Double, Maybe Triple Up

When it comes to employers taking a look at possible employees, they look at several important aspects, because it’s an important decision.

Experience, education and important skills to name off a few. What will stick out about your resume? How could you put yourself ahead of others who are trying to snag the same internship position as you?

Even before looking into internships, students out of high school must first know, or at least have an idea of, what they want to do in their future endeavors a.k.a. their career. Universities are a great place to expand your network and build up skills that are important to possible employers.

However, it brings up the question: How many skills are too many skills? Or, is that even possible? Could you obtain too many skills?

Whether you think this could be the case at all or not, think about if you’d rather have a great skill set for just one topic or one area of work. That’s why it’s important to “double up”, and maybe even “triple up”.

So, what exactly do I mean to “double up?” It’s great to figure out what you love and are passionate about as early as possible and generally good when you’re in high school. For me, anything to do with sports grabbed my attention, and that started in my elementary school days.

Still to this day though, sports attract my eyes and ears, and even though I’m not participating in sporting events anymore, I have found things to do that keep my eyes and ears right there with what I love most.

I’ve been a broadcaster for local high school sports for a little over a year now. As a member of a few high school broadcasting teams and a radio station, I’ve had the chances of calling local high school games for football, basketball and baseball. After keeping at it for a year now, I have come to accept the fact that this is what I want to do as a career choice and hopefully more opportunities come my way in the future.

But with anything you do in life it’s always nice to have a backup, right? Hence “double up.” What if what you love to do doesn’t have any open doors for you down the road?

This is why I believe obtaining as many skills as you can can be vital for your future. Of course, not everyone will have bad luck and get rejected completely from what they are passionate about, but learning a second trade or a third hobby can widen the way for opportunities for you.

Using being a college student as an example, there are benefits to obtaining a minor to go along with your major. A minor complements your major, can improve your chances of employment and shows you have knowledge and are capable of being an asset in multiple fields.

Employers love individuals who are capable of more things than one. More often than not, they will consider someone who can complete multiple different tasks well, over someone who is really good at just one task.

It’s never a bad idea to take up another hobby. Find anything that interests you and keep driving yourself to learn more and become a master at what you do. Be a broadcaster, but also learn marketing tactics. Be a political science major but also try a minor in finance. Double-major in economics and mathematics.

Do everything you can to obtain as many skills possible. You’ll never know when you’ll need to use them.