Basically I'd like everyone to discuss different extracurriculars and their soft skills following the format: (extracurricular name, one to two sentence description of what exactly it entails, and the top three/four soft skills developed and bolded) in a way that someone who doesn't know what new activity to incorporate into their life can read and use to guide them. Instead of just saying "just do your hobbies" you can tell us what skills you will develop by doing those EC's. This should help keep people who are looking to develop certain skills from accidentally developing other skills that they might already be acceptable at or that won't benefit them; in addition to providing clear examples of those skills to the application people. In other words, if I want to develop my leadership, communication, and teamwork skills, I might not want to take a job where you are working on your own, given a list of directions to follow, and/or aren't able to train people due to not being part of the personnel training staff; however not all EC's will reveal this environment at first. Specific animal experiences are fine too (like aquariums, hatcheries, aviaries, shelters, pet rescues, wildlife rescues, cow farms, stables- riding or therapeutic etc since some people might not know what to look for specifically or might not realize experience XYZ would count as something animal related they could do that wouldn't be too shallow/ off course of an experience for vet school. Just no mentioning vague things like "just do stuff with animals/ stuff with birds" or "whatever interests you") and also, getting in with a veterinarian is kinda obvious given all the other threads so I'll save us all some time.
GET IN WITH A VET, IF POSSIBLE. IT'S THE BEST WAY TO GET VET-LIKE SKILLS AND IS REQUIRED BY SOME SCHOOLS FOR ADMITTANCE.
Proceeding onward with a quick FAQ:
Why only three/four soft skills?: Because admissions people won't be working alongside you to see just how much your position at the vet clinic requires leadership (for example), so unless you have an award or title reflecting that skill, you might need to take on a more skill-obvious EC where your skill can both be seen and, in a sense, measured by how well/ how much you accomplish in that environment.
Isn't this a bit small of a niche? Why make a whole thread about it?: This is more for people who are already in with a vet and need something skill specific or those who aren't in with a vet and need to either develop or prove they have certain skills. By making a new thread, it saves some time for these people by preventing hours of scrolling through hundreds of posts (old and new) and trying to find ideas or info relevant to them. It could also connect people with similar experiences (like limited animal interaction options, limited money, limited time etc) in a way that allows them to discuss how one person went about getting XYZ experience or what to expect before they start their new position.
What are soft skills?: Best Soft Skills to List on a Resume
This is not only a general list of skills (like critical thinking) but breaks it all down into more specific skills. If your job has you communicating to different coworkers on a daily basis, but limits public communication to brief conversations, then you might not get as much public communication experience out of the job than you would like (you might not use important skills like conflict resolution or managing difficult conversations/ making difficult choices with strangers). An example would be wildlife rescue where usually if you deal with non-educational animals, you are limited in public speaking experience to obtaining a history of found animal, brief education about animal care- when to bring a animal and when to put it back- and maybe fundraising information; otherwise you'd probably be in a educational animal experience or a different position where you wouldn't handle the releasable animals as much.
Examples:
Hackathons- form a group beforehand or make one on site, work together over 24-48 hours to create a product that solves a problem listed at the hackathon (topics cover specific and general animal care, veterinary, general health, etc)- develops teamwork, communication and leadership in a high stress environment.
Wildlife Rescue- work with animals injured or abandoned to heal/ raise and release- develops teamwork, coworker communication (some public communication), thinking outside the box, work ethic
Driving Santa's sleigh- hauling heavy load of toys across millions of miles to bring happiness to children within 24 hours, product created from toy shop that works 7 days a week/ 360 days out of the year- positive attitude, leadership, customer service
GET IN WITH A VET, IF POSSIBLE. IT'S THE BEST WAY TO GET VET-LIKE SKILLS AND IS REQUIRED BY SOME SCHOOLS FOR ADMITTANCE.
Proceeding onward with a quick FAQ:
Why only three/four soft skills?: Because admissions people won't be working alongside you to see just how much your position at the vet clinic requires leadership (for example), so unless you have an award or title reflecting that skill, you might need to take on a more skill-obvious EC where your skill can both be seen and, in a sense, measured by how well/ how much you accomplish in that environment.
Isn't this a bit small of a niche? Why make a whole thread about it?: This is more for people who are already in with a vet and need something skill specific or those who aren't in with a vet and need to either develop or prove they have certain skills. By making a new thread, it saves some time for these people by preventing hours of scrolling through hundreds of posts (old and new) and trying to find ideas or info relevant to them. It could also connect people with similar experiences (like limited animal interaction options, limited money, limited time etc) in a way that allows them to discuss how one person went about getting XYZ experience or what to expect before they start their new position.
What are soft skills?: Best Soft Skills to List on a Resume
This is not only a general list of skills (like critical thinking) but breaks it all down into more specific skills. If your job has you communicating to different coworkers on a daily basis, but limits public communication to brief conversations, then you might not get as much public communication experience out of the job than you would like (you might not use important skills like conflict resolution or managing difficult conversations/ making difficult choices with strangers). An example would be wildlife rescue where usually if you deal with non-educational animals, you are limited in public speaking experience to obtaining a history of found animal, brief education about animal care- when to bring a animal and when to put it back- and maybe fundraising information; otherwise you'd probably be in a educational animal experience or a different position where you wouldn't handle the releasable animals as much.
Examples:
Hackathons- form a group beforehand or make one on site, work together over 24-48 hours to create a product that solves a problem listed at the hackathon (topics cover specific and general animal care, veterinary, general health, etc)- develops teamwork, communication and leadership in a high stress environment.
Wildlife Rescue- work with animals injured or abandoned to heal/ raise and release- develops teamwork, coworker communication (some public communication), thinking outside the box, work ethic
Driving Santa's sleigh- hauling heavy load of toys across millions of miles to bring happiness to children within 24 hours, product created from toy shop that works 7 days a week/ 360 days out of the year- positive attitude, leadership, customer service
