Learn Like It's Your Job - 18 Portable Skills

Today’s college graduates are entering a very challenging job market. Many of them will end up in positions or jobs that weren’t exactly on the radar for their dream career. Vickie Milazzo says that smart grads will use this time to develop the portable skills that will help them leap to the top once opportunities start flowing.

The slowly recovering economy has taken a toll on all Americans. But for many recent college graduates, it has made that first step into the “real” world a real doozy. In fact, the Associated Press’s analysis of recent government data shows that 53 percent of recent college grads (those under 25) are either jobless or underemployed. Many have had to accept “survival jobs”-jobs not within their preferred profession or at a level below their training-to simply get by. But all is not lost, says Vickie Milazzo. She says that college grads with a “buck up” attitude can use this time to develop portable skills that will bring them great success as their career develops.

“Now is not the time to focus on finding a job that will pay a lot of money or give you a fancy title,” says Milazzo, author of the New York Times bestseller, Wicked Success Is Inside Every Woman. “The bottom line is that many grads are lucky to find any job. Let alone a job that pays what they hoped they’d be making right out of college. Instead, these graduates should focus on personal growth and developing the portable skills that can be formed in any job but which will serve them throughout their careers.”

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Portable skills are the job skills that can serve you no matter where you work or what position you hold. These skills include relationship-building, communication, entrepreneurial thinking, etc. Almost all of them can be developed inside “survival jobs,” and that’s why they should become a key focus for recent college graduates who haven’t yet landed their dream job.

“The portable skills you develop now will shape the professional you become and will help you develop your voice as a professional