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Campus Leadership Roles Help with Developing Soft Skills

Participation in campus activities and organizations can provide you with a sense of belonging to the university community. Student organizations can also offer you the chance to develop connections who can help you persevere in your academic journey, as well as meet other current students and alumni who share your interests. In addition, our campus leadership program provides several ways to develop your soft skills.

Why Soft Skills Are Necessary

Soft skills are traditionally considered a combination of communication, social and people skills. Along with character and personality traits, these skills enable you to more easily navigate professional and personal environments, work with others, and achieve goals.

While hard skills involve the technical knowledge required to do your job effectively, soft skills tend to be less quantifiable and harder to learn. Soft skills depend less on knowledge acquired in the workplace, and they help leaders create and express their business vision. Soft skills include common sense, the ability to deal with people and differing personalities, and a positive, flexible attitude.

Soft skills are useful because they enable an individual to fit into a professional environment, and there are ways to market them on your resume. They can be used by both organizational leaders or employees. In addition, soft skills assist with team building, morale, engagement and workplace satisfaction.

Refining Your Soft Skills through Campus Leadership

Becoming a campus leader can help you hone your soft skills more effectively. For instance, signing up as a chapter officer improves your people skills through leading a diverse student organization, demonstrating teamwork by engaging with other officers to create an annual plan, and practicing good time management by developing programs while balancing school and work obligations.

Participating in the mentoring program also offers the opportunity to develop communication skills and share your professional and academic experiences with fellow students.

Demonstrating the ability to teach others, connect with them and make them feel valued are essential skills to have. To learn more about the campus leadership program or to submit an interest form, visit our Student Activities Page.

Janet Athanasiou is a Student and Alumni Affairs Liaison who has worked for the university since 2011, holding positions such as Academic Advisor, Senior Manager of Advising Schools, and Graduate Academic Advisor. Previously, she worked as a Residence Coordinator for the University of Alberta in Canada. Her academic credentials include a bachelor’s degree in history from Dalhousie University and a master of education degree in counseling psychology from James Madison University. Janet also has a doctoral degree in higher education and higher education administration from George Mason University.

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