There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning.
– Jiddu Krishnamurti
Nowadays soft skills are more important than ever on a resume. While having a degree is still an indicator to recruiters that they are looking at a good candidate, it is no longer considered as the most relevant way to get their attention. Candidates may have to showcase specific soft skills beyond degrees to grab the special attention of recruiters in today’s highly competitive world.
Neglected for so long in the world of work, the human skills that a person can bring to a company are becoming more and more valuable. The reason behind this phenomenon? The world is changing fastly, and the world of employment must adapt to that reality.
In the ever-changing world, we live in, technical skills can quickly become obsolete. This is why soft skills are today increasingly valuable. While they can be improved upon endlessly, they can also provide a solid foundation for learning any valuable technical skill.
Many people decide to change careers in their lifetime. The reasons why are legion, and one day the time comes when they have to write their resume. It’s usually then that a little voice in their head starts whispering: “Psst, you can’t put them all on there, buddy. You’re going to have to choose…”.
No, indeed. However, it must be said that they do possess one of the most important soft skills: Continuous learning, which makes them what we call lifelong learners. Thanks to this human skill that pushed them to take a new path, they can improve in many others fields.
Why continuous learning is a must-have soft skill?
Having continuous learning among one’s soft skills can be extremely useful to improve not only hard skills but also other soft skills. One such soft skill which directly comes to my mind is creativity.
The day you start to learn something new, you open a door to a brand new World. The more you learn during your adventure inside this new world, the more your creativity is increasing. The journey to the avenues of creativity keeps inspiring you to create, innovate in umpteen ways each day while building on an array of new skills to your existing ones. One day, you may eventually decide to build a bridge that will connect the worlds you already knew with that new one.
At times, during this journey, you probably realise that you’ll have to question and adapt yourself. You will observe and learn from others. This is from people who may have undertaken the process before you. You tend to learn from them, maybe collaborate with them to bring a plus-value to a common new universe …
Later and maybe with more experience, you may inspire other people to open the door you once have opened, becoming a leader for those who believe you are one of those who can inspire them to rise.
Do I have what it takes?
I don’t know you, but yes you have. People who dare to take a new path and succeeded in it understood that implicitly or not. By doing so, they are also able to improve in many other soft skills.
From my perspective, here are the four key qualities of a lifelong learner :
- Curiosity
- Passion
- Resilience
- Ambition
Those qualities, everyone has it. Indeed, when a human being starts his journey into life, one of his first intentions is to discover the world around him. He is naturally curious and because of this, he can learn what’s good for him and what is not.
Children are naturally passionate and creative creatures — then as they grow up some of them, unfortunately, turn into incredibly boring adults. But that’s not the point— who are real sponges to what it’s presenting to them. That’s why they are fabulous learners.
Resilience is the ability to cope with failure. Combined with perseverance and the first two qualities mentioned above, it gives the ability to try again and again. As the saying goes, those who never try, never fail. If they never fail, they never learn.
With adulthood often come responsibilities. After graduation often comes the need to build a career, climb the ladder. This is called ambition. My purpose here is not to bring a revisited answer to the riddle of the Sphinx. So why all of this?
Because I just want you to realise that by making a conscious effort to introspect the earlier stages of your life, you will understand that those qualities are virtues that prompts you to be a continuous learner with total awareness, thus allowing you can be a lifelong learner!
Here I will just explain how I’m currently managing to combine my newfound interest in web development and design with my long-time passion for writing.
When I’ve started web development instead of looking for a new job, many people around me were kinda… baffled. If on one hand, I could count on few people who were actually understanding my decision, on the other I received “really warm” encouragements like :
“Come on, you’ve got a master degree! You can speak Chinese! There is nothing for you there. Such a pity, you know ”
“Okay … hum…after all, anyone does what he wants with his life. ”
Precisely… and that’s what I do. But it’s maybe because I understood something they didn’t, which eventually became my motto: The day you think you know enough, you become an idiot. To be honest, I think this strong will of seeking knowledge from cradle to grave has always been my best friend. What’s new is that now, I’m aware of it.
While I’m jumping with enthusiasm into what’s new to me, I’m certain that it will end up by offering me opportunities. Before starting web development one year ago, I knew I like to write, but was not sure I was made for it though. I remember with a nostalgic smile my web design coach who had his eyes almost bleeding when he had to watch my very first designs on Figma…
However, involved and benevolent advice later — by a web design student from my class and this poor coach— combined with my motivation, my curiosity to learn more and more to improve my skills, I can now say that I can create a design for a website without risking to make someone epileptic in the blink of an eye.
Currently learning Worpress CMS, my goal is to create my own theme, from my own design to start my own blog. So for those times when you’re hesitant to start something new or jump back into things you feel you’re not yet comfortable enough with, just remember this:
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
– Laozi
