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Traveller Character Creation: Best Background Skills

You are rolling up a new Traveller character and you aren't sure which Background Skills to choose. In this article, I will show you the best background skills for your Traveller character.

The Best Background Skills For Traveller Characters

Which are best is a subjective thing; some skills are going to make more sense than others, considering the character's background or homeworld choice.

However, I have analyzed the skill charts for all the careers and I can tell you which Background Skills are best for each of the Traveller Careers.

Below is a list of careers listing Background Skills that will be canceled out with Basic Training, and a table showing Background SKills that can be gained randomly, along with how many times the skill appears on a Skill Table for that Career.

Background Skills To Avoid: 

Background Skills Likely To Advance:

Entertainer

• Electronics

What are Background Skills?

In Traveller, your character gets a number of Background Skills that represent skills they may have picked up during their life previous to taking up a life of traveling.

In this article, I will be using the Mongoose Publishing Traveller 2nd Edition Rules as reference material.

Think of background skills as life experience your character acquired during their entire lives prior to their 18th birthday.

While you don't have to have a specific homeworld in mind at this point during character development, but thinking about where your character comes from can help inform your decision on Background SKills.

You can decide on your homeworld later; it could be a planet from the Traveller universe or it could be a vague far-away place that you don't go to anymore.  It's up to you to decide and your GM to approve.

Did your character grow up on a low tech farming planet, where they likely raised animals and had to fix things themselves?

Maybe your character is a part of a high-tech space-faring metropolitan civilization where nobody has to work and everybody is free to pursue personal interests?

Or maybe your character comes from a bonze-age water world with very little landmass and spent their childhood sailing and fishing?

One of the beauties of Traveller is that there is no limit to the possibilities, other than your imagination.

Take a moment to reflect on what type of character you want to play, where they come from, and where they might be going.

The nature of the Traveller career system is that your plans don't always work out the way you wanted and life throws you curves you may not be prepared for.

Even with the random paths that can sometimes take place, a character backstory that develops during Traveller character generation.

Coming up with vague character history, or at least a visual image of the character's homeworld can be extremely helpful. 

Your character will be more lifelike if they have goals, hopes, and dreams that guide their future path, and will have even more depth if they have life experience prior to adventuring that they can draw from.

Did your character ever have a summer job?  Did they have hobbies or maybe they were trained in the family business?

Did they have pets growing up?  Did they learn to drive? Maybe they played sports?

Now is a good time to plant the seed that will develop into a full-fledges Traveller adventurer!

There are 17 Background Skills to consider:

Take a look at each entry, and consider how it may relate to your character's homeworld or personal background.

Some Background Skills are more relevant to certain homeworld types than others.

How Do You Get Background Skills?

 In Traveller you get Background SKills based on your education level (EDU).

Characters with more education have been trained to do more things; they have a broader life experience.

Think of it this way: children that received formal training in whatever they were interested in (or life forced on them) would be better at certain things because they received training either directly/formally or indirectly/casually.

For instance, if you work at the family business, you may have picked up the skills informally, just by being around the sho your whole life.

Likewise, if you were obsessed with sports as a kid, you may have picked up some skills around athletics, like knowing about different kinds of sports and even competing in them to a certain degree.

Or, maybe your life of hardship or privilege has given you specific skills as a child.

These are all different ways to think about where Background Skills can come from.  We all have them in real life and our characters should have them too.

How Many Background Skills Do You Get?

According to the Core Rules, you get 3+ your EDU modifier.

Depending on what race you are playing, you could end up with 0-6 free Background skills.

During Traveller character creation you roll 2D6, giving you a result of 2-12.

If you are playing a normal human character you would get 1-5 free Background Skills before your character even left home.

3 Background Skills To Avoid

Service Skills are important because you get them for free when you qualify for your first Career.

You may want to avoid taking any of these Background Skills because you will receive them for free at the same level (level 0) for free when you qualify for certain Careers.

The 3 Most Common Background Skills From Basic Training

The three Background SKills that appear most as Basic Training are:

• Drive (6 Careers: Agent, Army, Citizen, Entertainer, Merchant, Scholar)
• Athletics (5 Careers: Army, Drifter, Marine, Navy, Rogue)
• Vacc Suit (5 Careers: Army, Navy, Scout, Merchant, Marine)

Background Skills To Avoid By Career

This is a list of the Background Skills to avoid, depending upon which Career you intend to enter as your first career.

Basically, if you plan to pursue any of the above Careers, you should avoid the associated background skill since you'll be getting it for free anyhow.

The Hardest Background Skills To Get

There are 3 background skills that are not on any Career Service Skill list.

That means these skills can only be obtained during the Background SKill phase of character generation, or through rolling on skill charts for the various careers.

The benefit to this is that if you take one of these Background Skills that you can't get as basic training then roll them up at any time during character creation, the skill is going to increase by 1 and you will avoid doubling-up on zero-level skills.

The three Background Skills that can only be acquired during the Background Skill phase or randomly through Career skills:

The Most Common Background Skill

By far the Background Skill with the most entries on tables across all Careers is Electronics.

That makes total sense in a sci-fi genre game, especially since Electronics governs controlling and using computers.

What's Your Favorite Background Skill?

Is there a go-to skill that you make sure you have on all your characters?  Which one and why?

Let me know in the Comments area below.

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Skills are part of the game mechanic

Metahistory [ edit ]

The particular set of skills applicable to character generation in Traveller have changed over time - each Traveller Version (or sometimes module) has altered the list to a smaller or larger degree.

T5 Core Rules have divided Skills into two parts: Skills (the doing) and Knowledges (knowing what to do).

Description ( Specifications ) [ edit ]

Skills (and later Knowledges ) form a key concept within Traveller and other role-playing games. Each Skill gives a means of codifying some aspect of the Player Character 's abilities e.g. someone hoping to fix a jump-drive might need the "Engineering" skill to make the task practical.

Each Player Character will gain Skills as they progress through the character generation process, and from their experiences during play.

For details of individual Skills please refer to the appropriate rules set.

References & Contributors ( Sources ) [ edit ]

• Marc Miller . Characters and Combat ( Game Designers Workshop , 1977), .
• Frank Chadwick ,  Dave Nilsen . Traveller: The New Era ( Game Designers Workshop , 1993), .
• Gareth Hanrahan . Core Rulebook ( Mongoose Publishing , 2008), .
• Matthew Sprange . Core Rule Book ( Mongoose Publishing , 2016), .
• Marc Miller . T5 Core Rules ( Far Future Enterprises , 2013), .
• Author & Contributor: BackworldTraveller
• Game Mechanic
• Terminology

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Tips For Background Skills

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• Start date Feb 25, 2023

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Background Skill Generation

by Ken Bearden

This article was originally posted to the pre-magazine Freelance Traveller website in 2004, and reprinted in the March 2014 issue.

I created this character generation add-on for my games, which are based on Classic Traveller (CT). It can easily be modified for use with other similar Traveller rule sets, such as MegaTraveller , Marc Miller’s Traveller (T4), and Mongoose Traveller . It is meant to be used after the character’s stats are generated normally, but before the character enlists/is drafted into a career.

The use of homeworlds is recommended, but not mandated.

Roll the character stats normally, then, before starting career resolution:

Roll 2D and compare total to EDU. If the roll is less than EDU, the Player gets a number of throws on the chart equal to the difference. Otherwise, if this roll is exactly 2, the character gets one background skill. If the roll is equal to or greater than EDU, and not a roll of 2, the character gets no background skills; proceed with career resolution.

After you know how many rolls you get, then throw on the chart! Roll 1D for the table, then roll 1D for the skill. Each result will either give you a skill, give you a choice of skills, or direct you to another chart.

Award of a skill results in Skill-0 the first time you roll it (unlike normal chargen). Subsequent awards of the same skill increment the skill level normally.

You will typically end up with a few Level-0 skills that will give you clues to the character’s background. If you’re really lucky, you may even get a first level skill or two.

If you’re using character homeworlds, keep them in mind when rolling background skills. Avoid giving characters skills that are inappropriate to homeworld law level or tech level. The referee should resolve these issues on a case-by-case basis. The recommended handling would be to substitute an appropriate analogous skill (e.g., Equestrian instead of Vehicle, if the character is from a pre-Industrial TL), but allowing a reroll or simply ruling that no skill is awarded if an inappropriate skill is rolled are both justifiable. Homeworld TL and Law Level will both have an effect on what skills are available, especially Law Level with respect to weapon skills, or tech level with vehicle skills or other technologically-based skills.

I allow homeworld-inappropriate skills to be awarded if the character rolls SOC or less on 2D. Alternatively, MegaTraveller offers two useful rules for allowing characters to obtain homeworld-inappropriate skills: first, characters who join the Rouge, Pirate, and Other (and the like careers) have access to weapons at 1 LL lower (that is, more permissive) than the rest of the populace. You haven’t resolved the character’s career yet, but this is good stuff to keep in mind when rolling up background skills too (it’s role playing, man, role playing). Second, a character can overcome a homeworld restriction by rolling 2D for 7+. I like this because it takes into account that characters can learn skills in all sorts of ways imaginable. A third good rule along these lines from MegaTraveller is that Nobles are not restricted by homeworld codes. That gives a nice benefit to noble characters.

I would still give your character the default skills you think he should have. If he’s from a late-industrial TL world, you’ll probably want to give him Ground Vehicle-0 so that he can drive. A character from a Vacuum world will probably have Vacc Suit-0, etc. If these default skills are rolled, go ahead and raise those skills up to Skill-1 as appropriate. These are player characters after all.

Just to be nice, if a player rolls snake eyes on the initial 2D throw mentioned above, I’m going to give him a single roll on the background skills chart. That way, even if you have a character with a very low EDU, you still have a small chance of getting one Level-0 background skill.

Don’t forget, if you use Heaven-and-Earth or the MegaTraveller World Builders’ Handbook , different TLs can be generated for worlds specific to types of industry. You may want to consider these, if you have this info handy (I do a simple click in H&E, and boom, there it is).

These are background skills, unlike the more extensive skills a character will get during his career. Remember that this chart is determining skills the character gains before age 18. It’s unlikely that we’ll see a character like this learn Demolitions-0. However, if the referee allows, I’ve included a way for this to happen (because I know referees have unique skills in their own games). One of the results on the Combat chart is “Special”. Use this result to award any special skills you think a character should have a small chance of getting (but you don’t want to award it as a default skill).

You’ll see a mixture of skills on the table I created. Feel free to customize it for your game. I've included mostly CT and MT skills, but you’ll see some T4 and the occasional TNE skill in the list. Note that you need EDU 8+ to roll on the Technical Education and Advanced Education tables. When rolling on the Transportation table, be mindful of homeworld TL restrictions, if you’re using homeworlds.

When rolling on the Combat table, think of your homeworld restrictions, too. Note that a result of Archaic Weapon can improve your character’s Sword skill (or, you could pick a bow, sling, blowgun, boomerang…even the Early Firearm skill). Blade Weapon in my game is a catch-all title for any type of melee weapon. If you roll Blade Weapon, you can choose a polearm, or a sword, or a club, or a spear…whatever. If you roll Gun Combat, you can pick an appropriate handgun or rifle. But, if you roll Handgun, you can only pick an appropriate pistol.

If multiple skills are listed in a single space, select any one of them. If a skill is in italics , it is a cascade skill, and a specific sub-skill to that skill, from the appropriate rule set, should be selected. If a ‘skill’ is listed in bold , it is a reference to another table or subtable; roll 1D and select a skill from the indicated (sub)table.

These tables can only be rolled on if directed by a roll on the above table.

Skill Notes

This is how I interpret some of the skills when using them in my games:

Leader is a good skill in my game: it improves a character’s initiative throw during the combat round.

Tactics is another good skill in my game. I use it as a “pool” of points the character can use to improve throws after the fact during the game session. Tactics is only used for combat rolls.

Athletics is a good skill to use when doing any task throw that's based on physical stats (running, climbing, jumping, forcing a stuck hatch, throwing a rock, etc).

Camouflage is a T4 skill that indicates expertise in hiding things on your person as well as hiding yourself (hiding in shadows type of thing).

Perception , I use when I want a character to throw to see if he notices something.

Determination is a skill I use that characters can roll on to stay concentrated on a particular task when distracted (you’re trying to open a lock, but bullets are slamming into the door…make your roll, or your intrusion task just got a lot harder…)

Willpower is a skill similar to Determination. A character may make a Willpower roll in order to keep from passing out from blood loss to a wound.

Throwing is a T4 skill. If a character has Dagger-1, he uses that in a melee type of situation. But, if he tosses the dagger, then he uses the Throwing skill.

Artisan is a skill I use anytime a character needs to craft something. We’re usually not talking about real “art” here. A creative use of this skill may be to disguise a pit on the ground with bamboo and leaves. The Artisan skill throw tells me how hard it is to detect the trap.

Intrusion is a MT skill. We’re talking about lock-picking here.

Native Language . Each character in my game get's this skill as a default skill. I typically play close attention to the languages and dialects that NPCs speak. Not everybody speaks Anglic. If fact, a lot of people do not speak Anglic.

Jack-of-all-Trades (JoT). I use like Tactics, in a “pool” of points a player can use to improve throws after the fact, but JoT is only applied to non-combat throws. JoT is also used to help a character when he needs to throw on a non-default skill, like Medical or Pilot or Engineering. In my game, characters cannot attempt those types of tasks unless they have at least Skill-0 (you’ve got to have at least some knowledge to even try), but JoT allows them to try without the required skill. JoT characters are resourceful.

Planetary Navigation is, well, finding your way on the surface of a planet, as opposed to Navigation, which is what starship navigators use to plot jump routes.

TRAVELLER Character Generator

Character Generator: Background Skills

Your character so far: (Racial stat modifiers included)

Select your background skill(s): (You must take the skills listed for your homeworld; any extra skills can be taken from the education list.)

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Travel career break resources

15 invaluable career skills you can develop while travelling.

Developing general career skills can be difficult when you are stuck in an everyday working routine. Jumping from one task to another, with no space to reflect, we are rarely challenged in new and different ways. Taking a step back to travel provides a completely different environment and headspace for developing career skills that can otherwise pass you by. Here, we take a look at the life and career skills that travel can help you to develop, why they are important, and strategies for improving them.

As we outline in our guide to maximising your professional development on a travel career break , taking a travel sabbatical does not guarantee you will develop career skills. As with anything in life, the more you put into it, the more you are likely to get out. So, for each example of a career skill we explore below, we suggest ways you can shape your journey to give yourself the best chance of honing it.

In this article:

What are career skills?

Career skills are a set of personal qualities, attributes and competencies that enable you to thrive in a variety of working environments. For example, the ability to communicate well is a skill that is applicable to a huge range of professions.

Career skills are distinct from specific knowledge applied to a particular profession, for example medicine or engineering. Moreover, career skills are usually highly transferrable and will make you a more attractive proposition to employers on top of the sector-specific knowledge required for a role.

Life and career skills

Many of the skills we outline here will not only be advantageous for your career prospects, but can also make a tremendous difference to your life outside of work. So, let’s take a look at how travel – with the right approach – can give you the confidence to thrive in both your personal life and professional life…

Career skills you can develop while travelling

1.  empathy, why is empathy a useful career skill.

Empathy empowers you to be more understanding of other people’s behaviours and viewpoints. This gives you a better feel for group dynamics and makes you a more effective team-worker, an invaluable skill in almost any working environment. Being empathetic also gives you a deeper understanding of how you affect people around you, enabling you to adjust and adapt.

How will travel help you become more empathetic?

Travel encourages empathy in two significant ways. First, it brings you into contact with people from a multitude of backgrounds, in many cases lesser privileged than your own. Secondly, the more you explore new places, it is also more likely you will meet personal challenges you are unfamiliar with. This combination of eye-opening experiences gives you a deeper appreciation for alternative perspectives in life.

How you can build empathy skills when travelling

Make an active effort to immerse yourself in the places you visit, have conversations with people and learn about the way of life. Try to put yourself in other people’s position, and then reflect on how that might impact your point of view. This short TED talk explores what travel can teach you about empathy:

2.  Resilience

Why is resilience a useful career skill.

Resilience is invaluable in your working life for many reasons. It equips you to deal with conflict, and makes you more open to constructive criticism. It also gives the composure to stay calm in crises, and the strength to get over past mistakes. Ultimately, resilience allows you to stay engaged and focused during difficult times.

How will travel help you become more resilient?

When travelling, things do not always go according to plan. There are always bumps in the road, and so you become accustomed to managing difficult situations and dealing with harsh behaviour towards you. You learn to manage things that are out of your control, and to recover quickly from difficulty.

How you can build resilience when travelling

Travelling innately makes you resilient, and the more you travel, the more it will build. But the best way to develop resilience from travel is to take an independent pathway. Instead of booking organised and catered tours, be the master of your own destiny and go self-guided. This will inevitably bring about challenges and put you into situations that will force you to act under pressure.

3.  Cultural competence

Why is cultural competence a useful career skill.

Cultural competence is a vital skill in the modern world, in which populations are becoming ever-more diverse. Employers today do not only require an understanding of diversity issues, but a deeper ability to communicate across cultural divides. Being attuned to a variety of backgrounds and cultures allows you to operate well among different groups of people and to communicate with different audiences. Furthermore, cultural competence can unlock new career opportunities to work at an international level.

How will travel help you become more culturally competent?

Travel exposes you to a variety of cultures, and thus builds your understanding and enhances your ability to communicate across boundaries. It teaches you to appreciate that being different isn’t wrong, and to recognise your privileges in life. The journey to cultural competence is one that never ends, and we can always learn more – but travel is one of the best pathways towards improvement.

How you can build cultural competence when travelling

The process of building cultural competence through travel is similar to empathy. The more you go out of your way to learn about local cultures, the more you will benefit. Consider visiting countries where the cultures might seem strange or alien to your own, and take the time to reflect on what is different about the culture. For example, when we first travelled in Vietnam, we felt as though people were being rude to us; but the more we explored and learned, we realised that most people were communicating in a way deemed to be socially acceptable, and we were just experiencing some culture shock.

Read more: Susan writes about how travel enables you to value differences in the workplace .

4.  Communication

Why is communication a useful career skill.

Communication is probably the most important and transferrable of all career skills. It transcends all job types and sectors, and extends into many other aspects of life, bringing benefits that reach far beyond work. If you can communicate well, you are more likely to be understood clearly, and to convince others of your point of view. Communication skills also help you to network more effectively and build fruitful working relationships.

How will travel help you become a better communicator?

When travelling, you constantly need to break down communication barriers. You regularly encounter difficulties with getting a message across or understanding what someone is trying to say to you. You learn to be savvy, to read body language better, and to communicate complex problems in a simple way. And you become accustomed to different communication styles and learn to adapt to them.

How you can build communication skills when travelling

Make a conscious effort to put yourself in situations that require communication skills to navigate. For example, take local transport. I remember when we arrived at a bus station in rural Laos early one morning to take a journey across the country. The departure system seemed chaotic and nobody at the terminal spoke English, so we needed to improvise a little in order to get onto the right service. Experiences like this help you to be patient and think imaginatively when it comes to communicating.

5.  Planning

Why is planning a useful career skill.

A good planner can identify their goals and map out what needs to be done in order to succeed. They can evaluate alternative methods to achieve those goals and identify the resources that will be needed to implement them. And once the plan is in motion, the best planners will track progress, evaluate how things are going and take steps to change course if needed. Good planning skills are essential for organising your working life and managing projects of any kind.

How will travel help you become a better planner?

Just like projects in the workplace, travel requires careful planning and the ability to evaluate new information. Every journey has a structure, and once it is in motion, things will change and your plans will need to be adapted. Even if you’re the kind of traveller who goes wherever the wind takes you, you will still need to evaluate and understand your current environment before you can move on, a process that develops your situation analysis skills – the first step of the planning cycle.

How you can build planning skills when travelling

Travel plans rarely turn out perfectly, so take stock and learn from your mistakes. Could that difficult situation have been avoided if you had been better prepared, and if so, what will you do differently next time? For example, after the first few weeks of our round-the-world trip, we were exhausted and realised that we had over-planned our travel schedule. We took a break for a few days and then adjusted our approach, making our itinerary more flexible.

Our guide to planning a round-the-world trip provides a framework to apply to your travel planning.

6.  Goal-setting

Why is goal-setting a useful career skill.

Goal-setting is an essential ingredient of the planning process; it gives you a framework for achieving milestones in your work and career. It gives you the time and headspace to allow you to think about the goals you want to set, and to spend time performing and measuring them. The ability to set goals effectively makes you efficient, gives you momentum, and will later enable you to visualise the processes that have led to your results.

How will travel help you become better at goal-setting?

Travel provides a flexible testing environment to experiment with goal-setting outside of your professional setting. As you are only accountable to yourself, you can test out the techniques that will work for you without any external pressures.

How you can build goal-setting skills when travelling

Use the opportunity to experiment with goal-setting and challenge yourself in a safe environment. You could tie this in with other areas of professional development, for example by setting a goal to make at least two new connections or try a new cultural activity each week. Alternatively, your goal might simply be to let go, or to enjoy life; exploring what that means to you and then seeking to achieve it will help you to succeed. But you also need to be active in order to get positive results. This means recognising your behaviours and thought processes so that you can improve or change them.

7.  Budget management

Why is budget management a useful career skill.

Budget management is an invaluable skill to build for your career, especially if you have aspirations of advancing up the management ladder. Having a sound grasp of budgeting will equip you to understand and plan finances for a business or a department, however big or small.

How will travel help you become more astute with finances?

Long-term travel typically happens on a challenging budget. When you’re watching the pennies over a long period of time, you learn a lot about financial prioritisation and how to manage your money sustainably. You also learn to become savvy with spending and make small amounts go a long way.

How you can build budget management skills when travelling

Incorporate budgeting into your travel planning, even if it’s just making a rough spending plan and breakdown for each place you will visit. Keeping a spreadsheet for finances is helpful, as you can then use it to track what you’ve spent, compare actual costs with what you estimated, and then use that information to budget more accurately in future.

8.  Creativity

Why is creativity a useful career skill.

Every job requires at least a degree of creativity – not just traditionally creative jobs like design or marketing. And as our economies continue to be driven by innovation and technological advances, creativity has never been more important as a career skill. Unlike many skills, it is not something that can be replicated by machine automation. A study by Adobe showed that businesses that look for creativity in employees benefit from higher productivity levels, more satisfied customers and greater financial success.

How will travel help you become more creative?

Travel engages your senses in many new ways, exposing you to unfamiliar sights, sounds, smells and tastes, and stimulating the creative parts of your brain. And this is backed up by research: an oft-cited study by New York’s Columbia Business School demonstrates that cross-cultural experiences increase cognitive flexibility and thus enhance creativity and innovation. Just think about how much great art and literature has been inspired by travel, from Twain to Tolkien.

How you can improve your creativity when travelling

The findings of the Columbia study show that you will only enjoy a creativity boost from travel if you actively engage in the local culture and environment. According to Professor Adam Galinsky, “the key, critical process is multicultural engagement, immersion, and adaptation”.

9.  Language skills (not just learning a language)

Why are language skills useful for your career.

Learning a language has obvious career benefits in terms of opening new doors, but there is also a lot to be gained from developing a broader aptitude for languages. The ability to recognise the linguistic roots of names and words from distinct patterns, and to identify languages based on accents and other vocal mannerisms, can be highly useful in a work setting, especially if you operate in an international environment. It adds to your cultural competence and can improve your efficiency with research and data analysis.

How will travel help you improve your language skills?

Travel exposes you to a different languages and provides an opportunity to learn about them and how to speak them. Even if you do not learn to speak a language while in a place that speaks it natively, you can still gain aptitude for it by building trait recognition from street signs, menus, advertising and other text displays.

How you can build your language skills when travelling

Be adventurous with your travel itinerary and try to incorporate countries that speak different native languages to your own. Learn some basic vocabulary before you visit, practice it while you are there, and also pay attention to the nature of the language in public signage and the way people speak.

10.  Problem-solving

Why is problem-solving a useful career skill.

Problem-solving is applicable to any kind of work and is highly valued by employers. It gives you the ability to navigate the barriers that prevent you from achieving your goals, which ultimately gives you more control over your environment. Problem-solving is useful in so many situations. It’s a skill helps you navigate the tiniest everyday tasks right through to much bigger challenges, like investigating shortcomings in a company’s performance.

How will travel make you a better problem-solver?

Every journey is different, but travel always involves getting from A to B, and things always get in the way. You meet a plethora of challenges and become much more attuned to thinking on your feet to navigate them. We often cite BBC’s Race Across the World on this blog, and this is another area where the show resonates. We saw many examples in action when contestants learned to be better problem-solvers as they voyaged overland through Latin America. Down to their last few pennies, Sam and Jo didn’t have enough money left to travel to Mendoza; thinking on her feet, Jo negotiated with the operator to work on the bus in return for discounted tickets.

How you can improve your problem-solving when travelling

Don’t always stick to the familiar; try heading off the beaten track, and you will naturally encounter more challenges and venture further out of your comfort zone. As with resilience, you are more likely to build problem-solving skills if you travel independently. If you are nervous about navigating cultural differences, then you could first try travelling in a country that shares cultural similarities. For example, before we travelled extensively in South America, we spent some time in Miami, USA, to get used to the challenges of travelling while in a place that shared our language.

11.  Self-awareness and introspection

Why is self-awareness a useful career skill.

The more self-aware you are, the better you will understand how others see you, and be able to identify problems that arise from negative perception. Once you recognise your flaws, you can do something about them. Self-awareness is the perfect counterbalance to empathy, and greatly improves your ability to operate effectively in a team.

How will travel make you more introspective?

Travel makes you more self-aware by giving you space to reflect on your values and behaviours, and to compare them with those displayed in other cultures. A study by three US universities found that living abroad leads to a clearer sense of self. The outcomes showed that when people are able to contrast the differing values and norms between the cultures of their home environment and elsewhere, it triggers a juncture of self-reflection.

How you can build your self-awareness when travelling

The scientists behind the study into travel and self-reflection are the same whose worked showed a link between travel and creativity, and their advice is consistent. Immerse yourself in local cultures, give yourself space to reflect, and be mindful of the contrasts between your own cultural values and those you encounter. You may find it useful to keep a travel journal and make regular notes on your self-reflection.

12.  Curiosity

Why is curiosity a useful career skill.

Careers are about constantly learning and improving, and curiosity empowers you to do this. Curious people ask the right questions and are less likely to get stuck in old habits. It’s a skill that makes you less assumptive and thus more likely to identify problems and overcome them. In essence, curiosity drives innovation and advancement.

How will travel make you more curious?

Travel and curiosity have a kind of chicken-and-egg relationship where one feeds into the other; the more curious you are, the more you want to travel, and the more you travel, the more curious you become. Travel broadens your mind and makes you more curious to find out more about the world around you. A study commissioned by Hilton revealed insights into the way we channel our curiosity through travel; it shows that 90% of people travel to learn something new.

How you can heighten your curiosity when travelling

While travelling, seek activities that expand your mind. Try new tastes, visit museums, ask people questions and learn about the places you visit. After you return home from somewhere, don’t stop learning about it; harness the momentum and continue digesting new information from books, films and more. Keep stoking the curious mind.

Read more: Sam writes about how learning about rice farming in Laos heightened her curiosity skills .

13.  Adaptability

Why is adaptability a useful career skill.

The way we work is ever-evolving, and the most adaptable people are those who will thrive. Adaptability empowers you to shift gears onto a different path, or to cope effectively with changes to the path you are on. It equips you to deal with new information and bumps in the road, and thus also makes you a better leader as you have the aptitude to steer the ship in the necessary direction. Adaptability keeps you relevant in a changing world.

How will travel make you more adaptable?

You will constantly face changing situations when travelling. Every place you visit presents a different environment and a fresh set of challenges. The more you move from place to place, the better you become at adjusting to new circumstances. Every day a new curveball will present itself, and so you learn to let things go and move on. Nobody is better equipped to ditch ‘plan A’ than a seasoned traveller.

How you can improve your adaptability when travelling

Slow travel (spending longer periods of time in a destination to explore it thoroughly soak in the environment) is the most conducive to building cultural competence and self-awareness. But to build adaptability, moving more quickly from place to place can be a lot more effective. To get the most out of a long-term trip, build a varied itinerary that incorporates both these styles of travel.

Read more: Mikaela writes about how travel taught her adaptability skills and strengthened her career .

14.  Analytical thinking

Why is analytical thinking a useful career skill.

Analytical thinking enables you to assess situations effectively and prioritise better. Analysing a situation helps you to recognise when something isn’t working out, whether in a particular project or in your overall career, and take action to change course. A good analytical thinker has the ability to step back from a situation and assess, seeing it through different lenses, and considering all aspects rather than just their individual area of work.

How will travel make you a better analytical thinker?

Travel forces you to take a step back and reassess your life from an outside view. This bigger-picture lens helps you to consider different aspects of your life that have become lost among the tunnel vision of your regular routine. Through travel, you come to see the long-term benefits of slowing down and taking stock. You also come to understand how your actions have an impact on the environment around you.

How you can improve your analytical thinking when travelling

Allow space in your travel plans to pause and reflect, even if it’s just an hour or two each day. Use the opportunity to analyse how you have designed your lifestyle at home, or how you approach your work, and then consider you could make adjustments to change it for the better. Ask ‘what’ and ‘why’ questions about the knock-on effects of your actions; exploring this will enable you to make better-informed decisions.

15.  Confidence

Why is confidence a useful career skill.

You might be full of amazing ideas, but they will only ever bear fruit if you can emanate them to other people. Confidence is the ingredient that empowers you to influence and communicate. It is also invaluable for your personal wellbeing and happiness, which in turn make you more effective in your career. Confidence gives you the assertiveness to take decisive action when it is needed, and thus equips you to deal with crises and become a leader.

How will travel make you more confident?

There’s a reason why post-university gap years are considered so valuable for young people, as it helps them to find their independent spirit. But the same qualities can be built at any stage of life. Travel takes you out of your comfort zone and forces you to think on your toes. It gives you freedom to express who you really are and to become comfortable with that.

How you can build your confidence when travelling

Travel provides you with a testing environment to come out of your shell and find comfort in who you are. Most of the people you meet while travelling you are never going to see again, so make the most of it! Sign up for social events or group tours where you can meet people and make connections. Your confidence will grow naturally the more you put yourself into new social situations.

I would never have had the confidence to start my own business if I hadn’t connected with people while travelling who had successfully done it, and realised that I wasn’t really that different to them. Harness your progress and keep moving forward.

For more on this topic, read our complementary article about how travel can benefit your career .

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Alex trembath.

Alex is the co-founder and lead content creator at Career Gappers. He is an award-winning communications leader with 20 years of leadership experience, a career that has taken him across the world working with international organisations. Alex has travelled to over 50 countries and is a passionate advocate for blending work and travel by taking career breaks, sabbaticals, workations and business trips.

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7 Essential Skills You Need for Traveling the World

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Traveling the world is an adventure like no other. It opens doors to new cultures, breathtaking landscapes, and unforgettable experiences.

However, to fully embrace and enjoy these adventures, there are certain skills every traveler should have. These aren't just about making your trip smoother; they're about enriching your experience, ensuring safety, and helping you get the most out of every destination.

That’s why we will walk through seven essential skills that are invaluable for anyone wanting to explore the globe. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or planning your first international trip, these skills will prepare you for diverse situations.

Let’s get started!

1. Research and Planning

When it comes to globe-trotting, it's not just about picking a destination. In fact, it's about immersing yourself in the experience even before you step out of your home. This starts with researching the destinations you’re planning to visit. For instance, if you are visiting Madrid, knowing about it can significantly enhance your experience.

Other than that, it’s crucial to plan your itinerary. Mapping out your travel routes and destinations ensures you spend your time wisely. It’s about balancing famous landmarks with hidden gems.

Now, let's talk about an essential part of your planning: booking tours and activities in advance. This is where travel guides and online resources come into play. They are your golden ticket to ensuring you don't miss out on exciting experiences. For instance, if your journey includes Madrid, it's wise to follow the Madrid travel guide to book tours to top destinations. These pre-bookings can also often lead to discounts and special access unavailable on-site.

2. Reading Maps

In an age where GPS and digital maps are at your fingertips, you might wonder why old-school map-reading skills still matter. It’s because technology isn't foolproof. Batteries die, signals get lost, and sometimes, digital maps don't have the nuanced information that a physical map can provide. That's where the timeless skill of reading maps comes into play.

So, how do you get better at this?

Start by familiarizing yourself with map symbols and scales. Each map has symbols representing roads, trails, rivers, and other landmarks; understanding these symbols is crucial. Also, pay attention to the scale, which helps you estimate distances and plan your time accordingly.

3. First-Aid Skills

When you're miles away from home, sometimes immediate medical help isn't readily available. That’s why knowing how to handle minor injuries can be a real game-changer. To achieve this, first of all, it’s crucial to understand basic first aid. This allows you to respond effectively to common travel-related health issues like cuts, scrapes, blisters, or mild allergic reactions.

For instance, knowing how to clean and dress a wound properly can be the difference between a quick recovery and an unwanted infection.

Apart from that, it’s equally important to pack a well-thought-out travel first-aid kit. This kit should include band-aids, antiseptic wipes, gauze, adhesive tape, scissors, tweezers, pain relievers, and any personal medication.

4. Self-Defense

One skill that's absolutely vital for your safety is self-defense. Now, this doesn't necessarily mean you need to be a martial arts expert. Basic self-defense is more about being aware of your surroundings and knowing a few key moves to help you escape a dangerous situation. This means keeping an eye out for suspicious behavior or situations that just don't feel right.

Further, in terms of physical self-defense, learning a few basic techniques is beneficial. This could include breaking free from someone's grip or using your body weight to your advantage. Lastly, always have a plan for what to do in an emergency. This includes knowing the local emergency number, having a fully charged phone, and informing someone about your whereabouts.

5. MacGyvering

When you're traveling the world, you might encounter situations where you don't have all the fancy tools or resources you're used to at home. That's where the art of "MacGyvering" comes in. It means you are using your creativity and resourcefulness to solve problems on the go.

Let's say you're in a foreign city, and your backpack strap breaks. Instead of panicking, a true MacGyver traveler might use a spare shoelace or a scarf to fashion a makeshift strap. It's about making do with what you have and finding clever solutions to unexpected challenges.

MacGyvering is not just about fixing things; it's a mindset. It's about approaching problems with a can-do attitude, thinking outside the box, and being open to unconventional solutions.

6. Intercultural Awareness

Understanding and appreciating different cultures can make your journey more enriching and enjoyable. It's not just about being polite; it's about truly connecting with the people and places you encounter.

But how can you do that, you may ask?

One of the best ways is through immersive experiences. Don't just observe from a distance; dive in. Join a cooking class to learn the secrets of a traditional dish. Attend a local festival and dance to the rhythm of the music. When you immerse yourself in the culture, you gain a deeper understanding of the people and their way of life.

Also, intercultural awareness goes beyond tolerance; it's about embracing the diversity that makes the world so fascinating. It opens doors to friendships, enriches your travel experiences, and gives you a profound sense of interconnectedness with the global community.

7. Language Skills

Imagine being able to greet locals in their language, ask for directions, or even order food without pointing at a menu. It's not just about making your life easier; it’s about respecting the culture you visit.

Now, you don’t need to be fluent in every language. Just learning key phrases can make a huge difference. Phrases like "hello," "thank you," "please," and "excuse me" are universal in their power to build bridges.

So, how do you go about learning these phrases? Fortunately, language learning apps like Duolingo offer easy and interactive ways to learn new languages. They're great for learning on the go and can be squeezed into any schedule. For a more immersive experience, YouTube channels and language podcasts provide context and cultural nuances, making learning engaging and practical.

Final Words

As we wrap up our exploration of the essential skills for world travel , it’s clear that these abilities go far beyond mere practicality. So, as you pack your bags for your next adventure, remember that the most valuable things you can bring along are not just tangible items but skills. They open doors to the world’s wonders.

Continue to: Intercultural Communication Skills Travel and Freelancing

See also: How Traveling Can Help You Develop Valuable Career Skills 5 Ways to Develop New Skills While Travelling 6 Easy Ways to Earn Money While Travelling

10 essential skills every traveler should have

Anyone can fumble their way through security and learn a few words in a foreign language. But expert travelers are the ones who can pick up a specific skillset that makes traveling easier wherever they go. Here are the 10 essential skills that will help you with domestic and foreign travel — and the best part is you can practice them all at home.

Drive a stick shift

Only a small percentage of new cars sold in the U.S. come with a manual transmission, and getting an automatic is pretty much guaranteed when you rent domestically. But renting a car in Europe is easier — and cheaper — if you know how to drive a stick. Manual transmissions are more common and often the cheapest rental option overseas. Being able to drive one means you can worry less about requesting a specific make and more about getting to the nearest restaurant.

While there are various online tutorials and videos describing how to drive a manual car, there's nothing quite like actually doing it. Ask a friend to teach you in an empty parking lot, or search for driving schools in your area that offer lessons.

In an age of ubiquitous GPS, it's still good to know how to read a map — a skill that's especially critical in areas where there's no cellphone service. It's also an essential tool for hiking, for road trips, and for navigating a city center where you may want to save data for emergencies (versus Yelping a restaurant for dinner). Level up your orienteering skills by teaching yourself how to use a good old-fashioned compass. Studying maps of where you're traveling beforehand can also help you acquaint yourself with unfamiliar places.

Haggling is a craft. It's also a skill you need if don't want to pay full price for things. And bargaining comes in handy in more ways than you think, so it's worth practicing every chance you get. Most people think of haggling when they think of shopping street markets where it's common practice: start low, walk away if the vendor isn't budging.

But negotiating also comes in handy any time you're booking lodging. Start by booking your accommodations via phone; it's easier to feel more confident when you're not face to face and, since there's more of a chance of losing you as a customer than if you're physically in a hotel, you may get a better deal. Even if they can't budge on the rate, you may be able to get extras like parking or breakfast.

Approach strangers

Growing up, you learn never talk to strangers. On the road, strangers can help you locate the best restaurants, local shops and under-the-radar attractions. And if you're lost, you may be able to find someone who can point you in the right direction. Approaching someone you don't know is sometimes intimidating, but you can start by talking with shop owners or hotel staff (even if you're not staying at a particular spot). No matter where you are, folks in service industries often know multiple languages.

Saddling up to a local bar is another great place to chat with others. After some practice, you'll feel more comfortable and be able to determine who may be willing to spare a few minutes to have a conversation. Try it first near home in your own language.

Change a flat tire

Knowing basic car maintenance is helpful for everyday driving. But having the ability to change a flat tire, especially if you're heading out on a lengthy road trip, can save you from hassles and headaches — and keep you moving. Of course, services like AAA are great for peace of mind and larger snafus.

Learn where to place the car jack, how to boost up the car, and how to loosen the lug nuts. If your car has wheel locks, make sure you know where your key is, otherwise even kind strangers that want to help you change a flat won't be able help. Other useful skills to practice are jumpstarting a car (knowing where the black and red cables get clamped) and parallel parking (then you won't have to pass up the best on-street parking spots).

Estimate conversions

The bulk of the world deals in kilometers and liters and Celsius versus miles and gallons and Fahrenheit. Having a basic understanding of these will help you obey speed limits without checking your dash every few seconds, order drinks in restaurants, and dress appropriately for any given day. Additionally, familiarizing yourself with the local currency and exchange rates will not only help you find places offering the most bang for your buck, but can also prevent you from overspending.

One thousand Swedish kroner, 1,000 Japanese yen and 1,000 U.S. dollars are all drastically different amounts. Being able to quickly estimate how much a meal, train ticket or tchotchke will cost you in your native currency will help you avoid purchases in excess of your budget. Of course you can do all these things on a phone, but it's easier to just learn it.

It's also a good idea to set your phone to 24-hour time. By the time you get to your destination, you'll be a pro at knowing 1500 is 3:00 p.m. Reading train timetables or making a reservation will be that much easier.

Use a squat toilet

Depending where your travels take you, you may encounter the squat toilet, particularly in the East. The first thing to do when you see a slab of porcelain on the floor is decide if you're keeping your pants on (if you're comfortable with squatting) or taking them off (if you aren't sure about the whole process). Placing your feet on either side, squat down, hugging your knees if you need extra support. Once you're done, use the pot of water to "flush" the toilet. You may or may not encounter toilet paper (that's also what the water is for — and why people generally greet others with a right-handed shake), though bringing your own paper is okay — just don't throw it in the toilet since it can easily clog.

Learn the local language

It's great to know a language other than English, but some of the best travelers don't. Instead, they know enough key phrases to get by wherever they go. Go beyond learning — and relying on — "do you speak English?" and show you're really trying. Your efforts will give you the confidence to navigate new territory, and the locals will appreciate it.

Apps like Duolingo can help you get started with the basics: greetings, yes and no, numbers one to 10, and how to order in a restaurant. Tools like Google Translate are helpful in-country and for translating specific phrases you find yourself wanting to use.

Acquire basic survival skills

Whether traveling alone or with others, it's good to know how to use a first aid kit, if needed, in addition to other life-saving skills like CPR and the Heimlich (on yourself and others). It's best to take a CPR class to feel more confident and ensure you're getting the most up-to-date procedures. Additional seemingly basic skills like knowing how to swim, learning how to stop yourself or someone else from bleeding, self-defense moves, or treating shock are invaluable, too.

Many REI stores around the country offer a comprehensive Wilderness First Aid class that will ensure you feel comfortable in backcountry emergencies. They cover a range of topics that include cold and heat injuries, wound management and altitude sickness. The skills are also handy to know even when you're not miles from the nearest road.

De-bone a fish

Ordering food at a restaurant doesn't usually require much thought: Pick what sounds good and then eat it when it arrives. Occasionally ordering fish complicates things if the chef decides to cook it and serve it whole. You could just cut into it and work around the bones (or pick the bones out of your teeth), but there's an art to fileting a fish that will make eating it easier and less messy. Try practicing it at home — before you attempt it at the dinner table.

READ THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE:  10 essential skills every traveler should have

Top 12 Travel Specialist Skills to Put on Your Resume

In today's competitive travel industry, standing out as a candidate requires more than just a passion for exploration and adventure. This article will delve into the top 12 skills that travel specialists should showcase on their resumes, emphasizing the blend of technical expertise and soft skills essential for navigating the dynamic landscape of travel planning and customer service.

Travel Specialist Skills

• Multilingual
• Itinerary Planning
• Customer Service
• CRM Software
• Negotiation
• Risk Management
• Marketing Analytics

Amadeus is a global distribution system (GDS) used by travel professionals to book flights, hotels, car rentals, and other travel services for their clients. It provides real-time access to inventory and pricing information, enabling efficient travel planning and booking.

Why It's Important

Amadeus is crucial for Travel Specialists as it provides a comprehensive, global travel booking system, enabling efficient reservations for flights, hotels, and other travel services, streamlining operations and offering competitive options to clients.

How to Improve Amadeus Skills

Improving your skills with Amadeus as a Travel Specialist involves continuous learning, practice, and leveraging resources effectively. Here are concise steps and resources to help you:

Take Official Amadeus Training : Start with Amadeus' official training courses to understand the basics and advanced features.

Practice Regularly : Use the Amadeus Selling Platform to practice bookings and other transactions.

Stay Updated : Join Amadeus Learning Universe for the latest updates, tips, and tricks.

Join Online Forums : Engage with communities on platforms like LinkedIn and Reddit to exchange knowledge and experiences.

Use Cheat Sheets : Keep handy cheat sheets for quick reference. While specific updated cheat sheets might need to be searched for, they're often shared in forums or training sites.

Seek Feedback : Regularly ask for feedback from peers or supervisors to identify areas of improvement.

Attend Webinars and Workshops : Look for webinars and workshops hosted by Amadeus or industry experts for real-world insights and advanced techniques.

By following these steps and utilizing these resources, you can enhance your proficiency in Amadeus as a Travel Specialist.

How to Display Amadeus Skills on Your Resume

Sabre is a global travel technology company that provides software and services to travel agencies, airlines, hotels, and other travel industry entities for managing reservations, bookings, and other travel services.

Sabre is important for a Travel Specialist because it provides comprehensive access to a vast network of travel content, including flights, hotels, and car rentals, enabling efficient booking and management of travel itineraries for clients.

How to Improve Sabre Skills

Improving your Sabre skills as a Travel Specialist involves continuous learning and practice. Here are concise steps to enhance your proficiency:

• Take Official Sabre Training : Enroll in Sabre training courses to understand the fundamentals and advanced features.
• Practice Regularly : Consistent practice on the Sabre system will improve your speed and efficiency.
• Stay Updated : Follow the Sabre blog for the latest updates and tips.
• Join Forums : Participate in forums like Travel GDS for community advice and problem-solving.
• Utilize YouTube Tutorials : Watch tutorial videos on YouTube for visual and practical learning.
• Refer to the Sabre Quick Reference Guide : Keep the guide handy for quick help.

By following these steps, you'll enhance your Sabre skills, making you a more effective and efficient Travel Specialist.

How to Display Sabre Skills on Your Resume

Galileo is a global distribution system (GDS) used by travel professionals to book flights, hotels, car rentals, and other travel services. It provides real-time access to inventory and pricing information, enabling efficient travel planning and booking.

Galileo is important because he revolutionized our understanding of the universe, pioneering the use of telescopes for astronomical observation, and supporting the Copernican theory that the Earth orbits the Sun, laying foundational principles for modern physics and astronomy. Such insights are crucial for navigation and understanding time zones, essential knowledge for travel specialists.

How to Improve Galileo Skills

Improving your use of Galileo as a Travel Specialist involves enhancing efficiency, accuracy, and comprehensiveness when managing travel arrangements. Here are concise strategies:

• Stay Updated : Regularly check Galileo's official updates for new features or changes in protocols.
• Training : Enroll in Galileo training courses to deepen your understanding and discover advanced functionalities.
• Utilize Galileo Smartpoint : Leveraging Galileo Smartpoint for a more intuitive interface and access to powerful tools.
• Join Forums : Participate in online forums and discussion groups for Galileo users to exchange tips and solutions.
• Practice Regularly : Regular use will improve your speed and familiarity with the system, making you more efficient over time.
• Feedback Loop : Implement a feedback loop with your clients to understand their needs better and how you can use Galileo to meet those needs more effectively.

By focusing on these areas, you can enhance your proficiency and effectiveness in using Galileo for travel planning and management.

How to Display Galileo Skills on Your Resume

4. Worldspan

Worldspan is a global distribution system (GDS) used by travel specialists to access and book airline seats, hotel rooms, rental cars, and other travel-related services for their clients.

Worldspan is important for a Travel Specialist because it provides a comprehensive global distribution system (GDS) for real-time access to airline, hotel, car rental, and other travel-related inventory, enabling efficient booking and management of travel arrangements.

How to Improve Worldspan Skills

Improving your expertise in Worldspan as a Travel Specialist involves a combination of practice, staying updated on the latest features, and engaging in continuous learning. Here's a concise guide:

Practice Regularly : The more you use Worldspan, the more proficient you'll become. Set aside time to explore its features beyond your daily tasks.

Online Training and Resources : Enroll in Worldspan training courses offered by Travelport to understand advanced functionalities and stay updated with the latest features.

Join Forums and Groups : Participate in online forums and groups related to Worldspan. Sharing insights and solving challenges with peers can deepen your understanding.

Utilize YouTube Tutorials : Watch YouTube tutorials that focus on Worldspan. These can provide visual and practical insights into navigating and maximizing the platform.

Read the Latest Manuals and Guides : Regularly review the latest Worldspan manuals and guides to ensure your knowledge is up-to-date. Often, updates in the system are documented in detail in these resources.

Attend Workshops and Seminars : Whenever possible, attend Worldspan workshops and seminars. These can provide valuable networking opportunities and insights from experts in the field.

By integrating these strategies into your professional development, you'll enhance your skills and efficiency in using Worldspan, ultimately benefiting your career as a Travel Specialist.

How to Display Worldspan Skills on Your Resume

5. Travelport

Travelport is a global travel technology company providing a comprehensive booking and transaction platform primarily for travel professionals, enabling them to search, share, and manage travel content across air, hotel, car rental, and other services for travelers.

Travelport is important for a Travel Specialist because it provides comprehensive access to global travel content, including airfares, hotel rooms, and car rentals, enabling efficient booking and management of travel itineraries for clients.

How to Improve Travelport Skills

Improving your use of Travelport as a Travel Specialist involves several key actions aimed at enhancing efficiency, broadening your service offerings, and staying updated with the latest technology and market trends. Here’s a concise guide:

Continuous Learning : Stay updated with Travelport's latest features and updates. Participate in Travelport Academy for online training courses to deepen your knowledge.

Utilize Smartpoint : Embrace Travelport Smartpoint , an innovative tool that provides you with a more intuitive and rich interface, making searches and bookings faster and more efficient.

API Integration : Leverage Travelport APIs for custom solutions that can automate processes, create unique customer experiences, and integrate additional services.

Networking and Support : Join Travelport user communities and forums to share insights, tips, and support with peers. Engaging in these communities can provide you with practical solutions and innovative ideas.

Customer-Centric Services : Use Travelport to offer personalized travel experiences. Understand your customers’ preferences and utilize Travelport’s rich content and features to tailor travel packages that meet individual needs.

Data Analysis : Apply Travelport’s analytics and reporting tools to understand market trends and customer behavior, helping you make informed decisions and improve your service offerings.

By focusing on these areas, you can significantly improve your effectiveness and efficiency as a Travel Specialist using Travelport.

How to Display Travelport Skills on Your Resume

6. Multilingual

Multilingual refers to the ability to communicate in multiple languages, an essential skill for a Travel Specialist to effectively assist and engage with clients from diverse linguistic backgrounds.

Multilingualism is important for a Travel Specialist because it enables effective communication with clients and locals across different countries, enhances customer service by catering to diverse linguistic needs, and broadens access to a variety of travel markets and resources, ultimately improving client satisfaction and business opportunities.

How to Improve Multilingual Skills

Improving multilingual skills, especially for a Travel Specialist, involves focused practice, exposure to diverse languages, and leveraging technology and resources. Here are concise ways to enhance these skills:

Immersion: Engage in language immersion experiences by spending time in countries where the target language is spoken. Duolingo and Rosetta Stone offer virtual immersion through their language courses.

Language Exchange: Participate in language exchange meetups or use platforms like Tandem to practice with native speakers.

Courses and Certifications: Enroll in specialized language courses for professionals in the travel industry. Websites like Coursera and Udemy offer relevant courses.

Technology Aids: Use translation apps and tools such as Google Translate and iTranslate for quick translations and to learn on the go.

Cultural Exposure: Watch movies, listen to music, and read books in the target language. Platforms like Netflix and Spotify offer a wide range of foreign language content.

Professional Networks: Join professional networks and forums for travel specialists, such as The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI) and Skål International , to share insights and get tips from peers worldwide.

Feedback Loop: Regularly seek feedback from native speakers or language teachers to correct mistakes and improve.

By combining these strategies, travel specialists can significantly enhance their multilingual skills, leading to better communication with clients and a deeper understanding of diverse cultures.

How to Display Multilingual Skills on Your Resume

7. Itinerary Planning

Itinerary Planning in the context of a Travel Specialist involves designing a detailed schedule for a trip, including transportation, accommodations, activities, and attractions, tailored to the preferences and needs of the traveler.

Itinerary planning is essential for a Travel Specialist as it ensures a well-organized, efficient, and tailored travel experience for clients, optimizing their time and satisfaction by aligning activities with their preferences and needs.

How to Improve Itinerary Planning Skills

Improving itinerary planning as a Travel Specialist involves a blend of understanding client preferences, utilizing technology, and staying informed on travel destinations. Here are concise steps with relevant resources:

Understand Client Preferences: Gather detailed information about your clients' interests, budget, and any special requirements. Use a questionnaire to streamline the process. Virtuoso Traveler Profile.

Leverage Technology: Utilize itinerary planning tools and apps for efficiency and creativity. Tools like Travefy and TripIt help organize and share itineraries seamlessly.

Stay Informed: Keep up-to-date with travel advisories, destination trends, and new experiences through sites like Travel Weekly and Skift .

Personalize and Customize: Tailor each itinerary to fit the client's unique desires, making use of local insights. Platforms like Withlocals provide unique local experiences.

Collaborate and Get Feedback: Work closely with your clients during the planning process and seek their feedback post-travel to refine future itineraries.

By focusing on these steps and leveraging the resources provided, Travel Specialists can significantly enhance the quality and satisfaction of their itinerary planning services.

How to Display Itinerary Planning Skills on Your Resume

8. Customer Service

Customer service, in the context of a Travel Specialist, involves providing support and assistance to travelers by planning trips, solving travel-related issues, and ensuring a smooth and enjoyable travel experience.

Customer service is crucial for a Travel Specialist as it ensures client satisfaction, fosters repeat business, and generates positive referrals by addressing travel issues promptly, providing personalized experiences, and building trust through reliable and efficient assistance.

How to Improve Customer Service Skills

Improving customer service, especially for a Travel Specialist, involves several focused strategies. Here are concise tips:

Understand Customer Needs : Regularly gather feedback through surveys or direct communication. Tools like SurveyMonkey can facilitate this process.

Personalize Communication : Use customer information to tailor interactions. CRM tools like Salesforce help in managing and personalizing customer relationships.

Quick Response Time : Implement chatbots for immediate responses and use platforms like Zendesk for efficient customer service management.

Knowledgeable Staff : Ensure your team is well-trained and informed about travel updates. Resources like Travel Weekly can keep your team updated.

Offer Omnichannel Support : Be where your customers are, from social media to email. Tools like Hootsuite can manage multiple social media channels efficiently.

Follow-up After Service : Send a follow-up message or call to ensure customer satisfaction. Automate this with email marketing tools like Mailchimp .

Implement Loyalty Programs : Reward repeat customers with perks or discounts. Platforms like LoyaltyLion can help create and manage loyalty programs.

Each of these steps, backed by the right tools and a genuine commitment to customer satisfaction, can significantly enhance the service provided by a Travel Specialist.

How to Display Customer Service Skills on Your Resume

9. CRM Software

CRM software for a Travel Specialist is a digital tool designed to manage and enhance interactions with clients by organizing customer information, travel bookings, preferences, and communication history, thereby improving service delivery and fostering customer loyalty.

CRM software is crucial for a Travel Specialist as it enables personalized customer interactions, efficient management of client data, streamlined communication, and improved customer service, leading to enhanced client satisfaction and loyalty in the competitive travel industry.

How to Improve CRM Software Skills

Improving CRM software for a Travel Specialist involves enhancing customer service, personalization, and integration capabilities. Here's a concise guide:

Enhance Personalization : Implement machine learning algorithms to analyze customer data and preferences, providing personalized travel recommendations and offers. Salesforce offers tools for such customization.

Improve Customer Service : Integrate chatbots and AI for 24/7 customer support, addressing queries and managing bookings efficiently. Zendesk is known for its customer service solutions.

Streamline Booking Process : Ensure your CRM integrates seamlessly with booking engines and platforms for real-time availability and reservations. Amadeus provides comprehensive booking solutions.

Enhance Mobile Functionality : Optimize the CRM for mobile use, ensuring travelers can access their plans, make bookings, and communicate with your service on-the-go. HubSpot CRM is mobile-friendly and offers various features.

Offer Comprehensive Trip Management : Incorporate itinerary management tools that allow clients to view trip details, updates, and make changes easily. TripIt is a popular itinerary management tool that could inspire integrated functionality.

Implement Feedback Loops : Use surveys and feedback tools post-trip to gather insights and improve services. SurveyMonkey can facilitate collecting customer feedback efficiently.

Ensure Robust Data Security : Prioritize data protection to safeguard customer information, complying with regulations like GDPR. Consider IBM’s Data Security Services for robust security solutions.

By focusing on these areas, a Travel Specialist can significantly enhance their CRM software, leading to improved customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.

How to Display CRM Software Skills on Your Resume

10. Negotiation

Negotiation, for a Travel Specialist, involves the process of discussing and arranging terms with vendors, such as hotels or airlines, to secure the best quality, prices, and conditions for travel services on behalf of clients.

Negotiation is crucial for a Travel Specialist to secure the best deals, enhance service quality, and ensure client satisfaction, ultimately leading to cost savings and an exceptional travel experience.

How to Improve Negotiation Skills

Improving negotiation skills, especially for a Travel Specialist, involves understanding both the art and science of negotiation. Here are concise steps with relevant resources:

Prepare Extensively : Know your needs, the other party's needs, and have clear objectives. Harvard Business Review outlines the importance of preparation in negotiations.

Build Rapport : Establishing a good relationship with the counterpart can lead to better outcomes. Forbes suggests strategies to enhance negotiation skills, emphasizing rapport.

Listen Actively : Understanding the other party's position is crucial. This guide from MindTools explains how active listening can improve your negotiation.

Communicate Clearly and Confidently : Be concise and articulate your needs and offers effectively. SkillsYouNeed discusses the importance of clear communication.

Aim for Win-Win Outcomes : Focus on finding solutions that benefit both parties. The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School offers insights into achieving win-win negotiations.

Be Willing to Walk Away : Know your BATNA (Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement) and be prepared to walk away if terms are not favorable. Investopedia explains the concept of BATNA.

Practice Regularly : Like any skill, negotiation improves with practice. Engage in mock negotiations or reflect on past negotiations to learn and improve.

By following these steps and utilizing the resources provided, a Travel Specialist can enhance their negotiation skills, leading to better deals and partnerships.

How to Display Negotiation Skills on Your Resume

11. Risk Management

Risk Management, in the context of a Travel Specialist, involves identifying, assessing, and prioritizing potential issues that could adversely affect travel plans, and implementing strategies to minimize or mitigate these risks to ensure the safety and satisfaction of travelers.

Risk management is crucial for a Travel Specialist as it ensures the safety, satisfaction, and well-being of clients by proactively identifying, assessing, and mitigating potential risks and emergencies that could disrupt travel plans or endanger clients during their travels.

How to Improve Risk Management Skills

Improving risk management, particularly for a Travel Specialist, requires a focused approach on anticipating, identifying, and mitigating potential risks that could impact travel plans or traveler safety. Here's a concise guide:

Educate Yourself and Travelers : Stay updated with the latest travel advisories and health guidelines from reliable sources like the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Department of State . Educate your travelers about their destinations, including local laws, health care facilities, and emergency contacts.

Evaluate and Plan : Assess the risks for each destination, considering factors like political stability, weather conditions, and health risks. Use tools like the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS) to monitor potential emergencies. Develop contingency plans for different scenarios, including natural disasters, medical emergencies, and travel disruptions.

Implement Safety Protocols : Establish clear safety protocols for travelers, including health and safety guidelines, emergency procedures, and contacts. Consider partnering with local service providers who can offer immediate assistance.

Insurance and Assistance : Ensure that travelers have comprehensive travel insurance that covers medical emergencies, trip cancellations, and evacuations. Providers like World Nomads offer insurance tailored to different types of travelers and activities.

Communication Strategy : Maintain open lines of communication with travelers before, during, and after their trip. Utilize travel management software and apps that allow for real-time updates and alerts.

Review and Feedback : After each trip, gather feedback from travelers to identify any issues or areas for improvement. Regularly review and update your risk management strategies to adapt to changing conditions.

By following these steps and utilizing the provided resources, Travel Specialists can significantly improve their risk management practices, ensuring safer and more enjoyable travel experiences for their clients.

How to Display Risk Management Skills on Your Resume

12. Marketing Analytics

Marketing Analytics involves collecting, measuring, analyzing, and interpreting data related to marketing efforts to optimize strategies, improve customer engagement, and increase sales efficiency, specifically tailored for enhancing the visibility and appeal of travel experiences and services.

Marketing analytics is crucial for a Travel Specialist as it enables data-driven decisions, optimizing marketing strategies to effectively target potential travelers, enhance customer experiences, and maximize return on investment (ROI) by understanding customer preferences, trends, and behaviors.

How to Improve Marketing Analytics Skills

Improving marketing analytics for a Travel Specialist involves leveraging data to optimize strategies and enhance customer engagement. Here are concise steps to achieve this:

Integrate Data Sources : Combine data from various platforms (website, social media, CRM) for a holistic view. Tools like Google Analytics help unify data for better insights.

Leverage Customer Segmentation : Use analytics to segment your audience based on behavior, preferences, and demographics. This enables personalized marketing. HubSpot offers features for effective segmentation.

Utilize Predictive Analytics : Implement tools like IBM Watson to forecast trends and customer needs, allowing for proactive strategy adjustments.

Optimize for Mobile : With the majority of travel-related searches happening on mobile, use analytics to ensure your marketing is mobile-friendly. Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test can gauge your site’s performance.

Enhance Social Media Analytics : Platforms like Sprout Social provide deep insights into social media performance, enabling targeted content creation and distribution.

Implement A/B Testing : Use A/B testing to optimize campaigns and website elements. Tools like Optimizely can help identify what works best.

Utilize Visualization Tools : Tools like Tableau help visualize data, making it easier to interpret and act on.

Invest in Training : Ensure your team is skilled in analytics tools and techniques. Online courses from platforms like Coursera or Udacity can be very beneficial.

By focusing on these areas, a Travel Specialist can significantly improve their marketing analytics, leading to more effective marketing strategies and enhanced customer satisfaction.

How to Display Marketing Analytics Skills on Your Resume

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15 skills a traveler develops for CAREER and for LIFE

Why you should present yourself as a traveler in a job interview.

Imagine yourself reading or filling out a resume with some of the skills a traveler develops?!

Some people picture a traveler as a nomad carrying a huge backpack, well…actually traveling is an art that goes beyond just a vacation in paradise.

When people travel they have the opportunity to experience new things, to meet people with different realities, they have to face unexpected problems and for many times they get out of their comfort zone. All of these things provide a traveler some skills that are really valuable for his career and also for his life.

Here is the list of 15 skills a traveler develops :

Globally minded:

A traveler knows a lot about other cultures and economical situation. He understands people’s differences and knows how to approach them.

Planning a trip is not as simple as it seems, it may take couple of days, weeks or months.

Decision Making:

A traveler is fully responsible for what happens to him. He needs to decide whether or not accept help from a certain person, where he is going to eat, where he is going to stay, etc.

Language skills:

He improves his language skills by traveling and meeting people from all around the world, especially when English is his second language.

Relationship building:

Worldwide connections are in a traveler’s blood!

Time Management:

He needs to set priorities and manage his daily time to not miss a flight or a tour and also to be able to see everything he wants in a city.

Value simple things:

He has probably stayed in unclean places, has seen people in poor conditions, has been at places with politic and security issues, and away from home for enough time to miss someone special. After this, he may be thankful for having a regular toilet to use, may go crazy when he gets clean sheets, and appreciates better many other things =)

Things will go wrong in a trip, he may miss a flight, a bus, or a tour, but he has to learn how to deal with disappointment before turning his trip in a complaint saga.

Communication:

He is sociable and more easygoing than most of people.

Financial notion:

In order to travel he needs to define a budget, to save money and control expenses because he knows he should never run out of money before the end of his trip.

Adaptability:

A traveler moves from one hostel/hotel to another every couple of days and for that he needs to quickly get used to a new bed, bathroom or even culture and food.

Problem solving:

He has found himself in trouble and in situations he could never imagine but he figured out a way to get out of it.

I actually believe this is one of the best skills a traveler develops!

Self-confidence:

Once he had to deal with multiple problems and succeeded in his decisions he ends up gathering more confidence in himself.

A traveler never forgets where he has been, where it is located on the map and what the place’s characteristics are.

Independence:

Many times he gets to do things and find disposition by himself because there is no one else to rely.

Considering all of theses skills a traveler develops, maybe from now on you will get some extra points by presenting yourself as an experienced traveler on a job interview 😉

Be a TRAVELER!

Live More, Travel More.

By Elaine Villatoro

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Mongoose Traveller SRD

Skills and tasks.

• Learning New Skills

The Referee should only call for checks:

• when the characters are in danger.
• when the task is especially difficult or hazardous.
• when the characters are under the pressure of time.
• when success or failure is especially important or interesting.

Task Checks

To make a check, the player rolls 2d6 and any appropriate Dice Modifiers. If the total is 8 or more, the character succeeds

The most common forms of task checks are characteristic checks and skill checks

Characteristic Check: These checks are used when the task is one not covered by an obvious skill, or where the character’s innate abilities are the most important influence on the result. To make a Characteristic check, roll 2d6 and add the appropriate characteristic Dice Modifier

Skill Check: For a skill check, the character adds both his skill level and an appropriate characteristic DM

When making a skill check, if a character does not have any levels in that skill, then he suffers a –3 unskilled Dice Modifier

Task Difficulties

Simple tasks have a difficulty DM of +6.

Easy tasks have a DM of +4.

Routine tasks have a difficulty DM of +2.

Average tasks have a difficulty DM of +0.

Difficult tasks have a difficulty DM of –2.

Very difficult tasks have a DM of –4.

Formidable tasks have a difficulty DM of –6

Situational Modifiers

If a character has help, such as good tools, competent aids or other beneficial circumstances, he receives a +1 DM to his skill check

If the degree of success is important, then subtract 8 from the total of the dice roll plus Dice Modifiers. This margin of success is referred to as the Effect

To determine how long a task takes, roll 1d6 and multiply it by the increment listed for that action

Going Faster or Slower

You can choose, before you roll, to move up or down one or two rows on the Time Frames table. Moving up (reducing the time increment) gives you a –1 DM for every row you move; moving down and increasing the time taken gives you a +1 DM for every row you move

Multiple Actions

A character can try to do two or more things at once, like firing a spacecraft’s weapons while also flying, or disarming a bomb while hiding from guards. For every extra thing that the character is doing, he suffers a –2 DM to all skill checks

Opposed Checks

If two characters are opposing each other directly in a task, then the character who obtains the highest Effect wins

Aiding Another Character

The result of one check can give a DM to the next

Skills ( top )

This skill covers bureaucracies and administration of all sorts, including the navigation of bureaucratic obstacles or disasters

Advocate gives a knowledge of common legal codes and practises, especially interstellar law

This skill, rare on industrialised or technologically advanced worlds, is for the care of animals

• Specialities
• Riding: The character knows how to ride an animal who is trained to bear a rider.
• Veterinary: The character is trained in veterinary medicine and animal care.
• Training: The character knows how to tame and train animals.
• Farming: The character can grow and harvest crops and raise animals.

The character is a trained athlete and is physically fit

• Co-ordination: Climbing, juggling, throwing.
• Endurance: Long-distance running, hiking.
• Strength: Feats of strength, weight-lifting.
• Flying: Species that fly gain this skill for free at level 0.

The character is trained in a type of creative art

• Acting: The character is a trained actor, at home on the stage, screen or holo.
• Dance: The character is trained dancer and performer.
• Holography: Recording and producing aesthetically pleasing and clear holographic images.
• Instrument: Playing a particular musical instrument, such a flute, piano or organ.
• Sculpting: Making artistic or abstract sculptures in a variety of media.
• Writing: Composing inspiring or interesting pieces of text.

Astrogation

This skill is for plotting the courses of starships and calculating accurate jumps

Battle Dress

This skill permits the character to operate advanced battle armour

The Broker skill allows a character to negotiate trades and arrange fair deals

Carousing is the art of socialising; of having fun, but also ensuring that other people have fun, of infectious good humour

The Comms skill covers the use of modern telecommunications – opening communications channels, querying computer networks, jamming signals and so on, as well as the proper protocols for communicating with starports and other spacecraft

The Computers skill is for using and controlling computer systems

Deception allows a character to lie fluently, disguise himself, perform sleight of hand and fool onlookers

The Diplomat skill is for negotiating deals, establishing peaceful contact and smoothing over social faux pas

This skill is for controlling ground vehicles of various types. There are several specialities

• Mole: For controlling vehicles that move through solid matter using drills or other earth-moving technologies, like plasma torches or cavitation.
• Tracked: For tanks and other vehicles that move on tracks.
• Wheeled: For automobiles and similar groundcars.

The Engineer skill is used to operate and maintain spacecraft and advanced vehicles

• Manoeuvre Drive (M-Drive): Maintaining and operating a spacecraft’s manoeuvre drive, as well as its artificial gravity.
• Jump Drive (J-Drive): Maintaining and operating a spacecraft’s Jump drive.
• Electronics: All forms of computing hardware, sensors and other electronics and electrics.
• Life Support: Covers oxygen generators, heating and lighting and other necessary life support
• Power: Maintaining and operating a spacecraft’s power plant.

The Explosives skill covers the use of demolition charges and other explosive devices, including assembling or disarming bombs

The various specialities of this skill cover different types of flying vehicles

• Grav: This covers air/rafts and other vehicles that use gravitic technology. Grav vehicles have theoretically perfect manoeuvrability and can hover, but skill checks may be necessary when performing high-speed aerobatics.
• Rotor: For helicopters, hovercraft and other similar craft. Rotor craft can hover but may require skill checks to keep steady in the face of adverse environmental conditions.
• Wing: For jets and other aeroplanes using a lifting body. Winged aircraft must keep moving forwards or they will stall and fall out of the sky.

The character is familiar with a wide variety of gambling games, such as poker, roulette, blackjack, horse-racing, sports betting and so on, and has an excellent grasp of statistics and probability

The various specialities of this skill deal with the operation of ship-mounted weapons in space combat

• Turrets: Operating turret-mounted weapons on board a ship.
• Ortillery: An abbreviation of Orbital artillery – using a ship’s weapons for planetary bombardment or attacks on stationary targets.
• Screens: Activating and using a ship’s energy screens like Black Globe generators or meson screens.
• Capital Weapons: Operating bay or spinal mount weapons on board a ship.

The Gun Combat skill covers a variety of ranged weapons

• Slug Rifle: Using rifle weapons such as the autorifle or gauss rifle.
• Slug Pistol: Using pistols like the body pistol or snub pistol.
• Shotgun: Using shotguns.
• Energy Rifle: Using advanced energy weapons like laser rifles or plasma rifles.
• Energy Pistol: Using advanced pistol-style energy weapons like laser pistols and stunners.

Heavy Weapons

The Heavy Weapons skill covers man-portable and larger weapons that cause extreme property damage, such as rocket launchers, artillery and plasma weapons

• Launchers: Rocket launchers and grenade launchers.
• Man Portable Artillery: Man portable fusion and plasma weapons – the FGMP, PGMP and similar.
• Field Artillery: Fixed guns, mortars and other indirect-fire weapons.

Investigate

The Investigate skill incorporates keen observation, forensics, and detailed analysis

Jack of All Trades

The Jack of All Trades skill works differently to other skills. It reduces the unskilled penalty a character receives for not having the appropriate skill by one for every level of Jack of All Trades

There are numerous different Language specialities, each one covering reading and writing a different language. All characters can speak and read their native language without needing the Language skill, and automated computer translator programs mean that Language skills are not always needed on other worlds. Having Language 0 implies that the character has a smattering of simple phrases in many languages

• Anglic: The common Trade language, derived originally from the English spoken in the Rule of Man.

The Leadership skill is for directing, inspiring and rallying allies and comrades

Life Sciences

The Mechanic skill allows the character to maintain and repair most equipment

The Medic skill covers emergency first aid and battlefield triage as well as diagnosis, treatment, surgery and long-term care

The melee skill covers attacking in hand-to-hand combat

• Unarmed Combat: Whether it is trained martial arts or street fighting learned the hard way, this is the skill for using your body as a weapon.
• Blade: Attacking with swords, rapiers, blades and other edged weapons.
• Bludgeon: Attacking with maces, clubs, staves and so on.
• Natural Weapons: The favoured combat skill of wild animals, this covers fighting with claws, teeth, and other weapons that are a part of you.

Navigation is the planet-side counterpart of astro-gation, covering plotting courses and finding directions on the ground

Persuade is a more casual, informal version of Diplomacy

The Pilot skill specialities cover different forms of spacecraft

• Small Craft: Shuttles and other craft under 100 tons.
• Spacecraft: Trade ships and other vessels between 100 and 5,000 tons.
• Capital Ships: Battleships and other ships over 5,000 tons.

Physical Sciences

A character trained in Recon is able to scout out dangers and spot threats, unusual objects or out of place people

Remote Operations

Remote operations is the skill of using telepresence to remotely control drones, missiles, robots and other devices

There are four separate Science skills – Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, Social Sciences and Space Sciences. Each science skill has a number of specialisations

• Physics: The study of the fundamental forces.
• Chemistry: The study of matter at the atomic, molecular, and macromolecular levels
• Electronics: The study of circuits and computers.
• Biology: The study of living organisms.
• Cybernetics: The study of blending living and synthetic life.
• Genetics: The study of genetic codes and engineering.
• Psionicology: The study of psionic powers and phenomena.

Social Sciences

• Archeology: The study of ancient civilisations. It also covers techniques of investigation and excavations.
• Economics: The study of trade and markets.
• History: The study of the past, as seen through documents and records as opposed to physical artefacts.
• Linguistics: The study of languages.
• Philosophy: The study of beliefs and religions.
• Psychology: The study of thought and society.
• Sophontology: The study of intelligent living creatures.

Space Sciences

• Planetology: The study of planet formation and evolution.
• Robotics: The study of robot construction and use.
• Xenology: The study of alien life forms.

The Seafarer skill covers all manner of watercraft and ocean travel

• Sail: This skill is for wind-driven watercraft.
• Submarine: For vehicles that travel underwater.
• Ocean Ships: For large, motorised sea-going vessels.
• Motorboats: For motorised small craft.

The Sensors skill covers the use and interpretation of data from electronic sensor devices, from observation satellites and remote probes to thermal imaging and densitometers

A character trained in the Stealth skill is adept at staying unseen and unheard

The Steward skill allows the character to serve and care for nobles and high-class passengers

A character with the Streetwise skill understands the urban environment and the power structures in society

The Survival skill is the wilderness counterpart of the urban Streetwise skill – the character is trained to survive in the wild, build shelters, hunt or trap animals, avoid exposure and so forth

This skill covers tactical planning and decision making, from board games to squad level combat to fleet engagements

• Military Tactics: Coordinating the attacks of foot troops or vehicles on the ground.
• Naval Tactics: Coordinating the attacks of a spacecraft or fleet.

A character with a Trade skill is trained in producing some useful goods or services

• Biologicals: Engineering and managing artificial organisms.
• Civil Engineering: Designing structures and buildings.
• Space Construction: Building orbital habitats and megastructures.
• Hydroponics: Growing crops in hostile environments.
• Polymers: Designing and using polymers.

The Vacc Suit skill allows a character to wear and operate spacesuits and environmental suits. If the character does not have the requisite Vacc Suit skill for the suit he is wearing, he suffers a –2 DM to all skill checks made while wearing a suit for each missing level

Having the Zero-G skill means the character is adept at moving around in micro-gravity environments and freefall. A character without the Zero-G skill suffers a –2 DM to all checks made in free-fall

Learning New Skills ( top )

A character’s Skill Total is calculated by summing the levels of each skill (level zero skills count as zero). A character with Mechanic 1 and Gun Combat (slug pistols) 2 would have a Skill Total of 3.

To increase a skill, a character must train for a number of weeks equal to his current Skill Total plus the desired level of the skill. So, to advance from Pilot 2 to Pilot 3 with a current Skill Total of 3 would take (three, plus three) six weeks. A character may only train one skill in a given week.

The Jack of all Trades skill cannot be learned.

This website is owned and created by Gregory Wolfe . This website is an independent entity and is not affiliated with Mongoose Publishing or Far Future Enterprises. Unless otherwise noted all content on this site is owned by and copyrighted to its original authors.

• Open access
• Published: 29 April 2024

Perceptions of and preparedness for cross-cultural care: a survey of final-year medical students in Ireland

• Lesley O’Brien 1 ,
• Nicola Wassall 1 ,
• Danielle Cadoret 1 ,
• Aleksandra Petrović 1 ,
• Patrick O’Donnell 1 &
• Siobhán Neville 1  

BMC Medical Education volume  24 , Article number:  472 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

161 Accesses

1 Altmetric

Metrics details

Migration is increasing globally, and societies are becoming more diverse and multi-ethnic. Medical school curricula should prepare students to provide high-quality care to all individuals in the communities they serve. Previous research from North America and Asia has assessed the effectiveness of medical cultural competency training, and student preparedness for delivery of cross-cultural care. However, student preparedness has not been explored in the European context. The aim of this study was to investigate how prepared final-year medical students in the Republic of Ireland (ROI) feel to provide care to patients from other countries, cultures, and ethnicities. In addition, this study aims to explore students’ experiences and perceptions of cross-cultural care.

Final-year medical students attending all six medical schools within the ROI were invited to participate in this study. A modified version of the Harvard Cross-Cultural Care Survey (CCCS) was used to assess their preparedness, skill, training/education, and attitudes. The data were analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics 28.0, and Fisher’s Exact Test was employed to compare differences within self-identified ethnicity groups and gender.

Whilst most respondents felt prepared to care for patients in general (80.5%), many felt unprepared to care for specific ethnic patient cohorts, including patients from a minority ethnic background (50.7%) and the Irish Traveller Community (46.8%). Only 20.8% of final-year students felt they had received training in cross-cultural care during their time in medical school. Most respondents agreed that they should be assessed specifically on skills in cultural competence whilst in medical school (83.2%).

Conclusions

A large proportion of final-year medical students surveyed in Ireland feel inadequately prepared to care for ethnically diverse patients. Similarly, they report feeling unskilled in core areas of cross-cultural care, and a majority agree that they should be assessed on aspects of cultural competency. This study explores shortcomings in cultural competency training and confidence amongst Irish medical students. These findings have implications for future research and curricular change, with opportunities for the development of relevant educational initiatives in Irish medical schools.

Peer Review reports

Patient-centred care is linked to improved health outcomes for patients and represents a pillar of quality in healthcare delivery [ 1 ]. However, providing patient-centred care becomes more complex with increasing diversity of patient populations. Miscommunication and misunderstandings in the clinical setting can lead to patient dissatisfaction, reduced adherence to treatment regimens and poor health outcomes [ 2 ]. Cross-cultural competence is an important factor in the ability of clinicians to deliver appropriate care to patients from different sociocultural backgrounds [ 1 ]. There have been multiple definitions of cross-cultural competence developed in the literature, and for the purpose of this study cross-cultural competence can be taken to mean a shared knowledge from collective experiences of diverse groups and the integration of behaviours and attitudes by healthcare professionals to empower them to engage effectively and collaboratively with patients from these diverse backgrounds [ 3 ]. Healthcare providers skilled in cross-cultural care can improve quality of care for minority ethnic groups and help eliminate health disparities by improving communication with patients, building trust, and overcoming gaps in understanding [ 2 ]. Therefore, it can be argued that cross-cultural competence is an essential skill for clinicians and should be included in medical school curricula.

To provide appropriate cross-cultural care, clinicians must engage in effective communication with, and provide high quality care to, patients from diverse sociocultural backgrounds [ 4 ]. Whilst there is no accepted definition of cultural competence, Betancourt et al . [ 5 ] described cultural competence training as specific efforts to enhance knowledge of sociocultural factors, health beliefs and behaviours held by patients, with an aim to develop skills to manage these factors in the delivery of equitable health care. Ultimately, training should help clinicians understand the impact of sociocultural factors on a patient’s health. However, there is variability in the methods, timing, and quality of this training [ 6 ]. Some institutions prioritise theory over practical skills, and many fail to address bias and disparities in healthcare [ 6 ]. Cross-cultural training requires standardisation to consistently produce culturally competent clinicians.

There has been a drive to improve cross-cultural care training in medicine, as studies in various countries have shown that both medical students and practising clinicians feel unprepared to deliver patient-centred, cross-cultural care [ 1 , 2 , 6 ]. Using the Cross-Cultural Care Survey (CCCS), a tool developed and validated for assessing cultural competency in medicine, Green et. al. [ 6 ] reported that final year Harvard medical students felt they lacked experience with diverse patient populations and experienced dismissive attitudes towards cross-cultural training from educators. As a result, they felt unprepared in many facets of delivering cross-cultural care. Medical students in Taiwan reported no improvement in preparedness to deliver cross-cultural care or address health inequities, as they progressed from preclinical to clinical training [ 7 ]. In Pakistan, researchers found that there was little difference between medical school year groups in their preparedness to care for patients with cultural customs and/or beliefs with the potential to affect clinical care [ 8 ]. In Switzerland, Casillas et al. [ 2 ] surveyed a group of healthcare providers, which included physicians and clinical nurses, and found that participants felt least prepared to care for patients whose religious beliefs affect treatment, and working in a department that provided some form of cross-cultural training was associated with higher levels of preparedness. Hudelson et al. [ 9 ] assessed the communication skills of both healthcare providers and local medical students when caring for migrant patients, which found that medical students scored lower than their qualified colleagues in clinical skills, intercultural communication skills and general intercultural skills.

There have been several studies conducted in the United Kingdom (UK) examining the cultural awareness of medical students and delivery of cultural competency training [ 10 ]. Studies show that UK medical students wish to be more aware of cultural differences in their patient population, and some students had not encountered any form of cultural competency training in their clinical curricula [ 11 , 12 ]. They recommended the incorporation of cultural competency training in both clinical and didactic material [ 12 ].

In the Irish context, the health of the Irish Traveller community raises particular equity concerns. This minority ethnic group faces higher mortality rates and lower average life expectancies than the general population, likely due to factors including discrimination, and access to health and social services [ 13 ]. This group was formally recognised as an indigenous ethnic minority in 2017 [ 14 ]. Diversity in Ireland has also been increasing, which adds to the complexity of delivering patient-centred care. From 2011 to 2016, the non-White-Irish population increased at a rate three times that of the White Irish ethnic majority. Preliminary results for the 2022 census revealed a population increase of 361,671, and estimated net immigration of 190,330 [ 15 ]. More recently, over 60,000 Ukrainian refugees arrived in Ireland in less than a year, with many requiring access to health services [ 16 ]. Despite these big changes, there is no research we can find that examines the preparedness of medical students in Ireland to provide cross-cultural care . The Health Service Executive (HSE), Ireland’s public health and social care service, recommends that academic institutions should integrate cultural competency training into undergraduate and postgraduate medical programmes [ 17 ]. Ireland’s changing demographics necessitate effective cross-cultural training in medicine to ensure all patients receive high quality care. Varying degrees of cross-cultural training have been employed by Irish medical institutions to provide students with skills required to navigate cross-cultural consultations. It is important to gauge the effectiveness of this training, particularly as there is no national standard in this area.

The aim of this study is to examine whether final-year medical students in Ireland feel prepared to provide high-quality care to patients from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Furthermore, this study aims to explore how these students have encountered this concept in their training thus far. In addition, we sought to explore the perceptions of students regarding ethnicity and health and identify potential areas to build on in medical school curricula. Researching the student perspective can provide medical educators with information on where students are receiving training in cross-cultural care, where students are finding greatest engagement, and areas of cross-cultural care in which students feel underprepared. Teaching basic skills required for navigating cross-cultural care consultations early in a medical student’s education establishes a foundation to build upon throughout their career and aid in the delivery of equitable healthcare for all patient cohorts.

Population and recruitment

We recruited final-year medical students, due to graduate in 2022, from both undergraduate and graduate-entry programmes in all six medical schools within the ROI: National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG), Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), Trinity College Dublin (TCD), University College Cork (UCC), University College Dublin (UCD), and University of Limerick (UL). We used social media channels to distribute the survey, posting to final year medical student groups on Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram platforms. We included a prize draw as an incentive to participate. Ethical approval was granted by the University of Limerick Faculty of Education and Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee.

Design and procedure

The Harvard cross-cultural care survey (CCCS) is a validated tool developed in the United States to assess cross-cultural competence in medicine and was adapted for the Irish context [ 6 ]. For example, questions were included regarding the Irish Traveller population. This cross-sectional survey design was used to collect both quantitative and qualitative data on four elements of cross-cultural care: i) preparedness, ii) skill, iii) training and education, and iv) attitudes. Information was collected on the medical training received by each participant, in addition to experiences outside of medical school. We assessed students during their final semester of medical school from January to June 2022. The survey was created using the online survey platform Qualtrics in line with the Harvard cross-cultural care survey layout. It was distributed via social media channels, and in addition, posters with a QR code link to the survey were placed in communal student settings in Irish hospitals.

Survey responses were stored and analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics 28.0. All components of the survey, including demographics, preparedness, skill, training and education, and attitudes were examined using frequency analyses. Fisher’s exact test was used to investigate statistically significant differences between gender and ethnicity groups, in reported preparedness and skill. Fisher’s Exact Test was chosen to provide accurate p values for low frequency samples in this study.

Participants were asked initially to disclose whether they were a final year medical student from the outset. Those who responded “no” were filtered out from the participation in the survey. Demographic data collected were analysed to investigate for gender and ethnicity difference in responses without cross-analysing two variables, e.g. institute and ethnicity or gender and ethnicity, to ensure confidentiality. Following completion of the survey, participants were offered the chance to participate in the prize draw. If accepted, participants were taken to a separate survey in which they were asked to include their email for a chance to win. No names were collected to protect confidentiality.

Pilot study

A pilot study of recently qualified doctors was carried out in 2021 to further refine the CCCS for the Irish context. The survey was distributed to recent graduates from six medical schools in the ROI via social media. The pilot study was completed by 49 participants. The reliability of the survey was tested using data collected from the pilot study. Cronbach’s alpha for the subscales within the survey were (α = 0.705–0.887) indicating acceptable reliability.

A total of 105 survey responses were collected from final-year medical students across the six medical schools in the ROI. Twenty-eight responses were excluded—four were not final year medical students and twenty-four were incomplete. There was a target population of approximately 1200 students, however the true number of students viewing the survey link is not known, therefore an exact response rate cannot be calculated.

Demographics

NUIG returned the most responses, (Table  1 (demographics), N  = 77). There was a higher proportion of female to male participants (75.3% and 24.7%, respectively). 57 participants self-identified as “ethnic majority” (74%), 19 self-identified as “ethnic minority”, (24.7%), and one did not disclose their self-identified ethnicity (1.3%).

Preparedness

Participants were asked to evaluate their perceived level of preparedness to care for patients in the contexts presented in Table  2 (Preparedness). 80.5% of participants felt prepared to care for patients in general. 50.7% felt prepared to care for patients from ethnic minorities, and 46.8% felt prepared to care for Irish Travellers specifically. Participants felt unprepared to care for new migrant patients (62.4%), patients with limited English proficiency (57.2%), and patients whose religious beliefs may affect clinical care (57.2%). There were statistically significant differences when comparing ethnicity groups. Ethnic minority participants felt more prepared to care for patients from racial/ethnic minority backgrounds (68.42% vs 43.86%, p  <  0.05 ), patients with limited English proficiency (26.32% vs 22.81%, p  <  0.05 ), and new migrant patients (26.32% vs 17.54%, p  <  0.05 ) when compared to those who did not identify this way. There were no statistically significant differences between gender groups.

Participants were *similarly prepared* to care for other minoritised patient communities, including those who identify as LGBTQIA + (54.6%) and those with disabilities (48.1%), as compared to patients from minority ethnic backgrounds (50.7%).

Participants were asked to evaluate their perceived level of skill in relation to the contexts presented in Table  3 (Skill). A high proportion of participants reported being skilled in adapting communication styles to fit a patient’s needs (80.5%) and building rapport with patients from ethnic backgrounds different to their own (76.6%). Participants reported a higher level of skill in identifying a patient’s understanding of spoken English (64.9%) compared to written English (42.9%). Participants reported being unskilled in working effectively with a medical interpreter (45.5%) and identifying religious beliefs and cultural customs that may affect clinical care (44.2%). Ethnic minority participants reported greater skill in identifying how well a patient understands verbal English than their ethnic majority counterparts (78.95% vs 59.65%, p  <  0.05 ). There were no statistically significant differences observed between gender groups.

Training and education

Participants were asked to evaluate how their educational experiences have prepared them to care for ethnic minority patients (Fig.  1 ). Participants identified experiences prior to, or outside of, the formal medical curriculum as the most useful in preparing them (36.8% “strongly agree”, 42.1% “somewhat agree”), followed by clinical electives (13.3% “strongly agree”, 40% “somewhat agree”) and formal clinical years (10.4% “strongly agree”, 41.6% “somewhat agree”). The pre-clinical education period (usually the first half of medical school training) was where a minority of students surveyed gained educational experience relevant to this topic, (6.5% “strongly agree”, 9.1% “somewhat agree”).

Training and Education: Experience. Participants were asked to self-evaluate the usefulness of the educational experiences presented above in preparing them to care for ethnic minority patients using a 5-point Likert scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree. % N  = percentage frequency of number of total participants, ( N  = 77)

Participants were asked to identify whether they had been exposed to various aspects of cross-cultural training whilst in their medical school (Fig.  2 ). Participants agreed they had practical experience caring for diverse patient populations during this time (16.9% “strongly agree”, 36.4% “somewhat agree”). A minority of participants felt they had not encountered diverse patient populations (22.1% “somewhat disagree”, 14.3% “strongly disagree”). Few agreed they had undergone cross-cultural training (9.1% “strongly agree”, 11.7% “somewhat agree”). A small majority agreed they had encountered positive attitudes to cross-cultural care amongst senior clinicians on placement, (16.9% “strongly agree”, 39% “somewhat agree”). A similar proportion encountered negative or dismissive attitudes amongst senior clinicians, (9.1% “strongly agree”, 33.8% “somewhat agree”). A majority of participants reported encountering positive attitudes towards cross-cultural care amongst their student peers (33.8% “strongly agree”, 32.5% “somewhat agree”). There were no statistically significant differences between gender or ethnic groups.

Training and Education: Exposure. Participants were asked to self-evaluate whether they had been exposed to the scenarios presented above using a 5-point Likert scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree. % N  = percentage frequency of number of total participants, ( N  = 77)

Participants were asked to evaluate how they felt their medical school had incorporated and prioritised the teaching of cross-cultural care. Many disagreed that their respective schools had incorporated cross-cultural issues into teaching (Fig.  3 A) (36.4% “somewhat disagree”, 23.4% “strongly disagree”). Similarly, they disagreed that their medical school had made the care of ethnic minority patients a priority for medical education (Fig.  3 B) (36.4% “somewhat disagree”, 40.3% “strongly disagree”).

Student Perceptions on Current Cross-Cultural Training in Medical School. Participant perceptions were assessed using a 5-point Likert scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree. A Participants were asked whether their medical school had incorporated cross-cultural issues into teaching and clinical care. Strongly disagree (23.4%), somewhat disagree (36.4%), neither agree nor disagree (10.4%), somewhat agree (22.1%), strongly agree (7.8%). B Participants were asked whether they felt their medical school makes learning about the care of ethnic minority patients a priority. Strongly disagree (40.3%), somewhat disagree (36.4%), neither agree nor disagree (7.8%), somewhat agree (9.1%), strongly agree (6.5%). % N  = percentage frequency of total participants, where N  = 77. No statistically significant differences were identified between ethnic groups or gender groups

Participant attitudes towards cross-cultural care were assessed. The majority of participants agreed that it is important to have clinical experience with diverse patient populations (Fig.  4 A) (93.5%). Furthermore, 83.2% of participants agreed that students should be assessed for their skills in cultural competence (Fig.  4 B).

Participant attitudes to cross-cultural care were assessed using a 5-point Likert scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree. A Participants were asked whether they felt it is important for medical students to have clinical experiences with a diverse mix of ethnic minority patients. “Strongly disagree” (0%), “somewhat disagree” (1.3%), “neither agree nor disagree” (5.2%), “somewhat agree” (9.1%), “strongly agree” (84.4%). B Participants were asked whether during medical school, students should be assessed for skills in cultural competence. “Strongly disagree” (5.2%), “somewhat disagree” (9.1%), “neither agree nor disagree” (2.6%), “somewhat agree” (37.75%), “strongly agree” (45.5%). Total number participants, ( N  = 77)

Finally, participants were invited to share ideas of how cross-cultural care may be further incorporated into their learning. Fourteen respondents put forward their thoughts on ways to deliver effective cross-cultural care within their curriculum. These may be considered under three broader categories—the method of delivery, the resources used, and the content delivered. Respondents felt methods of delivery should include specified lectures and/or modules on cross-cultural care, clinical sessions with patients from diverse backgrounds, and opportunities for involvement in community initiatives delivering care to minority populations. Respondents highlighted the need for learning resources that are inclusive of diverse patient populations. Finally, respondents highlighted a need for specific training in key content areas, including unconscious bias and working with medical interpreters.

This is one of the first studies in a European context to evaluate medical students’ preparedness to care for diverse patient populations using a validated survey tool and identifies areas of need to equip students to provide high-quality cross-cultural care. Previous studies have provided limited insight into the medical student perspective on aspects of cross-cultural training, usually as part of wider studies focusing on the perceptions of clinicians or schools delivering training [ 9 , 12 ].

The self-reported preparedness points to a specific lack of experience engaging with patients from diverse backgrounds. With a majority of respondents reporting proficiency in cross-cultural skills assessed in this survey, this may reflect an under-confidence in self-reported preparedness of Irish medical students. The difference in preparedness between self-identified ethnic groups, whereby ethnic minority students reported greater preparedness in cross-cultural care, may be due to a shared experience of being minoritised in society and finding a commonality between being from cultures outside of the ethnic majority. Other studies have found similar results, with participants that identify as ethnic minority or even sexual minority reporting greater preparedness to care for patients from different cultural backgrounds and different sexual orientations [ 8 , 18 ]. It may suggest that these experiences may be collected, shared, and taught in cross-cultural education, so that future clinicians are able to better understand their diverse patients and ultimately deliver better care.

Preparedness to care for LGBTQIA + patients and patients with disabilities were included in the survey, as these groups also often face barriers to care. While few survey respondents felt prepared to care for these communities, the figures were similar to those collected in the USA and Taiwan [ 6 , 7 ]. This suggests an area to improve upon when cultivating student preparedness to care for other diverse populations, populations that are often neglected or discriminated against in the health care setting despite a potentially shared culture or ethnicity [ 18 ].

The Skills section highlighted specific areas of student concern, which can direct the development of future medical curricula on cross-cultural training. Participants in this study identified areas where they felt least skilled in delivering cross-cultural care, including identifying religious or cultural beliefs affecting clinical care and working effectively with a medical interpreter. They highlighted experiences outside the formal medical curriculum as most preparatory in building their cross-cultural competence. Research indicates that the informal or “hidden” curriculum, where students encounter a variety of patient populations and learn through direct observation, immersion, and interaction with these diverse groups, plays a crucial role in developing their cultural competence. This unintentional learning process is essential in enhancing their ability to effectively work across different cultural contexts [ 19 ]. This suggests that schools should offer and encourage elective opportunities or volunteering placements within diverse communities, as they are a rich source of cross-cultural education. Unfortunately, medical schools in Ireland are often limited by geographical location and availability of clinical placements. However, this may be an area schools can improve upon as the Irish population continues to diversify rapidly.

Despite varying cross-cultural training programs implemented in Irish medical schools, many participants in this survey felt they had not received training in cross-cultural care during their time in medical school, nor was it felt to be a priority in their curriculum. Further reinforcement of these programmes should be implemented across all years of medical school, via both theoretical and practical means. As per participant suggestions put forth in this survey, lectures, small group sessions, involvement in local community programmes, and dedicated cross-cultural clinical sessions could be implemented to enhance cultural competency. A cultural humility approach has been shown to be beneficial, which incorporates self-reflection in cross-cultural training [ 12 ]. A scoping review by Brottman et al . [ 19 ], revealed eleven cross-cultural educational methods to cultivate cultural competence, whilst Liu et al . [ 20 ], demonstrated the ways in which the hidden curriculum can influence cross-cultural competence. From these studies, multiple methods of cultivating cross-cultural competence can be utilised, and there is no method has been proven superior to another [ 19 ].

The majority of participants agreed that they should be assessed for skills in cultural competence during medical school training. Schools may look to assess this in Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE) stations. There have been previous calls for greater use of objective measures of assessment of cultural competence in the literature to date [ 6 , 8 , 11 ]. A recent review by Deliz. et al. [ 21 ] found that the most commonly adopted assessment modality of cross-cultural care training in medical schools were pre- and post-training self-assessment surveys, but other forms of assessment included objective measures, namely knowledge-based tests and standardised patient encounters. It is unknown whether the medical schools listed in our study have implemented objective assessments for cultural competence among their student population.

The Attitudes section suggests that survey participants have encountered negative or dismissive attitudes towards cross-cultural care in clinical settings. This follows findings from UK studies, which revealed that ethnic minority students specifically felt isolated and subject to stereotyping by clinicians whilst on placement [ 12 , 22 ]. This suggests that clinical staff should also be exposed to cross-cultural training as role models for future health care professionals [ 19 ]. Fortunately, positive attitudes greatly outweighed negative attitudes amongst the participants’ own peer groups.

One limitation of this study was the low number of responses received, which may have been impacted by our method of recruitment and timing of our data collection. Our data were collected through indirect social media channels, therefore the number of medical students that had the potential to interact with our survey was unknown. There was a low response rate from some institutions compared to others, namely TCD, RCSI, and UCC, again likely due to method of recruitment, thus the data cannot be taken to represent all undergraduate and graduate medicine courses in the ROI. The data collection took place in the latter half of the final year, a time when student anxiety regarding final exams is high. This may have impacted the rate of participation observed in our study. While there is no public data available regarding the ethnic makeup of the medical student population in Ireland, our survey received responses representing self-identified majority and self-identified minority student perspectives. Though this may not reflect the national average, this response ratio ensured representation from both cohorts. The interpretation of data inferred from ethnicity differences cannot be overstated due to the low total number of responses. Also, it should be noted that this study asked students to self-identify as ethnic minority or majority, which may inherently pose difficulty for some.

Students engaging in a survey on cross-cultural care are likely interested in this area of medical education, which may influence the responses. This survey asked students to self-report their feelings of preparedness and skill and may not be a true reflection of their abilities. Students may feel unprepared at this stage of their career due to “imposter syndrome” or anxiety about entering the workforce, which may create a negative self-perception bias [ 23 ]. There is limited data published regarding how the schools represented in this survey implement their training in cross-cultural care. Finally, this survey tool relies on participant recall, introducing potential for recall bias as observed in similar studies [ 7 ]. Suggestions for further research include repeating this survey with alternative recruitment methods to boost response rates and collect data representative of all ROI medical institutions, assessing students’ preparedness for diverse patient populations during different stages of their medical education. The preparedness of medical students to care for patients with disabilities and/or patients from LGBTQIA + communities should be further explored. Finally, it would be advisable to assess non-hospital consultant doctors’ (NCHDs) preparedness to care for diverse patient populations in Ireland.

This was the first study assessing the perceptions of final-year medical students across Irish universities in their preparedness, skill, and attitudes towards cross-cultural care. This survey has helped to clarify the student perspective on current cross-cultural training employed by medical schools, with students reporting an unpreparedness to care for diverse patient cohorts. It highlights areas in which students do not feel adequately trained to deliver cross-cultural care. Most students have a positive perception of cross-cultural competence and feel it is important to incorporate cross-cultural competence into their education to ensure the delivery of equitable health care to diverse patient cohorts. Students expressed how they hoped to see more cross-cultural competency training, including further lectures, modules, and clinical sessions added to their curriculum. This survey has highlighted areas of medical education that students desire further training in to develop their skills in cross-cultural competence.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets generated and analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to the potential for individual privacy to be compromised but are available from the corresponding authors on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

Cross-Cultural Care Survey

Health Service Executive

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual + 

Non-Consultant Hospital Doctor

National University of Ireland, Galway

Observed Structured Clinical Exam

Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Trinity College Dublin

University College Cork

University College Dublin

United Kingdom

University of Limerick

United States of America

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Alisha Jaffer for her contribution to the conception and early development of this project, and Seoidín McKittrick for her time and expertise in analysing our pilot study dataset. Finally, the authors would like to thank the final-year medical students in NUIG, RCSI, TCD, UCC, UCD, and UL who shared the survey with their peers, and all the participants who completed the survey.

No funding was required for this study.

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Lesley O’Brien, Nicola Wassall, Danielle Cadoret, Aleksandra Petrović, Patrick O’Donnell & Siobhán Neville

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All authors contributed to the conceptualisation and design of the study. L’OB, NW, DC, and AP contributed to participant recruitment and data collection. LO’B performed statistical analysis of the results. PO’D and SN contributed to participant recruitment, and supervision of the study. LO’B and NW wrote a draft paper, which has been reviewed and revised critically by all authors. All authors approved the final version to be published and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

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LO’B is an NCHD Intern at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin. NW is a Foundation Doctor FY1 at North Devon District Hospital. DC is a General Surgery Prelim/Interventional Radiology PGY1 at Corewell Health, Michigan State University. AP is a final year medical student at the School of Medicine, University of Limerick. PO’D is a General Practitioner and Associate Professor of General Practice at the School of Medicine, University of Limerick. SN is a Consultant General Paediatrician at University Hospital Limerick, and Associate Professor of Paediatrics at the School of Medicine, University of Limerick.

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Correspondence to Lesley O’Brien .

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Informed consent was obtained from all students prior to their participation in the study once they had read and agreed to the terms of the ethical consent form. All methods were performed in accordance with the regulations and guidelines provided by the University of Limerick Faculty of Education and Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee. Approval to conduct this study was also granted by the University of Limerick Faculty of Education and Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee. Data collected included identifiers such as participant’s medical school, gender identity, and whether a participant identified as ethnic minority. Data was analysed only to investigate potential gender differences or ethnic identity differences, without cross matching two identifiers to ensure participants identities remained anonymous. Data collected is retained for 7 years in a password protected file in accordance with Irish and European Data Protection Law.

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O’Brien, L., Wassall, N., Cadoret, D. et al. Perceptions of and preparedness for cross-cultural care: a survey of final-year medical students in Ireland. BMC Med Educ 24 , 472 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-024-05392-4

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Received : 20 August 2023

Accepted : 04 April 2024

Published : 29 April 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-024-05392-4

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• Cross-cultural care
• Cultural competency
• Medical education

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