Introduction
Observations
Individuals need to identify their skills because it is important in facilitating career change, determining suitable careers, assisting in articulating their skills, and offering specific examples about when they are demonstrated. It also enables the identification of strong areas and other areas that require improvement on the part of the individual.
Career planning enables one to land job opportunities that accurately fit his career. For this to be achieved, individuals need to define their acceptable work conditions and knowledge of the future with respect to work. Job opportunities are either advertised or non-advertised. Potential employees need to create their own profiles to make it easy for employers to track them.
Feelings
Employability skills should not be limited to only the eight aspects that have been identified by the Australian government. Other skills such as being able to handle stress and lifelong learning are also important in creating an all-around worker.
Ideas
Employers look for workers who can be able to double up in their roles to enhance their overall performance. Individuals must take initiative to ensure they build other additional skills that may not necessarily be acquired from the classroom.
Events
The world is transforming at a fast pace, mainly due to technological innovation and growth. Workers need to keep pace with such developments to maintain their relevance in the job market
Self-Awareness
I have strong interpersonal skills, which I use to find contacts from friends concerning job opportunities. I also network a lot with people I meet to see to it that I acquire the opportunity to work in a career of my choice.
Insights and Understanding
Career plans need to be designed in a flexible way to be able to accommodate future changes. Workers need to take initiative, while also ensuring that they maintain close cooperation with career mentors.
Resume writing, Cover letter writing, Interview Skills
Observations
A resume is a marketing tool that advertises an individual to potential employers. Employers analyze and evaluate the resume with a view of determining whether an individual’s skills match the job offer. The document must be drawn out with accuracy and capture an honest reflection of a person’s skills and qualifications.
Cover letters are equally important during job application exercises as they communicate your intentions to the employer. Cover letters must be compelling because they determine whether the receiver will proceed to check on your resume. Thus, they must be relevant, personal, concise, and purposeful.
Feelings
Although resumes and cover letters are meant to assist employers to determine the effectiveness of a potential employee, there is a need for interviewers to try as much as possible not to be subjective and, instead, just stick to objectivity. This will ensure that the workers who are eventually selected have the right skills and qualifications.
Ideas
Candidates need to sharpen their communication skills always to ensure they increase their chances of excelling during interviews. It is an individual’s ability to express oneself that will determine his qualification for a job opportunity. Writing skills must also be excellent in order to convey the right information and message on the resume and cover letter.
Events
Attending discussion debates and other forums could sharpen one’s analytical, as well as communication skills. Such skills would come out in handy during job interviews.
Self-Awareness
Though I am well informed about my area of expertise, I am not well versed with general knowledge aspects and issues. This area could also be of importance to the employer, and it is important that I acquaint myself with other developments in the general area.
Insights and Understandings
While it may not be possible to be highly accurate on the resume, the application letter, and during the interview session, it is important to consider the main aspects that require attention to enhance the chances of excelling.
Internships
Observations
Internships are a critical stage in one’s career because it bridges the gap between theoretical work in class with actual practice or execution of the knowledge ideas. Preparations for internships include writing letters to organizations seeking to secure the chance to practice your skills. Internships must be taken with great seriousness because they may prove to be one’s direct link to securing employment. Individuals must identify, in their request, the need to develop their acquired skills and the readiness to improve their hands-on experience.
Feelings
Employers may consider an individual’s performance and impression during internship sessions as a reason to employ. Thus, it is good to show great knowledge, hard work, diligence, and high discipline to increase the chances of securing direct employment.
Ideas
Cooperation with other workers at the firm could enhance performance to greater heights during internship programs. Individuals on internship must also liaise closely with their supervisors to determine what is expected of them clearly. This is a learning process and, therefore, instructions must be followed to the letter in order to enhance one’s performance ability.
Events
Internships involve directly applying the tools of the trade in the way they are supposed to be used. The student or individual must acquaint himself with the use of such tools of the trade before commencing the internship program. Security and safety measures must also be fully adhered to in order to avoid chances of accidents at the place of work.
Self-Awareness
Some internships may come with no salaries or remuneration. This may prompt candidates to perform dismally because they are bound to lose nothing. Candidates for internship programs must strive to perform to their best, regardless of the availability of salaries.
Insights and Understandings
Individuals on internship programs are sometimes looked at as a threat by those already in employment. Such feelings could lead to sabotage in order to portray the candidate as incompetent. It is important to take note of such developments and avoid such workers in order to remain focused.
Learning Project and Contract Plan
Observation
Learning contracts help both employers and employees to determine their scopes of role performance at the workplace. Project plans establish objectives to be accomplished by workers and thus are also important for evaluation purposes. These mechanisms are important for the worker because the internship should mainly dwell on the areas where he has the expertise to enhance growth. Lack of these control mechanisms may result in the mixing of ideas and skills, which may in turn affect performance.
Feelings
It is important for a worker to go through the learning project and contract plan before appending his signature. This would avert a scenario where a worker signs a document that he may not be able to fulfill its demands in the long run.
Ideas
Where possible, the worker can offer to be part of the authority or team that draws up the learning project and contract plan. Employers may not be fully aware of the exact areas of training that a worker has covered at college. Training supervisors at the college may also be consulted to offer assistance in this area.
Events
Once the objectives have been identified and agreed upon, the worker must study the plan carefully and determine how fast it could be executed. This may involve dividing it up into sections with closely related tasks and roles. Doing this will ensure efficiency in execution, as well as consider quality in general.
Self-Awareness
Workers know exactly the different areas where they enjoy greater strength and those where they face challenges. An analysis of the learning project and control plan should determine such areas and identify alternatives through which the intended targets will be achieved.
Insights and Understandings
Contracts are binding agreements and parties must always work toward achieving the targets. Workers must, therefore, ensure their performance is in total adherence to the signed agreements.
The Work Environment
Observations
All organizations exist with a purpose or target that they seek to achieve. Such targets and objectives are often organized into vision and mission statements. Value statements are also identified to capture the details on how the mission and vision of the company will be achieved as arranged. The general staff in an organization is often controlled through code of conduct statements and policy, which individuals sign and swear to adhere to prior to their employment at the firm. Organizational structures are used to depict the hierarchy, including the hierarchy of communication and issuing of orders.
Feelings
Organizational missions and visions offer the perfect mechanism for ensuring the targeted objectives are attained. However, the global environment is highly dynamic and aspects that lie beyond the control of an organization could affect its targets. It is, therefore, important that such missions and visions are drawn out while considering the highly dynamic nature of the global environment.
Ideas
Work environments must support greater cooperation and association between employees. This enhances initiative, which in turn helps in the achievement of organizational targets and objectives with greater efficiency.
Events
The activities of the workers’ union bodies should be all-inclusive for the workers and have little interference from the management. The management must create an environment that is suitable, which offers individuals the opportunity to give their contributions without fear of victimization.
Self-Awareness
Individual workers must begin with self-respect in order to attract respect from their colleagues. Close relations between individuals enhance a great working environment.
Insights and Understandings
Organizations that directly relate to the outside world must create environments that enable the staff to convey a positive attitude towards their market. Workers who do not approve of their work environment will tend to mishandle consumers and portray negative images about their firm.
Professional conduct and Etiquette
Observations
Standards that control the conduct of professionals when executing their roles help in achieving uniform performance. Organizations must promote this by ensuring their members enroll as members of the professional bodies. Etiquette seeks to link the professional world with the social world. Thus, professionals must consider the social good when executing their roles within the accepted standards. Organizations can achieve this by determining acceptable practices that its members are supposed to observe when on duty and when leading their private lives.
Feelings
Although it is difficult to satisfy every individual in the organization, it is important to consider their feelings and suggestions concerning conduct and etiquette. Different individuals coming from different social or religious backgrounds may feel offended by certain aspects that are considered as part of professional conduct and etiquette. Where the majority supports the conduct, it will be adhered to easily without any resistance or objection.
Ideas
Firms should consider conducts and etiquette that directly affect performance and give them a priority. The firm can also invest in training such etiquette and conducts to enable their workers to learn them and have a greater understanding of how to practice them.
Events
Periodic fetes need to be organized where workers who show thoroughness in their adherence to set out conducts and etiquette can be recognized. This will influence all the workers into working hard towards ensuring that they emerge the best in this aspect.
Self-Awareness
Observing the set etiquette and standards should appear as though it is being forced on workers. Instead, the firm should struggle to cultivate it within its culture such that workers will find the initiative and see the importance of working towards it.
Insights and Understandings
Stronger standards and etiquette are linked directly with better performance. Organizations, thus, must ensure they give this area total attention to influence positive performance.
Managing Relationships at Work
Observations
Individual character and behavior often determine the nature of the relationship that a worker can have at the workplace. Since every human being needs to belong to a group, it is important that workers handle themselves with decorum to influence and attract good relations with their colleagues. Managers must lead by a good example in observing ethics in the way they carry themselves. This may, however, seem a bit challenging because they may not have a supervisor who is directly overseeing their actions and activities.
Feelings
Individuals must develop a very strong character to be able to build strong relationships at their workplaces. This goes beyond the organization’s rules and etiquette, and it must be its own initiative. Leaders and managers are the best examples that can influence employees in an organization to manage their relationships well.
Ideas
Once workers are recruited into an organization, they should be accorded responsibilities and accountability on a piecemeal basis to enable them to build the right practice over time. Their performances should be closely monitored and evaluated in order to provide them with feedback information that enhances ethics.
Events
Good ethics and relationships can be enhanced at the workplace by establishing appropriate mechanisms that strengthen the practice. Conflict resolution mechanisms, for instance, need to be spelled out clearly to give workers the rightful encouragement.
Self-Awareness
Good relations can be achieved if workers self-evaluate themselves and appreciate the presence and performance of others. Aspects of power, for instance, may result in individuals granted with such responsibilities misusing it at the expense of their colleagues.
Insights and Understandings
Maintaining good relations at the workplace can only be actualized where the environment also promotes the practice. There needs to be openness, honesty, truth, and sincerity in order to have great relationships within the organization.
Organizational Skills
Observations
Great performance and achievement of targeted results do not come without proper organization. Organizational skills are critical for planning purposes, which in turn result in high efficiency. It is important to have a personal organization before an individual enters an organization for employment. Achieving the objectives of the organization will be easier for individuals who are organized than those who are not. Personal organizational skills include the ability to manage time, the ability to prioritize mixed objectives, as well as manage stress effectively.
Feelings
Organizational skills can be acquired through attending class and acquiring related skills. However, greater organizational skills can best be developed by an individual through continuous practice of what is learned in class. Thus, individuals must work hard toward improving their own organizational skills instead of expecting other external forces to do it.
Ideas
The nature of work being done may inhibit proper organization on the part of the workers. The organization must offer appropriate support and control to ensure that workers are able to organize themselves well and execute their roles with little difficulty.
Events
Breaks from routine jobs are important in ensuring that workers get to resuscitate their energies. Stress is one of the major inhibitors of organizational skills, and workers must be able to address such stress levels through important breaks from their jobs.
Insights and Understandings
Apart from the job environment and the roles that a worker is expected to fulfill, there other unrelated aspects that inhibit the organizational performance of workers. Such aspects, including family relations, use of drugs, and other private life issues may be critical in limiting one’s ability to be organized. Employers must ensure that, apart from the job conditions, no other negative conditions affect the performance of their employees.
Communication Skills
Observations
Organizations represent a kind of society that comprises of different individuals from varying backgrounds. Communication plays a key role in holding together such organizations. Thus, there is a need for members of any organization to master appropriate skills in communication, both spoken and written. Apart from evoking understanding, communication also imparts feelings between people or groups.
Feelings
It is important for individuals to work out the improvement of their communication skills. Knowledge of communication theories will particularly be critical in enhancing understanding and knowledge of communication skills. The overall performance of an organization is directly linked to the quality of its internal communication. Thus, it is important that emphasis is put on improving the quality of communication skills.
Ideas
Workers need to be given varying responsibilities at their place of work that involve communicating with their colleagues, as well as superiors. This directly puts into practice one’s communication skills and offers the opportunity for improvement. Communication in all directions should also be encouraged, where workers can give their ideas and suggestions to the top management while managers also give their directives and instructions to the subordinates.
Events
Communication virtually takes place within the organization at all times. Organizational meetings often are used as the best opportunities to convey messages and ideas between members.
Self-Awareness
An individual’s own personal issues may thwart communication skills, thereby resulting in poor statements or listening. It is important that individuals work toward addressing their own personal aspects or issues that directly affect their communication skills.
Insights and Understandings
Communication is a two-way process, which involves the sender and the receiver. While the greater emphasis is given to the sender, it is important that recipients of information learn important skills that enhance understanding, including being attentive, raising questions where they do not understand, and respecting others’ opinions.
Business Writing
Observations
Standard written communication skills and practices have been identified as appropriate in ensuring quality business writing. One main feature of business writing is precision and formality. This is important because often business writing entails reference to facts and figures, which need to be accurately quoted to avoid distortion of meaning. Grammar and punctuation are also important because misplaced words could easily provide different meanings. The advent of technology, particularly information technology, however, has helped a great deal in enabling individuals to improve on their written business communiqué.
Feelings
Information technology has introduced newer avenues and channels through which business writings can be prepared and conveyed. These avenues, such as the use of emails, should be adopted by firms for purposes of their business communication.
Ideas
Since business writings require greater accuracy and efficiency, the practice should, to a greater extent, be undertaken through the use of computers. Workers need to have knowledge of how to use basic office software to enhance their capabilities of preparing high quality and error-free documents.
Events
Business writing is used during various occasions, including when communicating annual performances to stakeholders such as the shareholders and the government.
Self-Awareness
Although firms use business writing to communicate with other associates, these documents are prepared by individuals. The personal view of a worker can easily be infiltrated in such communications, thus ending up distorting the final message intended to be conveyed.
Insights and Understandings
The numerous forms of business writings remain critical to the success of business entities and their related performances. It is important that workers understand how to prepare such documents because they also enhance internal communication between departments.