PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AND EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS
It is important that I start this article by stressing the fact that "" YOUR PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT IS YOUR PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY "" . This means that you cannot blame anyone for your failure in life, not your parent, lecturers, friends, government etc. These institutions can never be held responsible for your failure in life. So you need to take it more seriously to work on your every moment person so as to be better than you're in the previous moment. It doesn't matter your background or past mistakes, you can still rise and shake your world with exploits if you make your personal development a focus. I will go more indept into the discussion by explaining some terms.
Personal development is a lifelong process. It is a way for people to assess their skills and qualities, consider their aims in life and set goals in order to realise and maximise their potential. This article will help you to identify the skills you need to set life goals which can enhance your employability prospects, raise your confidence, and lead to a more fulfilling, higher quality life. Plan to make relevant, positive and effective life choices and decisions for your future to enable personal empowerment and development.
Employability is a factor of education, training, work enabling environment, timing between the acquisition of knowledge, skills, abilities and transferring these to application on work. This is the perception of a potential employee of his possibilities if getting equal or better employment and the perception that he would be able to perform on the job. Employability is a combination of student skill, subject understanding, personal qualities, critical thinking and reflective abilities.
Employability Skills are those skills that potential and existing employees need to have a secure initial employment (potential employees) to continually deliver on their job duties, maintain the job by continually developing themselves. These competencies are dynamic and changes overtime. The employability skills required at the port of entry for fresh graduates would change overtime as he progresses in his/her career ladder and saddled with higher and complex job duties.
In collaboration with British industry, Warwick University defined employability/transferable skills as a set of attributes, skills and knowledge that all labour market participants should possess to ensure they have the capability of being effective in the workplace to the benefit of themselves, their employer and their wider economy.
While there will always be job-specific skills that an employer is looking for, most employers will also want you to have some general skills. These general job skills are called "employability skills". Having employability skills can help you get a job. They can also help you stay in a job and work your way to the top. If you score a job interview, chances are you'll be asked questions about your job-specific skills and your employability skills.
Generally speaking, there are eight skills that employers want you to have, no matter what industry you are working in:
Communication
Teamwork
Problem solving
Initiative and enterprise
Planning and organising
Self-management
Learning
Technology
Communication
Depending on the job, communication is about being a good talker or a good writer. It involves being confident about speaking to people (face-to-face or over the phone). It also involves writing well enough to be understood in emails and memos.
~ Examples of ways that you can develop or improve your communication skills include:
*writing assignments and reports as part of your studies
*blogging or using social media well.
*making oral presentations as part of your class work
*working in customer service (face-to-face or on the phone)
*volunteering to host a community radio program.
All these have to do with personal practice and commitment to develop your communication abilities.
Teamwork
Teamwork means being good at working with people - both the people you work with and other people that come into contact with your organisation.
~ Examples of ways that you can develop or improve your teamwork skills include:
=Joining a study group.
=doing group assignments as part of your studies.
=volunteering for a community organisation.
=thinking about how you can work better with other people at your workplace.
=joining a local sporting team.Problem solving
Problem solving is about being able to find solutions when faced with difficulties or setbacks. Even if you can’t think of a solution straight away, you need to have a logical process for figuring things out.
~ Examples of ways you can develop or improve your problem solving skills include:
=doing research assignments as part of your studies
=dealing with complaints at your workplace or from people around you logically.
=doing a study skills course that looks at problem solving
=talking to other people about how they solved the problems they faced.Initiative and enterprise
Initiative and enterprise are about being able to think creatively and to make improvements to the way things are. They're also about looking at the bigger picture and how the way you work fits into that.
~ Examples of ways you can develop or improve your initiative and enterprise skills include:
= approaching organisations and businesses about work placements or internships
= setting up a fundraiser in your community
= making or proposing changes to the way a group you belong to does things.Planning and organising
Planning and organising are about things like working out what is required to get a job done, and then working out when and how you'll do it. They're also about things like developing project timelines and meeting deadlines.
~ Examples of ways you can develop or improve your planning and organising skills include:
=developing a study timetable and sticking to it
=organising some independent travel
=managing your time around work, study and family commitments
=helping to organise a community event
=doing chores regularly around your home.Self-management
Self-management is about getting on with your work without someone having to check up on you every five minutes. You should also be able to stay on top of your own deadlines and be able to delegate tasks to other people to make sure things get done on time.
~ Examples of ways that you can develop or improve your self-management skills include:
= doing a work experience placement or internship
= asking for new responsibilities at work
= developing a study schedule and sticking to it
= joining a volunteer organisation.Learning
Learning is about wanting to understand new things and being able to pick them up quickly. It's also about being able to take on new tasks and to adapt when the way things are done in the workplace change.
~Examples of ways to develop or improve your learning skills include:
= doing a short course or online course
= doing some research into learning skills and learner types
= starting a new hobby
= joining a sporting or volunteer group.Technology
General technology skills that employers want include things like being able to use a computer for word processing and sending email, or knowing how to use a photocopier.
Some more specific technology skills relate to software, like using social media, working with design or video editing software or knowing programming languages. Other technology skills relate to hardware, like knowing how to use POS, a cash register, a photocopier or scanner, a camera or a recording studio.
~ Examples of ways to develop or improve your technology skills include:
= doing a short course or online course
= asking for extra training at work
= finding out what technology is used in the job you want and researching its use
= identifying the technology you're already using in your day-to-day life.
Many Nigerian graduates lack these employability skills and so they remain unemployed. Several people are complaining of lack of job but others are changing from one job to another better one. This should challenge your heart to work consciously and consistently towards developing your employability skills. Take your personal development as a personal responsibility. Don't go on holiday and spend the whole period watching movies and playing games. Get a firm attach yourself there and develop yourself. Get to know more about recent technologies and be familiar with computer and it's functions. It is better to pay now and play later than to play now and pay later. BE DILIGENT, BE DISCIPLINED WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE.
Above all, those that know their God shall be strong and do exploit. So you knowledge of God is irreplaceable in your pursuit in life. Daniel 11:32.
Bro. Wilfred Chukwuebuka.
B.Sc., ACA, ACIPM, AAT, MNIMN, MNIM.
CEO/Lead Consultant.
HAZANA Consulting Firm