I still remember the time, when I first
laid my hand on my Bachelors’ diploma. I had the youthful optimism and the
voracious drive to contribute to the workforce of the country and most
importantly, make some money to fulfil the basic aspirations that a typical
university graduate may possess. But when I couldn’t find a job for quite a
while, my optimism withered and the drive I had come to acquire also waned
away. The truth was, I had somehow been tricked into believing that a 9 to 5
job awaited me and all I needed to do to claim it for myself, was get a degree.
However, that couldn’t be any further from the truth. Only after a few
failures, a couple of heartbreaks, another couple of retreats and a few leaps,
had I finally found a job I really wanted to do.
Nepal’s education system has some problems and the debate regarding the reform of the education sector has been around for a while now. Therefore, it may not come as a surprise that the education system is not yet adept in instilling the virtues that are deemed desirable in the marketplace. It took me four years of my professional life and an MBA to make sense of Nepal’s job market and things I needed to do to make myself stand out in the market. Following are the five few things that I have come to understand from my own professional experience in Nepal.
People get hired for their skills
Firms
hire people based on their skill sets. So, many times, the grades that you have
worked so hard for, may not always be of aid. Nepal has only few big corporate
firms or multinational companies that accept fresh academic highflyers, train
and place them. Consequently, most of the time, young graduates will have to
begin their career in relatively smaller firms which cannot afford, or do not
bother, to train young recruits. Therefore, working to develop skills on a
personal level is crucial. Also, in companies with small teams, it is
uneconomical to hire separate individuals for different kinds of tasks, so you
are bound to be valuable if you possess a diverse skill set. When I attended
the interview for one of my previous jobs, the interviewer was more concerned
about my ability to type in Nepali and my ability to drive a motorcycle as
those skills would be frequently needed in performing the given job
description. Therefore, even simple skills like proficiency in multiple
languages, good grammar, ability to draft documents, proficiency in certain
computer applications, etc. can be of much significance in early years of
career.
Be Diligent and Proactive
One mistake that people make in their
early career is treating the job as “just a job”, while in fact, the job may
determine the fate of an individual’s career. It is very important to
appreciate and respect the newfound opportunity and remain curious about various
aspects of the firm and the industry. The most fundamental way of showing
diligence is by being punctual and focused in the workplace. Proactivity is
reflected when you start doing more than just following orders. As I recall
from my own personal experiences, the willingness to go an extra mile for the
employer did not just help employees establish a favorable image in front of
the employer but also offered crucial learning opportunities. Some may argue that not every employer may be worthy of such a level of effort
but in reality, employee’s proactivity and diligence at the workplace also
brings about his/her own personal growth.
Work on your Selling Point
It
is important to recognize, develop and utilize one’s own distinct selling
points. A selling point is what sets an employee apart from other people who
have comparable qualifications. They are crucial in determining what the
employee is capable of offering to the employer and therefore, is decisive in
determining the degree of success he shall enjoy in the industry. People may
have some inherent advantages that they may use as selling points, for example,
some people are smarter, while others can work harder and longer, while others
may have the right connections. It is important to recognize what advantage you
hold and use that to outperform others. Additionally, one must also work
towards creating more of such selling points over the course of time. A selling
point may be created by making friends at important places or by undertaking
training or simply by increasing the knowledge of relevant subject matters. For
example, while being recruited by my previous employer, my willingness to stay
in remote areas for a prolonged period of time, acted as a key selling point.
Establish and Strengthen Relationships
All professionals, even the best and the
brightest ones, possess certain gaps in terms of knowledge, experience and
skills. Such gaps are an inescapable part of us, more so, when we are in the
beginning of our professional life. One way to compensate for those gaps is to
strengthen relationships with professionals relevant to the industry we work
in. Relationships with the people relevant to the industry enables one to gain
a bigger picture as well as to learn from other’s experiences and missteps. For
instance, a brief talk with fellow professionals in your circle may prevent you
from having to do much groundwork, thereby saving us time to focus on matters of
higher significance. But reciprocity is crucial for any sustainable
relationship, so it is necessary to maintain relationships with people who, at
times, you might also be able to help. Speaking from my own personal
experience, while working in an under-construction hydropower project, I found
my acquaintances working in the credit department of some commercial banks to
be very useful. While they would enrich my knowledge about investment
scenarios, my knowledge of hydropower projects would help them gain better
knowledge about the technicality of such projects.
Learning is a perpetual process and self-education is
crucial
A
less discussed fact is that university education, unlike professional degrees,
isn’t a preparation for a specific line of work. Therefore, a lot of
self-education is necessary particularly in matters related to the sector which
we want to advance our career in. Also, the job market is changing rapidly, and
updating knowledge and skills based on the market needs is vital to not just progress,
but also to survival in the workplace. Through my personal experience, I have
come to realize that the star performers of any sectors or departments are
those people who spend significant time and energy educating themselves on
matters relevant to their industry. In order to excel at self-education, one
can separate an hour or two per day for learning. Subscribing to the new
portals and keeping up with news specific to the sector is important. There may
be reports from national, regional and international organizations specific to
the sector which are always very valuable. Additionally, involving in
conversation with people having more experience than you can also be another
way to learn. In regards to the increased access of people on the internet in the
latter decades, the lack of content is no more the greatest hurdle in acquiring
knowledge. Only the lack of willingness is.
So,
being mindful of the aforementioned factors may provide an individual with much
needed boost in the early years of their career. But, as the saying goes, an
individual is capable of anything, but not everything. A person may be capable
of embracing all the aforementioned prescriptions to a successful career but
then again, it should be understood that work is only a part of life, and a
focused career is bound to take a toll in some aspects of your life. At the
beginning of the career, a person may see nothing else except the desire to
excel professionally, but even such upright pursuits tend to have a negative
impact on the personal and social life of an individual. Therefore, it is
recommended that the aspirants of successful careers remain prepared to make a
choice since the beginning of their professional life so that it doesn’t
culminate into something more difficult later on.
Worth reading mate
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