This is the last part of a series of blogs: #8 of 8! If you missed the first ones, you can read them here.
Onto the final secret of what employers are looking: Leadership. According to NACE, it is how you “Leverage the strengths of others to achieve common goals, and use interpersonal skills to coach and develop others. The individual is able to assess and manage his/her emotions and those of others; use empathetic skills to guide and motivate; and organize, prioritize, and delegate work.”
In other words, employers are not looking for you to have to have all the answers or achieve the goals on your own but someone who in able to motivate a group who – together – can achieve the goals.
My student Ana, gave me a great example of when she showed leadership as a Summer Camp Counselor. Ana had been working at the same day camp for 2 years so she was familiar with the culture and expectations. Last summer she noticed many of the new counselors were showing up to work late in the mornings. She came up with the idea to give counselors 2 free movie passes if they got to work on time five days in a row. She brought up the idea to the supervisor who decided to give it a try. Turns out the counselors loved it! It was fun –an incentive rather than a punishment – and helped solve the problem.
Try to come up with an examples of when you acted like a leader? Was it in a group project? Remember being a leader doesn’t mean bossing people around – it means seeing the best in everyone and working together towards a goal.
Sources: http://www.naceweb.org/career-readiness/competencies/career-readiness-defined/
