Going the extra mile
* My first write up as an HR Professional for a University's Magazine
Next
time you visit a public transport terminus, look around. Invariably there will
be one rundown, dusty public telephone booth. It was in the not so distant past
that telephone booths were a thriving source of employment for many people. The
emergence of the cellular phones forced these booths to shut down in a time
period of just under two years. All those people had to seek an alternate
source of employment. If the need to have an open mind towards new challenges
is prevalent in those strata of employment, the importance of it in the higher
echelons of corporate scenario is never over emphasized.
In this
day and age of intense competition, having a degree can take you only as far. Gone
are the days where having a degree ensured a job. Today, a degree is just a
qualifier, not a differentiator.
Today’s students are
expected to explore various horizons of learning. The objective of learning
shouldn’t be confined to the academic curriculum alone. A student should extend
his/her mind map to include the ever evolving demands of macro environment too.
They should traverse the extra mile. Only then shall one become ‘employable’ in
today’s world.
The
term employability in its literal sense describes those competencies which
equips a person to secure a job with an organization. But it doesn’t stop
there. In a broader sense, it is about constantly evolving and updating oneself.
It is about being competitive and remaining in the race. The core of it lies in
learnability which is one of the key skills any organization looks for in an
employee. Learnability depicts the urge to keep oneself informed and move
ahead.
Let
us look at the ways to attain Employability. Keeping oneself abreast with the
happenings in the macro environment can be the flag off for the long looping
lap ahead. Being aware of the ongoing events in one’s immediate social environment
enables a person to obtain a holistic perspective. This translates to a clear understanding
of where to focus one’s energy on and in which direction should ones dedicated
efforts be expended.
Being
employable requires prioritising. One needs to understand what skills are
sought after in the current situation. Again, it is not a stagnant process. The
requirements keep on evolving and changing. A person seeking employment should
acquire skills as per the situation demands.
Equipping
oneself with employability also means inculcating the ability to unlearn. To
deconstruct the older methodologies either by incorporating newer ones or by
adopting a newer process altogether.
To
keep up with the changing times and its demands, it is important to look and
think ahead. The best way to do this is to push oneself in to attaining better
than what is expected. Always take up tougher assignments which push one out of
the comfort zone. That is the closest which one can reach to tomorrow’s needs.
In
a nutshell, making oneself employable is to not resist change and allow oneself
to get moulded by the forces of evolution – be it of technology, skills or life
at large.
Arun Babu
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