The Organised work is going to grow and more professionalism is required to join the Industry today, be it any field of work. Take for example: Madhuri Dikshit after a long phase of silence comes back to ‘filmdom’ and maybe she can kill the career of some new-heroine with her re-polished professionalism . As we have seen, like many other industries, the Hindi cinema or Bollywood has organised itself more in the past 10 years. Even the starts of yesterday who enjoyed mass-appeal just for their smile or body are turning to be more professional … Professionalism the trend that started with Amir Khan is going to live on and grow!
At the same time India has a large pool of people still working in the unorganized sector: look at this article in Hindu- Business Line to look at the numbers and trends. An Interesting question i was asked a few days earlier: “What are the sectors- that are most likely to become more organised soon enough that ‘you may have a join a course on professionalism’ in the short-run of say next 5 years?”
What are the skills needed to join your profession? and what is the knowledge you will need to have?
Read the post to answer the simple question above so that you can grow in your profession… what is the profession you want to enter or which industry you want to work in?
Management, Hospitality Industry or Travel & Tourism, Accountant, BPO, Apparel, IT, consulting are highly organised sectors so talented professionals are required. India although has surplus manpower but at the same time there is an acute shortage of skilled professionals. Professional bodies (like The Institute of Chartered Accounts of India) and National Skill Development Corporation are doing their job but many private institutions like T.r.i.c.k.s are needed to Train masses on basic communication skills.
As we do my job as a professionally certified trainer ; are you getting ready to acquire the ‘skills for the new world’ and join an organised sector?
Any job or profession that has maximum value creation or risk of human life is likely to be organised sooner. How much do you agree with me?
I was surprised when my doorbell rang around midnight couple of nights ago. Good thing was that I was alone, bad thing was that I didn’t have a way to see who is behind the door (we had given up chasing the maintenance guys who were supposed to put an eyepiece on the door). Anyway, I opened the door, to find the guard of our building there.I was very surprised, he never comes up to our house.
He asked me if my TV was on. I said no, and asked him why he was asking. “One of your neighbours complained that there is loud noise coming from somewhere, so I am checking on your house,” he said.
I repeat (for emphasis) : Knowledge is Power; But it is the Skill – that gets things done!
How much you understand the above statement defines how sale-able your resume is and apply ‘the above’ at the time of writing your CV. You demonstrate it more with some real-life examples at the time of face-to-face interview. A Senior Industry professional stated yesterday evening “It’s the Skills that Sell” another comment made by a very senior professional who is known in the industry for his timing the statements right “they call you for the interview as they want to see your confidence”.
Clearly state in your CV you knowledge and skills:
1) the Knowledge you have that is required as per Job Description: this includes market understanding, domains, subjects that you can write an essay on just on the strength of your understanding. Cramming something or remembering some names, terms is Not the kind of Knowledge anyone will pay for.
-Would you (as CEO of T.r.i.c.k.s) pay me Rs. 2 lac/month just because I have read 2000 books. 2) the Skills that you have acquired and are relevant to the job: these include social and professional skills. The things that you ‘can do’. There is very little argument that ‘communication skill’ is the most important of the skills as it is vital but do not make ‘not having enough of any skill’ as your limitation. Just state what you ‘can do’ without much need for preparation:
-I was given to make my public presentation to the clients of SQL Star -right on the day of my joining the Delhi office as an Area Manager for eLearning a new product. – The ink on my ‘business cards’ was still wet when I handed them over very proudly that evening to my delighted audience.
Have a look at the knowledge and skills that come from Learning English- a global language of Business.
Why would anyone learn English and what is the skill gain?
Remember Degrees/Diplomas is not knowledge – they are qualifications (sometimes essential with %age of marks stated) can get your resume to be shortlisted by the HR. If you are sitting in an Interview meeting – your Degree has done what it could do i.e. get you a meeting with the hiring personnel (HR and hiring manager) there can be more depending on the level. I at my level would definitely meet all the CxOs before meeting the business owner. This is not to attach any ego with it but only a business-owner understands the ‘business language’ and sometimes it is more Mathematics than English.
Bio-data is a term that comes from the days of the physical-labor so as a knowledge worker don’t state that term and write the best Curriculum Vite’ or Profile/Resume’ for people with some experience.
Conversation is English is a Sale-able skill.. How many more do you need to do the Job well?
People who say I have zero experience or I am a fresher so I have “no knowledge or skills” to state in my CV. I am afraid to, “the people without any sale-able skills will continue to sit at home OR they should join a practical skill-oriented program that imparts ‘sale-able’ skills”. Govt. of India knows well enough with data to substantiate: when it says that the country needs skilled people. There is actually ‘skill shortage’ not ‘people shortage’. Fortunately for India there is enough Knowledge or gyan people have. While ability to talk in a professional or Business language is still not counted as a skill as that is the bed-rock of any skilled person. How many times have you heard sales-men of traders say ‘main baato ki khaata hun’ (I eat my bread from what I talk). In my view – it the conversations that count the most. All the deals and business happens after conversations and so much ‘on the phone’
Knowledge when gained right must translate to Skills. As a Communication skills trainer I like to work more and more on your skills while we impart all the knowledge of the Language that is needed. In the garb of our Word-Play program we actually give you English for everyday conversations (a skill) and In the ‘Get Selected’ program the focus is on ‘Discussion, Debating and Presentation skills’ plus there is a bonus of some personality development topics like: Grooming, Asking and Answering questions, Handling difficult questions. All these are vital skills for success in any Interview.
One of my students (I believe it was Chandan – a Telecom Engineer) wrote on the ‘Thought of the Day’ white board some good words:
“Life is a Series of Interviews!”
Thanks Savita for writing the Knowledge-Skill quote on the white broad.. really appreciated!
Most Learning happens when we are kids, it does not mean that we stop learning after a certain age. In fact we grow to become aware of what we want to learn and what we don’t want to learn and progress more-or-less systematically on the path in a Step-by-step method. What are the stages of Learning and steps to learn to speak in English as a second language of communication. In this post let us discover the stages of Learning, the ‘can do’ statements as defined by experts and are there any short-cuts. (some teachers of English as a subject may-not agree with the shorter routes, nevertheless they help an adult learner reach the destination faster. They come from my personal experience as a communication skills trainer :-))
4 Stages, 4 Steps and 4 Tips
“Four Stages for Learning Any New Skill” was suggested in early 1970 and it has not only stayed but gained popularity
and acceptance over a period of time, in very simple words they are:
Need to learn a skill –> ‘I don’t know’ but want to learn –> I understand –> I can do it!
For example we were discussing ‘Juggling’ in our class the other day where some people had ‘not heard about it’ (Stage 1), others knew about it but had little information on ‘how to do it’ (stage 2) . Still others may understand what it is and what it takes to learn it (stage 3). An expert juggler is undoubtedly at Stage 4 – He/she can do it with confidence and ease. All of us agree that ‘Learning to speak English is easier than juggling’
While Learning to do conversations in English, most of the time is spent between Stage 3 and Stage 4. The surest route is practice ‘more’ in the presence of speakers who know the language well and have the ability to correct your mistakes. The simple steps as illustrated in the picture are from words to composition of sentences and then to speak them in the context. All that grammar (or rules) does is to help you add the required details so that you can ‘Tell a Story’.
Some short-cuts or Tips that help you save time when you do the required practice are:
Learn one ‘small portion of grammar’ at a time – make it interesting. For example: if you are practicing to speak your likes/dislikes or habits in ‘simple present tense’ stay with it until you are comfortable to speak in public.
Do not shy away from asking questions from the trainer if you are not clear on the basics (wrong practice can waste a lot of your time) Do some practice in the Lab in front of your trainer.
Speak more & more in English to Learn to speak with confidence and ease.
The amount of practice required can be different for different people and depends on your learning style and learning pace. DO NOT compete with others – Learn at your own pace. As a back-ground material you may like to read this article from British Council : How Young children learn.
Stay motivated to do well in the class practice and keep up your inspiration to become a good speaker of English as a language – remember its easier to speak than do juggling 🙂
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