7 soft skills you can develop during corona to help your tourism career

As employees are continually encouraged to work at home during the corona virus pandemic many are taking this opportunity to upskill and develop themselves further. One way this can be done is by developing your soft skills as these are more in demand than ever as the working world drastically changes in front of our eyes. Soft skills are key to ensuring that you thrive in your current role at work as well as helping you to achieve your career dreams. All of the skills listed below are crucial in any role within the tourism industry.

1: Organization

Organization is one of the most important soft skills in the tourism industry as work days can be very fast-paced which means that not being organized could hinder your output and work progress. This soft skill is linked to another on this list; time management, as together they are able to help you thrive in your daily work life. It is important to stay on top of tasks and your agenda to make sure that you are efficient and produce work in a timely manner in such a fast industry.

You can improve your organization by planning your day in advance and prioritizing certain tasks ahead of time. Organizing your workspace will also allow you to make processes as efficient as possible, which makes tasks easier to accomplish. Set targets and goals that you can work towards throughout the day and week will also help to keep you on track of how much progress is being made, which means you can re-evaluate and keep organized when you need to.

 

2: Multitasking

Another one of the soft skills that needs to be utilized is multitasking. As it is common for a role within the tourism industry to be filled with quick requests and interruptions of other equally important tasks, having the ability to multitask is crucial for your career to thrive. Employers look for soft skills such as multitasking as it highlights that you are capable and efficient in the role and industry.

To enhance your multitasking skills, it is important to separate and prioritize urgent tasks from important ones. This is key to multitasking effectively as being able to distinguish between the two will allow you to complete tasks at a faster rate by allocating your time efficiently. Another way to improve this soft skill is to group related tasks together in order to keep a focused mind, by having them together in your planning you will be able to stay on track without differing too much from each task. Learning to multitask well comes with practice and patience, so try to multitask as much as you can at home with different things to keep this skill fresh.

 

3: Adaptability

Employers are continually demanding soft skills from employees and during a time where being adaptable has become paramount, improving this skill will enhance your tourism career for the future. Adaptability will highlight to your employer how open and willing you are to learn and grow as your career develops.

To develop your adaptability skills, make sure to be aware of any changes around you, and make note of them. Knowing about change is the first thing you must do before adapting to it. Be resourceful, work on finding a path to complete your goal or task whilst accepting obstacles. Incorporating the obstacles into this process will force you to come up with creative solutions and become more adaptable. Embrace curiosity, this will help you to learn new things which you can apply to being more adaptable, it is hard to adapt when you don’t know how to. Embracing adaptability is key to the ever-changing workplace.

 

4: Time management

Two soft skills that are similar, and both equally important to develop and grow are time management and organization.  Having covered organization, it is key to now consider how to improve time management skills within the tourism industry.

Developing your time management skills is important for your tourism career to thrive. Work on blocking your time, aim to get tasks done in a certain block of time to help manage your tasks and prioritize your workload. Manage your own stress levels, always be aware of your mental health and focus on keeping a positive mindset to ensure that you are fully capable of completing your workload without burning yourself out. Time management isn’t just about getting things done effectively, it is also about making sure you manage your time well enough to not feel to stressed or burnt out.

 

5: Problem solving

As the corona virus continues to wreak havoc within the workplace, soft skills remain crucial within the tourism industry. One skill in particular that employers will look for is problem solving. No matter what field of work you are in problems will come up every day and being able to solve them independently will help your career to thrive.

To develop your problem solving skills role play and practice problems that are common or could come up in your regular work life, this will better prepare you to tackle similar situations in real life. Which, will help to enhance your quick, and adaptable, problem solving skills. Assess and analyze your current problem solving skills, considering how effective your current skills are will help you to consider how to make a plan of action to help solve problems in the future. Analyzing how well you have approached past problems and rewarding your own success will also help to develop these skills. When problem solving brainstorm multiple solutions to the problem. Thinking creatively will help as not every problem will be solved with one solution due to obstacles being in the way, problem solving is effective when you remain adaptable.

 

6: Communication

In the current situation this is one of the soft skills that is becoming paramount. As people are less able to read your body language, and therefore rely more heavily on your verbal and written communication skills it is crucial that you develop these to help your career thrive. Employers have and will always look for professional and effective communicators as this skill impacts how the organization and customers interact with one another, which influences everyone’s reputation. Clear, consistent and engaging communication is key within your career. Communicating in a timely manner is also important, for example, with the current pandemic regulations and risk assessments had to be created quickly and shared globally for many organizations within a few days at most. This would have been ineffective if those in charge did not have strong communication skills. Therefore, developing your soft skills in communication is key to helping improve your tourism career.

Communication is used in all aspects of human interaction which means that improving your communication skills will not only help your career thrive but will also help boost other areas of your life. Actively listening and avoiding interrupting others will help to ensure that you have fully understood someone’s meaning which will help you to avoid miscommunication. Always ask questions, if you are unsure of something ask this is the only way you will become sure and shows how you can effectively communicate to others. Focus energy on being empathetic to those you are communicating with. If you can understand them and where their meaning is coming from you are more likely to better understand what they are saying and their position, which helps you to communicate more effectively with them.

 

7: Creativity

With the tourism industry constantly evolving and the current situation, it is essential, now more than ever, for the priority to be in developing your soft skills. One of which is creativity. Many people have the misconception that creativity is not learned but a natural gift, however there are many ways to improve and develop your creativity during the corona virus.

Embrace your curiosity, becoming curious and learning about new things that interest you will help you to consider different perspectives and opinions. Without consciously considering these new perspectives you are able to problem solve using your imagination and find new ways to a solution. Become open-minded, the creative idea might not always be the most effective solution but it is important to consider it as the best solution is not always focused on effectiveness.

Constantly make connections in your daily life. Sometimes the more creative solutions come from simply being able to connect patterns that were seemingly unconnectable, like finding similarities in different industries. Different industries can sometimes hold transferable assets that you can make use of in your own industry. This could help you to stand out from a competitor or approach something in a more effective way. Avoid copying what is being done, but taking inspiration on approaches, methods and ideas can help to increase your creativity. By making connections in your mind you can create a mental portfolio that will improve your creativity.

 

Overall, focusing on improving and developing your soft skills during the corona virus pandemic is a helpful way to help your tourism career thrive. If you found this blog helpful make sure to check out ‘Learning in lock-down: online tourism education for teachers and students’, ‘Skills sets in education and the tourism and hospitality industry in corona times’ and ‘Challenges and the importance of skills in tourism sub-sectors during and after Covid-19’.