Starting at the bottom ...campus to corporate...

Campus to corporate…at the first step!

#employability #careerplanning #personalvaluesystem #northstar

#campustocorporate

Whether one is hired directly from campus or through one’s own extended search after formal education, the very first day at job can be quite exciting, bewildering, taunting and exhausting in different proportions!

New learning begins...with examinations thrown at us every moment!

The career ahead might look like an unending tall staircase extending into the sky.

The clarity and visibility over an entire career will be very fuzzy, naturally!

While no two careers are alike, it is also wise to learn from others so that we can gain insights that could be relevant to our career...

Listen to this YouTube video - Tim Cook, CEO of Apple Inc., talks about career planning. What we plan at the beginning of career undergoes multiple changes as environment changes, we change and we pivot etc.,

What remain constant are the Guiding Principles of our life ...what Tim calls as the North Star.

There are few guiding principles that I have found useful:

Employability = (Personal Values X Functional skills X People skills) raised to the power (Attitude)

Personal Values define us. These comprise of certain fundamentals of living well - honesty, integrity, commitment to certain principles etc., We would not compromise these values at any circumstances.

While living our values will test our will and endurance, living them truthfully creates satisfaction and lasting happiness in long run.

Here's another gem in the form of YouTube Video. This is Late Professor Clayton Christensen in conversation about his book "How will you measure your life" https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/clayton-christensens-how-will-you-measure-your-life

I strongly recommend to read this book irrespective what stage one's career is.

Functional skills evolve as our careers evolve and we move through varying roles, jobs and companies.

A manufacturing engineer, moving through purchasing, stores and overall supply chain operations gains important skills in manufacturing, inventory planning, inventory management and logistics etc., paving way to a potential career in operations management.

People skills get honed as our accountability keeps increasing. We start with the ability to improve efficiency through time management, and as we start working with teams – formal and informal communication sets the fundamental for interpersonal skills.

Emotional Intelligence – the ability to empathize, listen and yet not to lose objectivity gets the people skills to the next level.

Attitude is a very fuzzy and yet a crystal clear concept – a paradox in itself!

Starting at the bottom of the ladder, the attitude of curiosity, ability to ask the right questions the right way to the right people, and gathering information and data only to glean insights and knowledge and use them immediately to produce better results will go a long way in improving employability over time.

However, attitude can be defined somewhat loosely as

Attitude = (Willingness to learn*willingness to stretch*humility)raised to the power (hard work)

At any stage in career – ability to learn is important o perform consistently; willingness to stretch is important for growth (material, emotional, intellectual and spiritual); humility is about accepting mistakes, thanking those who help us, willingness to help others and accepting others as they are.

Hard work is indispensable in some aspects of work and life at any stage. Contrary to popular belief, smart work is also hard work.

The elements of the attitude are normally embedded in the personal value system.

As we climb the ladder, more to discuss.