37 er. How can students demonstrate cultural competence, adaptability, and other soft skills to employers? Kluver: You can take the lessons you learn and implement them into everyday life. Someone who has learned these skills can implement them when facing a conflict situation, group assignment, or task. They can showcase their learned adaptability and perspective by demonstrating their ability to focus on helping accomplish company goals and helping other employees along the way. Simpson: And innovation. If problems cannot be solved traditionally, they can create new approaches. You can advocate for yourself if you know what you’re doing and what you’re trying to accomplish because most employers are far more interested in how these experiences translate to your work behavior and performance. What is the value of students having foreign language skills? Kluver: Language competency is a vital skill requiring a deepened understanding. That typically doesn’t happen in a country that does not primarily speak that language. Indeed, you can go anywhere in the world and find someone who speaks English, but you are always at a disadvantage. Although Americans can go anywhere and find English speakers, it’s also important to understand that it makes us incredibly dependent on a narrow slice of people. It hinders us from interacting in ways we could otherwise if language competency existed. If we had more language competency, we would see an explosion of new possibilities because you only know people if you know their language. Having the skills to get to the base of who a person is in their language gives you much greater insight. Simpson: And those skills make them very marketable. Students who are reasonably competent in another language have job opportunities that are almost always more interesting. People snatch them up so quickly. Whether it’s medical students or law students, employers are desperate for those specific skills. Beyond study abroad programs, what other global or cross-cultural experiences do you suggest students pursue? Kluver: A significant opportunity exists in the cross-cultural engagement of students, as OSU has students from all over the U.S. and the world. It is a great learning opportunity to interact with somebody who is culturally different from you, to learn about their culture, and to share your own. It’s important to build friendships while they are here and keep those friendships when they leave. Those are people you’d be proud to be friends with. Although it’s not the same as going abroad, spending quality time with someone from another culture can give you the same perspective as if you’d gone and spent a month overseas. This can come from simply engaging with other people of different cultural or ethnic backgrounds in Oklahoma. Simpson: It goes back to the question of building these networks. The international students at OSU are typically some of the best in their respective communities, schools, or fields. They are talented students who will go out and make significant changes in the world. If you have a friendship from college that carries into adulthood and life, you become a part of that network of incredible things. Student clubs, international restaurants in Stillwater, or watching foreign films in their original language can all be introductory steps in the grand scheme of being open to different opportunities. Allow yourself to be curious about trying new things. Expose yourself to the opportunities waiting for you, and don’t be afraid to create opportunities for yourself.
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