Skills That Can Improve Your Life… AND Your Job Prospects

We spend countless years at school, in college and university learning about all kinds of things. And as useful as this kind of education is, often we’re not taught actual life skills which we need and use in adulthood. For this reason, many of us move out of our parents home and find ourselves in at the deep end. However it’s never too late to learn, and bettering yourself and improving your skills is something that’s always worth doing. If you’re happy and content in your everyday life, you put yourself in the best position for either finding a new job or advancing in your career. Here are some important life skills which will benefit in everyday life as well as in your job search.

Driving

Even if you currently live in a place where it’s not feasible to have a car (for example, in a big city), it’s still well worth gaining this skill. No one knows what the future holds, and you could end up in a position where you need a car to get around. If you’re relocated or move to a new place, being able to drive could be the difference between finding a job and staying unemployed. Since it takes many months to learn, it’s not something you can just do quickly if you need to find work right away. Many careers will require you to have a driving license, whether you’re a traveling salesperson, mobile beautician, community care nurse or anything in between you will need a license for the job. If you’ve been putting it off, book yourself some lessons in with an instructor and get it done and dusted.

Image link

Basic Car Maintenance

Speaking of driving, once you get a car, it’s worth teaching yourself the basics. How to top up your fluid levels, change bulbs, tyres and jumpstart the battery. You’ll save yourself a lot of cash compared with constantly going to the garage. If you wake up in the morning and your car is complaining, having basic knowledge of what’s wrong could allow you to fix it without having to be late for work. Cars are complex and bigger jobs will need to be tackled by professionals. However some fixes are incredibly easy. Did you know thousands of people call their breakdown company every day due to their steering wheel being ‘jammed’? This is the steering lock, it’s easy to release it by turning the key in the ignition and gently moving the steering wheel from side to side. Just a little know- how can save you a whole load of time, money and hassle.

First Aid

Another skill that’s useful in every day life as well as your career search is first aid. This could literally save a person’s life, so it’s worth taking a few hours out of your life to attend a course to learn. It also looks impressive on your resume and shows that you’ve taken initiative to go out and learn this important skill. The kind of key skills you learn on a first aid course- communication, leadership, teamwork- are all things that employers love. You could look into CPR certification, useful if anyone you’re with has a heart attack, stroke, drowns or any other problem that could cause their heart to stop. You could take a first aid at work course, first aid for children or vulnerable people, even a course geared towards outdoor first aid. Have a think about what you think would come in most useful.  

Cooking

You don’t have to be a master in the kitchen, but you should know how to feed yourself. Eating out constantly and living on takeouts/ ready meals is incredibly unhealthy not to mention expensive. As an adult, you should have a couple of easy to prepare dishes that are both satisfying and nourishing. If you work long hours, invest in a slow cooker, and you’ll wonder how you ever survived without it. Stews, curries, soups, slow roasted meats and other hearty favorites can all be whipped up with very little hassle. Put the ingredients in the pot in the morning, head off to work (it’s safe to leave on when you go out) and by the time you get home you have tasty home cooked food. The last thing you want is to be working hard and all of your money being spent on food when you can prepare meals yourself that are far nicer for much less money.

Image link

Budgeting Skills

Whether you’re working with a little bit of money or a lot, knowing how to manage it is absolutely crucial. You need to ensure all of your bills are covered and you have enough money to do everything you need. If you’re going to work to earn money while running up debt, missing bills and getting in a muddle, then you’re doing it wrong. Write out everything you have coming in each month and everything you have going out. If you have more going out, you need to work out where you can make cutbacks. If you have all of your direct debits set up to one bank account, to come out on one date in the month, it gives you much more control over your money. All you need to do is ensure there’s the correct amount of money in that account before the due date and you’re good to go.

Communication

Being able to portray what you’re trying to say, whether it’s in person, over the phone or through writing is another skill that will benefit you both in work and daily life. If it’s your verbal communication you need to work on, perhaps you could start up a new hobby which would encourage you to be more social. The more you get out there and speak to all different kinds of people, the easier you will find it. You could go to events and practice networking or even go on a public speaking course. If speaking in public is something that’s always worried you, it’s a sure sign that this is exactly what you should go out there and do! If you want to improve your written skills, why not start journaling or writing a blog? You could write fiction as a hobby or sign up to a creative writing evening class. There’s plenty you can do which will improve your communication skills and will be fun in the process.

Exercise Regime

Most of us live relatively sedentary lifestyles, this means that it’s easy for our fitness and endurance levels to drop. In fact, it’s not uncommon for people to realize they can’t even climb a flight of stairs or run for the bus without getting breathless! This is terrible news for your health, your heart and lungs won’t be working to their best potential, you will lose muscle tone and strength and more than likely gain weight too. Carrying excess weight then makes getting around even harder. Keeping yourself in good shape and paying attention to your fitness levels is so worthwhile. You’ll be more body confident, any mental health issues will be more likely to be under control, and you will have more endurance too. If you land a fantastic job, but it requires a level of fitness or even just for you to be on your feet all day, you will struggle if you don’t keep on top of this. Some jobs will require a medical to be able to work there, so keeping at a healthy body weight and generally looking after yourself is a good way to go.

Planning Skills

Some people are natural planners. They write lists, set goals and then go out of their way to make sure they achieve what they’ve set out. This is an incredibly useful skill to have, it allows you to manage your time, prevents you from stressing and panicking at the last minute, keeps you organized and on the right path. But even if this is something you struggle with, like any skill it can be practiced and improved. You could create a three or five-year plan, outlining the things you would like to achieve in this time. You could write a bucket list. You could create a daily, weekly or monthly to-do list and ensure items are being ticked off as you go. Become a thoughtful, organized person who has the ability to plan is also a useful skill to have in the workplace. It’s something that employers will actively look for when hiring. It allows you to keep on top of your workload methodically, stay calm under pressure and never get in a muddle due to disorganization. When you’re an adult, you have to be responsible, it’s not like you have parents to do it for you any more! So you might as well embrace it and become as organised as you can.

Image link

What essential skills do you think improve your life as well as your job prospects? Do you plan on improving any of these things this year?