I am inclined to think a lot. I don’t worry too much about things but I do a lot of introspection and observation. One of my obsessions in life is understanding why some people are successful and others are not. I think my whole childhood was spent building that obsession as I struggled to become a man at the age of 10 following the demise of my father – my family’s breadwinner at the time. This state of mind influences my passion for helping people develop employability intelligence (EI), what I define as a set of skills that makes it easy for an individual to be economically attractive to others.
I will be sharing a few tips in this article based on my decade long experience as a Career Coach and HR Professional.
Stay Hungry
This is really the starting point. Having a desire to want to succeed in life is key to becoming successful in any pursuit. Hunger drives you to connect with your inner genius, makes you uncomfortable with the status quo, and forces you to pay the price for greatness. Most of the requirements for employability are not necessarily inborn, they are acquired, and the intensity of your hunger will make you to pay the price to acquire those necessities. For example, there are certain basic skills you must have to enhance your degree of employability. Some of such are report writing, proficiency in Microsoft Excel, reading and listening skills and interpersonal relationship skills. Do you find yourself wanting in these skills? How hungry are you? Is it enough to get you to do something about it?
Be The Best
Competition is a critical factor in the market place. Companies compete for market share, revenue, brand equity and general business opportunities. Competition also happens amongst individuals. To remain employable, you must be ahead of the game and to do this, you must become the best! Being good isn’t enough! Strive for mastery from day one and don’t rest until you define the rules of the game and people begin to defer to you in your mastery of expertise.
Build Your Social Capital
People are great influences in our lives- you can’t go far without people. As you begin your career, technical ability will get you through the door but to advance or stay employable, soft things begin to matter a lot more. Your ability to connect with people, strike a conversation, your look, charm and persona become important. People are custodians of opportunities. People can tell you where it is happening, whether it is a job opportunity or training opportunity or networking opportunity. Things flow through people and the more you are good at working with people, managing people and connecting with people, the better for you.
Think Like A Winner
There are two categories of people in the life – those who are victims of their circumstances and those who are winners despite their circumstances. People don’t hire victims, they hire winners. Organizations may donate to victims, they don’t hire them. How do you differentiate a victim from a winner? The former has an entitlement mentality, despises his own possibilities, is angry at the world, and blames others for his situation while the latter sees possibilities, takes responsibility, is positive and upbeat about life, and uses setbacks as a set up for a comeback.
I hope that these tips are useful in helping you to think about the concept of employability. As you think more about these, you probably have less time to worry about something else. It is in thinking that you gain insights.
Tunde-Success Osideko is the Senior Manager, Performance Management with the biggest Telecommunications Network in Africa – MTN Nigeria. He is a regular facilitator and speaker in conferences and trainings across Nigeria. He is passionate about Human Resources and has created several initiatives and platforms to develop, mentor and coach emerging professionals including www.HR4HR.COM.NG.
Read more about him and follow him:
Twitter @tundesuccess
Instagram: @cuteboxme
LinkedIn: Tunde-Success Osideko
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