Napoleon Dynamite had them.

“You know, like nunchuck skills, bowhunting skills, computer hacking skills,” the title character played by John Heder said in the 2004 hit comedy. “Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills.”

Girls aren’t the only ones looking for people with skills. Businesses need them, and you better make sure you’re prepared.

It seems as if many students miss the chance to work on their job skills while working toward a bachelor’s degree. Students miss a great opportunity to get better at public speaking, typing, professionalism on the phone, sales, presentation and even cooking.

Where can a person improve in all of these areas? Working at any low-paying job. It seems obvious, but many get stuck in these places without using these jobs to prepare for their futures.

Most college students have worked for at least one low paying job, and these part-time jobs are often the bread and butter of the college student looking for a job with flexible hours. You’ve got a class schedule with so many odd class times that a 9 to 5 job just isn’t going to cut it.

So we take on these jobs. They’re often the most mind-numbing and maddening experiences of our days.

We combat the angry woman who swears she ordered her triple, venti, non-fat, no-whip, two-ice cube white mocha decafinated. We must explain to the yuppie couple why the latest new release isn’t available on a Friday night, even after they’ve waited in the super-long line, and they ask you whether it might have been turned in the last two minutes since you checked the incoming movie boxes.

There’s the clothing store shufflers who mess up the T-shirt pile you’ve just folded, the businessman who immediately drops his oatmeal, bran bagel and would like a new one, the high-pitch teeny bopper who thinks it’s OK to talk on her cell phone while at the register and the old couple who can’t understand why the R-rated movie with their beloved Tom Hanks has a few F-bombs.

It’s frustrating. It’s tedious. It’s what pays.

And, you know what, it’s some place you shouldn’t stay for more than four-to-six months.

Don’t get it twisted. There are some very important reasons to stay at a low-paying job. Stay if its nearly impossible to find another job that works around your schedule. Keep it if it gives you the time to read your textbook and do homework while on the job. Don’t move on if the employee discount significantly helps your checking account from seeing red.

But for many of us, our low-paying page jobs eat away at us after not too long. You don’t work as hard. You’re beginning to barely make it in on time. You feel the urge to kill your co-workers. You know, the job has run it’s course.

You have to treat your job like anything that relies on good strategy, good communication and good split-second decision making. Treat working a low-paying job like a playoff game, an “American Idol” tryout or a small incursion in a third world county. Come prepared.

Pinpoint where you are weak and find a job that can help you improve within that area. When you get there, try to focus on that area. Do whatever you can to take on tasks that will help you improve.

Go to work, work hard and then get out. Be as personable as you can while you work at that job. You want to leave that low-paying job on good terms. Once you get your degree, when the prospective employer questions why you jumped around a lot, their calls will return with glowing reviews and you’ll have multiple references.

It’s not beneficial to your education, and status as a constantly learning individual, to stay in the same low-paying job. If you’re content with a small paycheck, jump around from job to job.

Besides skills where you can measure improvement, job movement offers a chance to learn the trade secrets of Starbucks, catch a bunch of movies while at United Artist if you want to go into filmmaking and buy cheaper clothing at American Eagle. The fringe benefits aren’t everything, but they certainly help.

When you’re looking for your first post-graduate job, you don’t want to be the job seeker with limited, underdeveloped skills. “You’re like the only guy at school who has a mustache,” shouldn’t be all you’ve got.

Nate Miller can be reached at [email protected]