Go to school, get good grades, get a degree, graduate, get a job. This was the norm in the past. However, with the high rate of graduates and not enough vacancies to go round the rate unemployment keeps increasing all over the world.
Employers expect that job seekers come in with work experience, but the job seeker (especially the fresh graduates) need to be employed to get work experience. Therefore, there is a cycle that becomes unending.
This cycle can only be broken with self improvement. One cannot rely only on formal education if we hope to survive in an ever changing world. There is the need to build oneself even while we go through the process of formal education.
I remember that while I was getting formal education at the university I was also improving on some skills as well. I was teaching and leading. I volunteered to do so many different jobs while I also learned desktop publishing. Another skill that I worked on was my writing skill.
The first paid job I got after I graduated was as a writer for an export magazine. I was the best amongst a pool of fresh graduates in mass communication and journalism, but get this – I was a graduate of zoology. However, I got the job because I was given a topic at the interview to write on and the editor of the magazine and publisher read through it. The pay was crap but the experience was great.
Learning soft skills such as how to communicate, negotiate and network, speak in public, be better at writing, a new foreign language, solving problems, among others can just make the difference between you and the next job seeker. Reading wide and spending time to learn online can be a great help too.
One other thing I have realized that helps a lot is doing something you love, improving on skills you are good at (never mind if these skills seem like it isn’t important). Something as simple as learning about new cultures and way of life is important to someone or a job description.
Formal education is the handout by the society to jump-start your learning process. It is not the be-all or end of the process. Since learning is a life – long process, then you should be ready to put in an effort to learn more to be the unique you.
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