated and committed throughout studying an online degree program is often a skill that is highly valued by employers in all industries.
Problem Solving:
As an online student, there are going to be several problems that you’ll need to solve. From solving the problems that are presented to you as part of the curriculum to the real-life problems that you might face when getting your degree online, studying in this way gives you the chance to think creatively and come up with solutions that help you get to where you need to be.
Confidence:
Last but not least, confidence in yourself and your own abilities is a quality and a skill that most employers are going to be looking out for on resumes and during interviews. Everybody wants to work with people who are confident in themselves, because they have the evidence to back up that they are good at what they do. After studying for your degree online, you’re surely going to have built up a high level of self-confidence in your abilities, both in terms of subject-specific knowledge and skills and these transferable skills that you have developed along the way.
Studying for your degree online isn’t just useful for becoming an expert in a certain subject. As you study, you will also develop several important skills that employers look for.
