7 Career-long Skills You'll Gain at Briercrest
“What sort of skills do I need to get a career?” As I was leaving high school, drastically ill-prepared for the real world, I asked myself this question.
I knew how to get a job—that was easy. But I had no idea what I wanted to do, what sort of career I wanted to pursue, or even if I wanted to go to college. Being in that situation sucked and the more I looked at it the more I realized I would need more education to prepare myself for the job market. I ended up finding that education at Briercrest College.
In the modern job market, the amount and type of skills required are changing rapidly. Briercrest combines classes in a lot of different academic, artistic, and theological areas to form an interdisciplinary education. This is designed to help you gain essential career-long skills that will help you not only with your first job, but your second, third, and every job beyond!
Here are 7 career-long skills that an education at Briercrest can provide:
Biblical Knowledge
As a Christian school, the Bible is rather important at Briercrest. Through Biblical Studies and Theology courses Briercrest aims not only to teach you more about the Bible but also to help you understand it.
Understanding more about the Bible allows us to know more of how Jesus calls us to live. When you look deeply at the teachings in the Bible you begin to see the world in a different way.
The teaching at Briercrest aims to give you enough biblical knowledge that it starts to change how you live, think, and perceive the world for the better!
Read more: What does it Mean to Study from a Christian Perspective?
Theological Thoughtfulness
Theological thoughtfulness is generally understanding how to think about God. At Briercrest we have a lot of different theological denominations represented in our staff, students, and faculty. With that you get a lot of different theological views.
Not only does this give you a very broad view of theology, but it also promotes an understanding of other people’s points of view. This is crucial in your ability to relate to and serve others in all sorts of different contexts, whether you are in a sales position figuring out the best way to sell your product, a leadership position figuring out the best people for a team, or a ministry position figuring out how to navigate a tough theological issue.
No matter what you are doing, being able to understand other people’s points of view gives you a crucial edge in the workplace.
Critical Thinking
This one should be very obvious, but it has to be said: being able to think critically is a very important skill no matter what career you have. Whether you are trying to prioritize your homework, maximize your workflow, or figure out what order to watch your Marvel marathon (you should always do it chronologically) critical thinking is drastically important.
Thinking critically is collecting and analyzing information from diverse sources that guide your decision-making. It is being able to research gather info and be thoughtful in how you present information. This connects highly to the interdisciplinary learning provided at Briercrest.
For example, to write a paper at Briercrest you need to gather information on how a variety of different people from different places and different times have all thought about a topic. The better your ability to gather and understand this information, the better you will be at any job or career you may have.
Problem Solving
Problem solving is similar to critical thinking, but important enough to mention separately. I have applied to a lot of jobs and every single job I have applied to askes about your ability to problem solve. “How good are you at problem solving?” or “Can you provide an example of a time you solved a problem at work?” are pretty standard questions at any job interview.
At Briercrest the interdisciplinary way that the programs are set up gives you a wider view of the world. This wider view helps you to be able to see different ways to solve the problem in front of you and helps you to be able to understand the people that are affected by the problem.
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Communication Skills (Writing/Speaking)
When I studied at Briercrest I was in the psychology program, and there was A LOT of paper writing. I think I spent half my time at Briercrest just writing papers. A good thing about this is that it taught me to be clear and concise in my communication. The better you are at communication the better you will be at working in a team, leadership, and problem-solving.
No matter what job you end up having, you will at some point need to communicate with others. The ability to speak, read, and write clearly is probably the most important working skill you can have. You can be the best in the world at what you do but if you can’t communicate it well you will never get work!
At Briercrest you read, write, and talk a lot. Whether it is writing for class, chatting in dorms, or talking to your professor, you’re going to learn how to communicate. That means that you are going to learn how to formulate your thoughts, express your arguments, and communicate clearly.
Not only this, but clear communication also helps people understand you and your capabilities.
Interpersonal Skills
Part of the big benefit of being a dorm-based school is that you are given an opportunity to improve your interpersonal skills from day one. For me, this was a huge plus.
As soon as you sign up for Briercrest you are put into a hall. You get dorm mates, RA’s, RD’s, profs, small groups, sports teams, and all sorts of people that you need to be interacting with and getting along with.
All of this is going to teach you things like conflict resolution, how to get along with people, and how to deal with people you may not like. (I can tell you from working in customer service that in the real world you rarely get to work with only people you like.) The better you are at interpersonal skills the better any career you have is going to be.
Leadership Development
Every single job I have ever looked at has had some sort of leadership requirement. Having good and defined leadership skills is essential in finding a job and maintaining a career. Believe me, people notice it when you have leadership development.
At Briercrest there are tons of opportunities for you to get involved in leadership. There are dorms, chapel, local churches, athletic teams, and student leadership roles all over the campus that can provide both upfront and behind the scenes leadership roles. Because of Briercrest’s close-knit community, students have many chances to learn and practice leadership.
During my time at Briercrest, I had the opportunity to take part in a lot of different areas of leadership as an intern for Youth Quake and on student government. These opportunities really helped me grow in my leadership skills, including how to organize teams, and how to work better in a team.
Key Takeaways
These are 7 career-long skills that a Briercrest education can give you to help you find your career. A foundation that provides these 7 skills is going to help no matter what job or career you have. In my experience, Briercrest not only nurtured me spiritually but taught me these 7 skills that help me both in my pursuit of a career but also in my daily life!
Find Your Career with an Education that Disciples
At Briercrest, we're passionate about Christian education and the perspective it brings to your life and your career. We hosted a conversation about how a Briercrest education can help you prepare for your career, and we'd love for you to tune in. You can watch "Education that Disciples: Finding Your Career" on-demand by clicking the image below!
