To wrap up for week one was a soft skills session. The soft skill session aims at educating trainees on how they could appropriately build and manage their careers to their best satisfaction. In the first soft skills training session, Miss Josephine Offei, the lead Career Development Advisor at Soronko Academy delivered a presentation on Building and Managing Career Plans. She explained that managing one’s career is crucial in adding value to oneself, increasing one’s wealth, and building the capacity of persons. To identify your career path, it is key to understand what you are passionate about and work towards it. She added that although other unplanned opportunities may come in the way of achieving your career goals it is important to learn new skills from those unplanned opportunities. Miss Josephine taught the students the steps involved in setting up one’s career. These steps included: developing a long-term-career goal, identifying your passions, getting exposed to other industries, and personality assessment.
During the session Miss Josephine shared her lived experiences of how being exposed to other industries would allow you to make informed choices on the type of career path to take. She advised the trainees to read and research more on the interesting sectors they want to venture into. She advised the trainees to tailor their CVs to suit the current needs and trends of recruiters. It is also important to seek permission before citing referees on your resume. In looking at job postings, it is important to research the company to check if the company is actively hiring or the job post is credible.
Miss Josephine also encouraged the trainees to be intentional in building a positive online presence. Having an online presence would increase an applicant’s visibility to potential investors and recruiters. Lastly, she encouraged the students to sign up for educational and skills development opportunities as they are moving up on their career paths. She highlighted that combining soft skills with digital skills training is necessary for today’s job market.
In closing, Miss Josephine introduced the Soronko Alumni Network to the students and the learning opportunities that await them as a cohort.
