Skills acquired through a degree in BLS.

Potential Employers seek specialized skills and qualifications that suit a particular job profile. Obviously, these skills will vary depending on the job description. However, there are certain skills requirements that employers tend to cite across all disciplines for most jobs. These skills are useful in practically any job profile one might opt for. Listed below are some skills one can expect to possess as a result of an education in liberal studies. They are:

Communication
• The ability to speak effectively to individuals and groups.
• The ability to use various forms and styles of written communication.

Critical Thinking
• The ability to identify quickly and accurately the critical issues when making a decision or solving a problem.
• The ability to analyze the interrelationships of events and ideas from several perspectives.

Human Relations and Interpersonal Dynamics
• The ability to generate and maintain group cooperation and support.
• The ability to interact effectively with peers, superiors, and subordinates.

Leadership and Management
• The ability to motivate and lead people.
• The ability to organize people and tasks to achieve specific goals.

Research and Investigation
• The ability to identify problems and needs.
• The ability to identify information sources for special needs or problems.

Information Management
• The ability to synthesize facts, concepts and principles.
• The ability to evaluate information against standards.

Design and Planning
• The ability to identify alternative courses of action.
• The ability to predict future trends and patterns.

Personal/Career Development & Learning
• The ability to identify one’s values, beliefs, strengths and weaknesses.
• The ability to accept and learn from criticism.

All of these and more can contribute to a well-rounded and forward thinking student as well as successful hire. This not only helps the students to see and achieve things at hand, but look beyond them and make decisions based on the big picture. Liberal Studies give the tools to create a well-rounded view of your world and the lessons that the students learn from it.

An education in liberal studies prepares students to assume positions of leadership and to be flexible in the marketplace. They may acquire specific job skills while in the school or after they graduate, but with a solid education in liberal studies, an individual is not limited to a particular niche, but prepared for a wide range of opportunities for the rest of their life. A broad-based liberal studies education does more than prepare the students for a job. It lays the foundation for a future career and also prepares a student to succeed in the corporate world.

Employers realize that a degree in Liberal Studies prepares students to be involved in the process of learning and build their leadership skills, whether internally in their capabilities or sharing wealth of knowledge with others. Liberal Studies gives students tools beyond mere textbook information. What is learned from tutorials of discussion, debate, controversy, presentations, assignments and critical thinking all prepare one for the world ahead. It is this, a liberal studies teaching that lends itself more tools than an employer can pass up.