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I often say that I came to MIIS because of its practice-oriented pedagogy: I wanted to learn how to actually thrive in the development and education fields, rather than exclusively learn theory or how to write academic research. My MIIS classes have indeed been wonderful in their immediate practicality, and as the semesters have passed, I have felt more and more prepared to succeed in the field.

That being said, I am a human being just like everybody else, so as my graduation date was approaching, I sometimes felt panicked that I could never know ‘enough’ to be what the field needs. But when I had the opportunity to intern at UNICEF Nigeria this past summer in the nutrition section, I was able to see how everything I have learned so far comes together to make me a flexible and effective professional.

When I first heard about the internship opportunity in the nutrition section, I was immediately interested, but I wasn’t sure how well I could do the job, because I don’t come from a background in nutrition. As a joint MPA/IEM student, my development focus has been education. But the job description talked about data systems and literature reviews, which I had studied before, so with the encouragement of the Experiential Professional Learning staff and my professors, I decided to apply and learn as much about nutrition in Nigeria as possible before beginning the position. Malnutrition in Nigeria is an urgent and serious issue, so I wanted to make sure I was doing the best job I could do.

When I was not sure about something, I found the appropriate time and place to ask. In some cases, I learned to observe and trust that with time, I would understand the situation better.

Once I started in Nigeria, I realized that despite not having an ample nutrition knowledge base, I had the soft and hard skills to contribute to the nutrition section as a team member. In terms of hard skills, I was generally comfortable working with data systems, and when there was a data system feature I wasn’t familiar with, my supervisors were happy to help me pick it up quickly, or I was able to learn it on my own with some online tutorials. The same thing happened with the proposal writing I helped with. I had a good foundational understanding of proposal writing from my coursework, and it was easy to pick up any specifics that I wasn’t familiar with. In any case, none of the projects I worked on were done just by one person, so each team member contributed based on their strengths and skill sets. When I did some research on the food fortification landscape in the country, I knew where to look to find similar studies in other countries and how to perform an extensive literature review, despite not being an expert in the topic. I noticed that I was not the only one who did not come from a heavy nutrition background; some of our team were nutritionists, and others were experts in data or management, or a combination of both. I also started to meet other professionals in the UN offices who used their expertise in a few versatile skill sets to easily move between different knowledge areas. When starting in a new knowledge area, they would jump into learning about it while utilizing their hard skills in proposal writing or data analysis.

I feel more confident now that I can do the work that needs to be done. Every development or humanitarian project should have experts in the knowledge area and experts in program management, development and implementation, and depending on the project, I could function as either.

The experience helped me understand how I can further hone my skills in program management, evidence and data management, data analysis, research and funding management, and how I could apply those to a literacy program in Belize or an anemia intervention in Bangladesh. I feel more confident now that I can do the work that needs to be done. Every development or humanitarian project should have experts in the knowledge area and experts in program management, development and implementation, and depending on the project, I could function as either.

Additionally, it became clear that no matter how many hard skills you develop, those skills are no less important than the soft skills such as positivity, initiative, teamwork and attention to detail. It was as simple as this: When I didn’t know how to do something, I immediately and enthusiastically tried to learn it. When I was not sure about something, I found the appropriate time and place to ask. In some cases, I learned to observe and trust that with time, I would understand the situation better. At the career center at MIIS, the advisors are always telling us that the soft skills are key to employers because they are harder to teach. It is one thing to teach a new employee how to use a certain software, but it is another to teach them intercultural competencies or communication skills with internal and external stakeholders.

My internship at UNICEF Nigeria taught me many things, but one of my biggest takeaways that I would like to share with my classmates is this: focus on those transferable skills, and keep an open mind about positions that seem a little out of your comfort zone. You probably already have plenty of transferable hard and soft skills that will allow you to thrive, and what you don’t know, you can learn if you want to!