The Importance of Versatile Skills in the Job Market

As the number of young professionals increases each year, the pressure increases towards securing stable employment and maintaining existing jobs. The over-saturation of young professionals in markets delivers major benefits to the corporate world but only increases the pressure and burden on the working professional (Twillie, 2014). This makes it important for young professionals to change their vision towards their career so as to improve the opportunities they encounter. Unlike the past when career success was directly influenced by academic qualifications, today a combination of academic qualifications, knowledge, skill, and adaptability are all traits employers are looking for (Rook, 2013). In addition to this developing versatile knowledge skills and sets also allows the professionals to build self-confidence and independence which can also be used to generate income from other sources rather than only wait for employment income.

Recruitment is growing more difficult each year as the number of candidates graduating from college increases and the number of available jobs remains low yet the number of professionals increases (Ball & Ball, 2010). As more professionals graduate from college and university, the hiring criteria adopted by major corporate organizations are also becoming most stringent. This places additional pressure on the young professionals who are expected to deliver more attractive skills and talent so as to secure any vacant job positions. With this pressure, many continue to invest time towards developing practical skills and knowledge in different fields since it delivers an added benefit to the professional’s portfolio (Arthur, 2012). Being a fresher is among the most negative qualities a young professional can be highlighted for but one is only classified as a fresher if they have no practical experience in the field.

One of the most important factors young professionals must to consider is securing internships and virtual employment as well as volunteer opportunities as these help deliver added knowledge and skill. Full attention should be delivered towards maintaining a good reputation and high performance on these opportunities and recommendation letters requested (Allen & Velden, 2011). This can be achieved while candidates are still in college and university but by securing practical and on job experience they would be able to develop their knowledge and understand corporate expectations. This would, in turn, deliver important strengths which can be used by the candidate while attending job interviews which will ultimately make recruitment easier. This is achieved by the individual being able to secure important insight and understanding related to employer expectations and targets as well as maintaining their focus and attention towards consistently working under pressure. It’s important to keep in mind that a manager’s job is to constantly supply work and utilize employee knowledge and skills thus it’s important to be prepared to demonstrate your flexibility towards adopting new roles. This makes you a more valuable asset for any organisation which thus delivers more job security and reduces the organisations human resource costs. This makes it important for they on professional to begin building skills and their adopt ability skills from an early stage so as to ensure they are versatile and capable of handling the pressure placed on them by management while on the role. Improving ones skills should be considered and used as an important tool which can be utilized towards career success thus it’s critical that young professionals develop and master the skills from a young age.

Securing Internships and Volunteering Opportunities

In 95% of the situations, candidates would be approaches by the recruitment officer or human resource officer over the call and informed to attend the interview on a certain day. The organization’s name, address and other important details are usually delivered to the candidate via email or SMS. Rather than sit tight and wait for the interview coming in a day or two, the candidate should focus on research on the organization’s history, industry, and specialization (Mackay, 2010). This is a critical aspect many fresher’s and young professionals fail to do and they attendance views armed with the educational certificates and intuition. Having little knowledge of organization and industries background helps improve one’s interview experience and delivers a better impression to the interviewers thus improving the likeliness of them selecting the individual.

During the interview candidates must remain calm and be able to listen and reason before responding. This is critical since it’s important to understand what you have been asked and any underlying point the interviewer may be looking for. Don’t take too long to reason and make sure the response is clear and firm. Avoid using questionable terms like I think, maybe, I’m not sure as this demonstrates hesitation. Instead, you must maintain a firm position with you responses which contribute towards demonstrating your confidence even if the answer may be wrong (Denhardt, Denhardt, & Aristigueta, 2015).

Last but not least one should always consider having back up planned an alternative to fall back on. In many situations, candidates will fall into depression and anxiety for failing to be selected but this is best handled by having family and financial support and backing (Byers, 2008). Involve family and friending your daily planning and report result so as to secure moral support and guidance on alternative approaches to be considered in the future. There is nothing wrong with being rejected after a job interview but this is something which needs to be discussed rather than kept at heart.

Please find enclosed a copy of my Resume and application for the Quality management position at The Hershey Company Melbourne Branch posted on newspapers on 25 January 2018. I am currently pursuing my quality management program at the Melbourne University which I expect to be completed by June 2018.

My interest towards quality control developed over many years and a recall asking my parents regarding quality control at the tender age of 10 year. Over time my interest has developed in the field allowing me to determine the role of quality control in operation to be my preferred profession of choice.

Researching Employers to Improve Interview Experience

I also have a keen interest towards community work and have enrolled in volunteer services across several organizations and project where I assisted in education and training programs.  This has allowed me to secure important experience and knowledge in different field which I can use towards improving my career in future. I also have a persisting interest towards learning and find myself spending hours learning new skills on the internet as well as by attending skill development programs when the time is available.

Reviewing my Resume you will quickly be able to pinpoint several volunteer service activities I have participated in the past 5 years. I have also actively participated on internships which have helped be secure important knowledge and work experience. Combined with my interest towards quality control, I feel confident to apply for this position at The Hershey Company. My acquired educational qualification, skills and knowledge have helped me build confidence in undertaking these responsibilities and ensure each Hershey product delivers the best experience to the consumer.

Being from quality control background and having high expectation has resulted in my experience serious situation while in supervisory roles (Otaibi, 2015). I joined Cargill as a quality control volunteer in 2014 and was immediately immersed in my work as it involved evaluating products before shipment to the customer. Initially, the feedback I delivered was accepted with praise but over time the feedback began causing friction and stress among staff, the management, and suppliers. The problem was sighted towards my persistence towards reviewing certain basic requirement which was not being delivered on certain products.

My role and responsibility were to monitor and manager quality and this requires me to sample as many products as possible before approval. I would need to review all product and share feedback and recommendations with the suppliers and management with the intention of ensuring only the best quality was delivered

Once identified certain suppliers were highlighted for constantly delivering poor quality and feedback was shared and some supply contracts placed on hold. This would have a negative effect on the organizations overall sales and turn over but I was determined it would improve quality on future and any losses incurred would be recovered. The objective would be to freeze defaulted accounts with the intention of demonstrating the importance of quality after which feedback would be shared and supply gradually reactivated.

The proposed action on the suppliers was taken negatively but it was necessary so as to establish the correct attitude towards the quality expectations of the organization. To improve quality drastic measures had to be taken by blocking and freezing problematic supplier accounts so they could reorganize their operations before reproaching the organization. Their application would be given priority as many were old suppliers but quality would have to be maintained to the highest standards without fail.

Performing Well in Job Interviews

The mock interviews have assisted me to identify important attributes which interviewers expect from the candidate while making their response. Simply educational qualifications are not adequate towards ensuring one is selected for a position and I will need to focus on improving other areas such as knowledge and skill development. This will be achieved through participating in extracurricular activities falling under different industries and field which will deliver the desired experience and knowledge.

Being able to utilize DIEP – Describe, Interpret, Evaluate and Plan approaches during self-evaluation and analysis is critical towards a self-realization and improvement. Before considering rectifying others one must be able to review their own performance then be able to point out others performance and weaknesses. DIEP is there for very important and a powerful tool towards self-realizations and improvement. This makes it important for young professionals to be able to describe their expectations and needs after which be able to interpreter what those expectation will need to be implemented. Implementation is not a matter of simply discussion but also requires for the individual to set goals towards ensuring success is achieved and the problems resolved. One must also be able to self-evaluate their performance and develop additional plans which can be used to further develop their career.

As mentioned earlier the major effort falls upon the young professional who is expected to develop their own skills and knowledge which will help them boost their moral and confidence thus helping improve their confidence while attending interviews which will also improve their success rate. Education is not restricted to school, college and university and must be continued outside educational facilities so as to build stability, confidence and the ability to secure and retain the best employment opportunities.

It is important to perform this work practically as this will ensure it is imprinted to my brain thus ensuring it remains valid and accessible for many years to come. Practical knowledge and experience have been termed as important assets every individual must develop so it not only improves their employability ratio but also allows them to be more enterprising. With the skills, the individuals are more open towards taking up and starting their small projects and work thus allowing them to generate income even during times when they may not be able to secure a job.

During this course, I have been able to determine that one’s career path is greatly influenced by the way in which the individual performs while on the job and this is affected by the amount of knowledge they have. Being able to acquire vast knowledge and experience is very important towards one’s career success as it delivers many alternatives careers to consider and also allows them to boost their confidence while attending interviews and recruitment sessions. This is achieved due to the individual being well informed regarding the field which is a factor which allows them to respond to interview question sensibly. This is considered as being among the most important attributes and characteristics and young professional should have which can be used towards building their career while also keeping in mind the organization development ingrowth. It’s important that all stakeholders’ focus their attention towards each other’s development as well since each person expects to register growth and development over time which and must, therefore, be included to the career objectives and discussed during interviews.

References

Allen, J., & Velden, R. v. (2011). The Flexible Professional in the Knowledge Society: New Challenges for Higher Education. New York: Springer Science & Business Media.

Arthur, D. (2012). Recruiting, Interviewing, Selecting & Orienting New Employees. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn.

Ball, F. W., & Ball, B. B. (2010). Killer Interviews: Success Strategies for Young Professionals. Indianapolis: Dog Ear Publishing.

Byers, A. (2008). Great Resume, Application, and Interview Skills. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group.

Denhardt, R. B., Denhardt, J. V., & Aristigueta, M. P. (2015). Managing Human Behavior in Public and Nonprofit Organizations. SAGE Publications.

Mackay, H. (2010). Use Your Head To Get Your Foot In The Door: Job Search Secrets No One Else Will Tell You. London: Hachette UK.

Otaibi, O. A. (2015). How To Pass The Job Interview: Job Interview Tips & Questions.

Rook, S. (2013). The Graduate Career Guidebook: Advice for Students and Graduates on Careers Options, Jobs, Volunteering, Applications, Interviews and Self-employment. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Twillie, J. (2014). Navigating the Career Jungle: A Guide for Young Professionals. Xlibris Corporation.