-: Definitely, public speaking is important,
and that's something that I tell
students that you can learn.
So, I was very shy as a high school student,
and then now, it's put me in front of hundreds of people,
I'm very comfortable, so you can learn it.
So, public speaking is something you wanna hone.
People skills, so just getting used to talking to people,
being comfortable talking to people,
is something that you wanna do.
There's that educational piece, where you can do my job
and you can major in pretty much anything,
but if you don't have those people skills,
then you won't survive in this area
because people wanna know you care.
And they also wanna know that you are
for them and working for them.
So, definitely, people skills are huge.
I think you definitely, as a student,
should get connected to your professor.
So, for me, a lot of what helped me was networking.
So, I had a great mentor here on campus
who is still here, Dr. Mahaffey,
who really helped motivate me and open doors.
So, she knew I was a little bit shyer, so she was like,
"You know, you have to get yourself out there and network."
So, networking is really key for students,
and getting to develop relationships with your professors
'cause then, when there's opportunities available,
they know of students who would
be great for those opportunities.
So, I think that's important.
For me, landing my first position in higher education,
what provided me that opportunity
was that I was a teacher assistant.
I did a lot of things on campus.
I did some research with faculty.
So, I think, definitely, getting involved
in a lotta different things, not just social activities
but also on the academic side helps students to show
that they have a lot of transferrable skills
outside of the education they're receiving in their degree
that can be transferred into any position.
And I think a lot of employers wanna see that students
have done a lot of different things, not just in one area.
And in order for you to be, sort of,
marketable in different areas,
you need a resume that stands out like that.