Professional Skills

If you google “top skills employers look for,” you’ll notice hiring managers are really focused on what we used to call “soft skills”. Regardless of industry, employers are looking for well-rounded people who can think critically, problem-solve, and collaborate well with others.

Help your students continue to develop key professional skills that will set them up well for success in any job with our “Working in a Digital World: Professional Skills” course. Students will learn presentation best practices, how to collaborate effectively, how to develop interpersonal skills, how to work in agile environments, and how to solve problems with critical and creative thinking.

Created by IBM experts, this course offers a balanced approach to help students develop the critical workplace skills valued by employers across industries.

Tags: workplace skills, job prep, high school, internship prep, mock interviews, resume, collaboration, critical thinking, NAF, presentation skills, agile

Language availability: English, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil), French, Korean

Recommended student audience:

• K-12: 9th-12th grade
• College-level students

Connections to other SkillsBuild for Students and Educators learning: Students can further develop their employability skills further by completing the Job Application Essentials course (see Idea #2 below).

*Note: For all of the content listed in this guide, you’ll need to log in to SkillsBuild for Students and Educators to access these materials.

Professional Skills Student Learning Plan: 

Link to the Professional Skills learning plan in SkillsBuild for Students and Educators

Teacher Resources – Professional Skills

~ 90 minutes – 2.5 hours per module

~ 8-10 hours to complete full course and earn digital badge

Start it in a day: Have students take the 90 minutes “Present with a Purpose” module before class presentations

Do it in a week: Assign a module each day for a Career Week.

Do it over a unit/Summer: Focus on a module each week over a five-week unit, using SkillsBuild Educator’s educator resources to discuss and debrief daily with your students.

Embed it in a class: If you teach a Career Readiness class, the content could be a great beginning or end of the year assessment. You could also break it up based on units related to the coursework. Use our Professional Skills Curriculum Map available in the teacher resources channel above to lead your students in a comprehensive deep-dive of Professional Skills

I wanted to provide my students with additional career and college readiness opportunities, especially in the virtual setting, where social media branding is important in several ways for a successful future. -High School Teacher Georgette Kelley 

This  course has successfully condensed the content of a book into a mere 155 minutes of online learning. You won’t regret taking this course because you learn all the essential things in presentation. Great course that you can’t miss. -Todo