BLOG #5 : SKILLS FOR LIFE

SKILLS FOR LIFE

Hi Friends!!!

Today we are going to discuss something very important for life.

Imagine, after completion of your course, when you want to be placed in your dream company for a decent profile, you will have to attend an interview. Isn’t it? Also it is commonsense that, for the post you are applying, there will be many applicants but not only you. Once the results of the interview are out, you will have a question, “Why out of 100 only one is selected? Selection is made on what basis?”

First answer my question and then I will give answer to yours. “If two candidates A & B attend an interview (imagine a campus placement where A & B have completed same course, same year, same curriculum, wrote same exams and hypothetically assume got same marks and grades but still) one gets a job the other doesn’t. One gets a higher package. One gets a better job than the other. Why?”

Remember! If a job is offered only based on qualification, there need not be an interview at all. The process will be as simple as, the one who has qualification gets a job. Others won’t. But this can’t be the scenario right. Also, do you think two persons with same qualification will be in same position after 10 years from the date of joining their first job? Absolutely no.

Now, coming to answering your question, the basic criterion for selection is EMPLOYABILITY.

In interviews, companies basically look for two things.

1)      Hard skills – Your Qualification (Engineer, Commerce graduate, MBA, Chartered Accountant etc). You acquire them by a theoretical class room study and by writing and clearing examinations. [the marks and grades you get will count but can’t give you an entry ticket enough to snatch your dream job]

2)      Soft skills – these are the people skills which are harder to define and evaluate. They include communication skills, listening skills and empathy among others.

While hard skills are job specific, soft skills are personal attributes. Hard skills are quantifiable, for example: typing skills (you can measure how many words an individual can type to assess their typing speed). However it’s difficult to measure soft skills easily.

Difference between hard skills and soft skills

Hard skills	Soft skills
Hard skills are specific, teachable abilities that can be defined and measured such as typing, writing, subject knowledge, driving etc.	Soft skills are less tangible and harder to quantify. These are personality oriented interpersonal skills such as team work, persuasion, time management etc.
Tangible	Intangible
Rule based	Experience based
Technological	People related
Mechanical	Attitudinal
Specialised (job specific)	Non domain specific (general)
Predictable	Non technical

Do You Know???

A scientific study says, strong hard skills require the left brain or logic center where as soft skills are typically formed in the right brain or emotional center.

What next???

Hard skills may be learned in school and from books. The curriculum is designed with respect to the level of competence and hard skills are direct path for excelling in a specific domain. For example, a person may study for and clear CA exams and become an expert in accounting.

Most of the soft skills are not taught well in schools or colleges and doesn’t have a set path. Majority of times these are learned by trial and error. For example, a person learns persuasion skills (say, a marketing executive) over a period of time with repeated attempts.

So What’s up now?

Simple: for hard skills, your school or college is the GYM. For soft skills, you need a mentor and you have to PRACTICE yourself.

Now let’s start with Soft skills-

Recipe to Make English Fun

English has become one of the basic necessities to enter the corporate world. Whatever the company is, whatever the position you have applied for, one basic thing they check in the interview is how good you speak and how fluent you are in English.
Also, the much demanded language "English" is included in the curriculum in each stage of our academic lives from pre-nursery till graduation or post graduation.
Whether your schooling was in English Medium or a Vernacular Medium, all the ingredients like vocabulary, pronunciation, tenses, grammar; everything is confused. It created a situation like

“Water water everywhere; not a drop to drink” ??? 
That means, English is a part of our day to day life but still it is at a distance to many. 

Along with knowledge, good grades in graduation / professional courses, a sound communication skills will open the doors to the corporate world to chase your dream job. So, Whats stopping us?

In any interview or a presentation, the common hiccups are:-

• Stage Fear
• Presentation Skills
• Grammar
• Vocabulary
• Tell about Yourself
• Interview Skills
• Fluency

God! What a Nightmare?

English is the language of the Corporates and English makes it easy for you to survive anywhere in the World. Inspite of the varied training programs in Corporates, Schools & Colleges yet people seem to be struggling with the language, be it Written or the Spoken World. So let's go on a small cooking expedition concocting wonderful combinations and recipes of the English Language which will help you sail through life without any mishaps.

Seriously, to learn English is like cooking; right ingredients, good recipe and a proper process. Just like you need your meals daily, English needs 'You' daily. So please stop thinking that a one day workshop will change your life.

To speak well, you should be confident; fight your fears and inhibitions, improve your vocabulary and become fluent so that any company will be happy to take you. You need to top yourself with right flavours so that Life is like an 'Icing on the Cake'.

Are we ready? Get, Set and Excel !!!

Friends! these sessions will start from basics. It may look childish to begin with but trust me, with all my experience I assert, these baby steps are so very important. 

If you are a beginner, its your first cooking class; if you are looking to improve your skills, you need to practice from the beginning to make your dish "Perfect"

English can be made easy by following this mantra for a month at least “Walk English, Talk English, Sleep English”. Only then you can crack this language and make it your best friend for life.

So now your ingredients are- 

Motivation + Zeal + Vocabulary & Enthusiasm to polish and improve your language skills

Step 1: Mirror Magic “Mirror mirror on the Wall who is the prettiest of all”

Mirror magic is the key to 'confidence building'; and mind you, it works. But how many have patience to stand daily and speak for 10 minutes in front of a mirror.

Think of the number of times we stand in front of a mirror in a day

·         Brush your teeth

·         Wash hands

·         Getting dressed

·         Combing hair

·         Just checking oneself out

·         Night Cream time.

Every time you are in front of the mirror give yourself your best smile and say it aloud or to yourself “You can do it”. This brings a positive vibe to you and this is like a mantra which chanted repeatedly daily one day becomes a reality. But you should believe in it and have patience and let the cosmos do the rest.

Try when standing in front of mirror to speak a few lines loudly.

·         Introduce yourself

·         Speak few positive lines about yourself

·         Try adding onto what you speak from morning to night depending on the time you have.

·         Keep a happy face.

The reason we do this is building a relationship with Self. This is very important as the biggest fear is within us. We are too bogged down by what people think of us and from there Stage fear, Public Speaking fear creeps in. Love yourself, build confidence, start with simple sentences grammatically correct and make it a regular activity.

Step 2 : Read loudly, hear your own voice & start with the following:

·         The newspaper at least one whole article a day.

·         Your subject books

·         Magazines at home

·         Bill boards while travelling

·         Anything readable; read it loud.

Just do this for three to four days and we add more exercises to this. Do this regularly so that at the end the dish will be delicious. 

Mastering any language needs your love on yourself and your love on the language. It’s a game, play it with fun. Keep doing it and in 21 days you will see the difference in yourself. Get ready for the surprise, you gonna be a master.

Hope you like this recipe. We will be back with the following in due course.

Exercise 1	Introduction
Exercise 2	Building Vocabulary
Exercise 3	Sentence formation
Exercise 4	Story telling
Exercise 5	Just a minute
Exercise 6	Simple Grammar (Parts of Speech)
Exercise 7	Simple Grammar (Parts of Speech)
Exercise 8	Punctuation Marks
Exercise 9	Simple Letter Writing
Exercise 10	Write a Story
Exercise 11	Dictionary time
Exercise 12	Vowels is fun
Exercise 13	Elocution time
Exercise 14	Essay Writing
Exercise 15	Simple tenses
Exercise 16	Building a story around a word
Exercise 17	Fun with Idioms
Exercise 18	Speaking Extempore (5 minutes)
Exercise 19	Simple Role Play
Exercise 20	Formal letter writing
Exercise 21	Speak like a Pro

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