Prompt: Translating my college experience into employer-desired experiences

    I'm sure that I could pick any of the transferable skills and find something within my college experience to match it to. I've picked three that I think are useful and that I was able to get more experience with than the others the past few years:

Leadership

    For the past six semesters I have been serving as a TA for three sections of a plant biology class at the community college. In that time I have gained a lot of experience working with a diverse array of students. Many of the students excel in the class and need little help from me, but every semester there are at least a few who need consistent help. There are times during the semester when my help is in high demand, especially when we briefly cover genetics and photosynthesis. Overall the experience has helped me to fine tune my leadership skills.

Communication

    Another thing that I get to practice is explaining scientific concepts to students pursuing non-science related degrees. This has been challenging, but over the semesters I have been able to learn new ways of saying things, or different ways to relate concepts to real-life things that those students care about. Helping out with three sections means that on average I am potentially communicating with thirty-six to seventy-two students during the semester. I had to learn the right amount of student/TA interaction so that I could help them when they needed me, but also allow me time to focus on my studies. 

Creativity

    The past two years have been very challenging, disruptions to in-person learning forced us to adapt to changes very rapidly. At first, no one was really an expert at this, but over time we learned to utilize online interactions to facilitate our academic needs. Many of us decided to continue taking courses during this time period, and I think that we all gained a bit of creativity in the process. The first semester was filled with the anxiety of trying to figure out how to turn in homework to our teachers digitally, but by the second semester we had that figured out. Through conversations with our professors and among ourselves we were all able to use our creative sides to figure out ways to conduct business as usual. I think this is an incredibly important skill, it shows that you are resilient and motivated in the face of challenges.