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Improving Employability Among Disengaged Young People
Essentially employability depends on a number of elements not limited to:
• Your assets in terms of the knowledge and skills (particularly transferable) that you possess.
• The way in which you use those assets and skills.
• The way in which you present these assets and skills to your prospective employers.
Even young people ‘successfully’ completing school and university are being found wanting when it comes to many of these transferable skills. Skills such as self reliance; self awareness and the ability to self promote, possess a positive ‘can do’ attitude, people skills; including the ability to communicate effectively with people at many levels and work effectively as a team, functional skills; particularly problem solving, numeracy, written communication and IT skills.
Prospective employers are faced with more and more young people who are leaving school and education unprepared for the world of work that lies ahead of them.
This is perhaps even more poignant for those young people who haven’t completed education and have become disengaged. In 2007/2008 there were 8, 130 permanent exclusions in Primary and Secondary Schools across the UK (DCSF). Whilst this was a decrease from the year before, it still represents 11 pupils in every 1000. So what happens to those young people who have become apathetic, even depressed about their future? Are we doing enough to give these young people the tools they need to succeed in life; the opportunities to have a successful and fulfilling career despite failing in education (Or perhaps I should say education failing them!)?
It is a sad truth that many young people experience low aspirations, low self esteem and poor motivation which effectively means they are likely considered unemployable to many. Clearly these obstacles must be addressed if our young people are to engage in developing the communication and employability skills necessary for success. Many practitioners at schools, colleges, training providers and youth organisations are faced with these challenges every working day. So how do we go about transforming low self esteem, improving motivation, raising aspirations and thus improving the employability potential amongst our young people? How can we ensure that young people can begin to live with purpose and positivity and therefore have a lasting foundation of personal power and employability? Furthermore how can we achieve this in a way that young people feel empowered and inspired to change from within?
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There are many initiatives and programmes out there to improve employability. The most successful are those that don’t stop at providing traditional knowledge and skills but also focus on the transferrable personal social attitudes, values and skills required for success.
Here are my 5 top tips for practitioners wanting to improve employability among disengaged Young People:
1. Do something different
The disengaged young person is in this situation for a reason. What they need is something different, something fresh, relevant; something that will motivate and inspire. Creative lesson plans that are interactive, stimulating, involve them and respect all learning styles are going to go a long way to achieving this.
2. Inspire them
Find out what makes them tick, you may have to dig deep as they may well not have a clue themselves. Find creative ways to discover what they are passionate about and show them that it is achievable. Build self esteem to create a foundation where they can recognise that they set the ceiling on their achievements and that the one common denominator in any measure of success is themselves. Show them that anything is possible. Share success stories from others in their position; let them see and know that they can achieve their dreams and aspirations.
3. Listen to them
By engineering an environment of respect, where young people feel genuinely listened to; this will ensure they feel comfortable to allow their voice to be heard; a necessary process for re-engaging those who have become alienated from the process of achievement, personal development and learning. It is so important to listen and understand your learners. Make yourself available to them when they need you, so they know they have a strong support system around them. Nurturing their need for belonging through respect and acceptance will go a long way to re-engaging and keeping them engaged for a long time to come!
4. Believe in them
One thing is for sure they need a huge dose of self belief and as a practitioner working with young people that has to start with me – that means me not buying into any of their negative self-talk, it means me looking past their learned behaviours. Holding a positive vision for each and every young person has got to be the starting premise for change to happen. Next we need to find creative ways for them to challenge their self image themselves, so they can begin to see what we see! Follow this through with praise and acknowledgment for the effort and changes that they are making!
5. Have fun and make it fun!
Don’t take yourself too seriously; remember you are working with young people! They will appreciate your humour and candidness. One of the essential needs we require to be met as a human being is to experience fun. When this need is met by our direct learning experience we are assured of their attention and their engagement. Create a strong bond with them and build up trust. Don’t ever give up, no matter how challenging it may be.
Working with disengaged youth can be challenging, enlightening, inspiring, exciting and incredibly fulfilling… I for one highly recommend it!
©July 2010 Glenn Perry, United Kingdom
Glenn Perry has been acknowledged as a unique and innovative authority in the field of education and performance enhancement and is the co-founder and creator of Voice it Education. Glenn has authored a number of successful education programmes for young people and educators including the ‘Respect it!’ Equality & Diversity Programme, ‘Express it!’ Emotional Wellbeing Programme and ‘Go4it!’ Aspirations & Employability Programme (Together forming the Voice it Journey Programme). He is also the author of the ‘IMPACT’ Classroom Management System which incorporates the Moments of Madness ‘Brain Breaks’ Resource and the Voice it! Circle Time Resource. Follow Glenn’s blog at http://www.voiceit.com/blog. For more information about the innovative work of Voice it! Education visit http://www.voiceit.com
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Leave a commentSales Skill Training to improve your potentiality for along run
Article by Jasmine Smith
If you are the employer or a businessperson or a simple employee in the sales field you need to know three basics skill to become successful in the field of sales. You need to know three core sales skills for the requirement on the way to success. They are three must have requirements for your sales career to gather Sales Competency. Such skills will be under your control. These are certain skills that can bring you to the peak of success as you can hold your potentiality of achievement. Corporate Sales Training helps a lot to acquire certain skills to prosper in the field of sales. Initially you need to focus on small steps, which can lead you to he success. According to many sales tycoons setting big eccentric sales goals can be very harmful at the very beginning. This is the first way to your achievement avoiding unnecessary negative internal dialog. These are certain facts that you should take under consideration. Employers take notice on such of your specifications through Online Sales Assessment or Sales Assessment Test for a better accomplishment. It is very unfortunate that a number of new sales person or fresher make a bunch of cold calls for getting result in positive. Undoubtedly this is an action of foolishness. This is not the process to have proper and perfect result for your business or sales. Even some of the pretty rude interactions can hamper your confidence and time as well making all of your effort on a vague. Even it can happen that after calling so many people you do not get any perfect appointment that make any positive sense for your career. You need to go for one with the perfection rather spreading your hands over numerous places. You need to be right at one lace rather than being wrong at various fields.
The very first step will be your convincing power to make people listen to your call and give an appointment to meet you. Getting a person to interact over telephone in a perfect manner is the first perfect step for your sales career for that time. Having one single person in a perfect manner can be judged as the realistic approach of your sales potentiality. After getting this initial potentiality a sales person should focus on the next step, which includes a commitment to daily progress. You need to compare your growth and success for all the time. From the beginning to you failure to the growth of you success you should know and acknowledge everything. This step definitely increases your potentiality and paves the path of your success. This comparison is essential for your career in a long run. If you really experience progress it is better to give a pause and make your self-compact to maintain the progress in a continuous mode. You must have the commitment to make you experience of progress certain and concrete. You should taste the progress in your career that does not mean the earning sales from day one. You can calculate the small actions producing measurable results.
The last but not the least core skill is to gain the self-responsibility and self-accountability. You are the sole responsible person for your success or for your failure. No one but you are the only one to know the matter best. No one will help you in this regard. You need to learn, practice, adapt and implement all of your skills to become a success full person. This will lead you to the way of success and commitment in huge manner in the filed of sales while improving your potentiality.
To Train or Not to Train – The Soft Skills Dilemma!
Abraham Lincoln shared a short narrative about two wood cutters who decided to compete on who could chop down more trees in a day. The first man started out furiously and decided to chop away without taking any breaks. The second man chopped for a while and then stopped, to sharpen his axe. All through the day, the first cutter did not stop whereas the second contestant regularly took ‘time out’ every couple of hours to hone his axe. Interestingly enough, at the end of the day, the second cutter had achieved twice as much and was half as tired as the first!
Evidently the first man exerted more, made more noise, appeared to be busier – and yet achieved far less, because after a while, he was hacking away with a blunt instrument.
We see the same chronicle repeated in our work lives frequently. In this ever changing and dynamic environment, success has less to do with quantity and more to do with quality inputs. In these days of enhanced competition and budgetary constraints, our biggest challenges are stress, conflict (with internal and external customers) and a kind of revolutionary change.
Albert Einstein rightly said, ‘We cannot solve the problems of today with the same thinking that we used to create them’.
Not surprisingly, we observe an unprecedented interest in the personal growth or self development industry. A casual visit to your nearest book shop will highlight the huge quantum of material that is now being produced in the areas of people skills, leadership, communication skills, stress management, customer service, selling skills, presentation skills, business etiquette, time management, networking, attitude, teambuilding, etc. Books, videos and other tools on these and like subjects are now so pervasively visible across our realm.
As I enter my 12th year in the soft skills and corporate training business, it has been fascinating to observe the gradual change in mindsets, in a multitude of countries around the world. It is now becoming harder and harder for corporates to deny the importance (or rather significance) of enhancing individual skill levels not just in technical subjects but also in the softer areas as mentioned above. Renowned quality management guru, Suresh Lulla, recently said to me ‘Soft skills is the future’. This is a man who has spent the better part of his professional life researching and teaching the subject of quality management. He has also been featured in numerous reputed business publications as an icon of success in the field of quality.
More now than ever before, companies and individuals alike are looking upon training and soft skill development as an investment rather than an expense. Human Resource professionals acknowledge that soft skills training results in the development of ‘Emotional Intelligence’ and thus significantly appreciates the value of the organizations ‘human assets’. Among professionals today, there is a gradual realization that while IQ (Intelligence Quotient) gets you a job, EQ (Emotional Quotient) gets you fired or promoted. In his book, Winning with People, New York Times best selling author John Maxwell says, ‘In life, the skills you use and the people you choose, will make or break you’. Maxwell is considered one of the foremost authorities on leadership and has written numerous works on this subject. He contends that when one learns to control their emotions and build good relationships with other people, there is very little that can keep them away from success.
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Maxwell’s assertion so well elucidates the two primary components of soft skills i.e. self development and relationship enhancement.
(1) A common opposition (and a protest of sorts) to soft skill training programs is – ‘What if I train my employees and they leave to join another organization? Wouldn’t that be a waste of precious resources and time?’
Self made multi millionaire and entrepreneur, Jim Dornan, responds to this objection thus – ‘What if you don’t train your employees and they stay in your organization? How would you like to have the burden of large numbers of unskilled, ill equipped or poorly motivated people?’
So, while the argument to not train your people may have some weight, the alternative is far from pleasant. Retaining a group of untutored, unprepared or apathetic staff is one of the greatest drags on any organization. Following this latest recession, very few companies can claim that their people continue to stay motivated without any deliberate intervention.
(2) Another point of contention is when an organization abstains from training because they believe that they are already hiring skilled (or experienced) personnel. While this argument holds ground at the time of recruitment, it loses its sheen with the passage of time. As is with any discipline, people tend to ‘get out of shape’ if they don’t consciously and continually work at honing their skills.
Thought leader, author and motivational speaker Brian Tracy says, ‘Knowledge in most fields doubles every 3 to 4 years. Thus, an individual who is not deliberate about developing or growing himself / herself, will fall behind.’ Tracy goes on to explain that ‘doing nothing’ or even ‘doing little’ to sharpen your axe will inevitably build the odds against you. Needless to say, your competition will gain significant advantages over you just by further developing their skilled employees.
Delhi based certified coach and Master NLP practitioner, Shalini Verma (founder of The Skyscrapers Academy) says, ‘Skilled personnel are the best candidates for training and coaching. These people already have a base aptitude and thus have a great foundation for developing leadership skills. History has shown that any enterprise will rise and fall on leadership. The quality of its leaders will determine the size and sustenance of the business.’ She goes on to explain that when the head is strong and stable, the tail automatically aligns. So, the skilled workforce, are actually the best candidates for continual soft skill development.
(3) And here’s the great grand daddy of all protests – ‘Training & motivation doesn’t last! My people get motivated after the training BUT things just fizzle out over a period of time.’
My mentor Basil Harris is a very wise man. As an entrepreneur and coach, I have seen him guide a number of people towards the accomplishment of their dreams and goals. He says, ‘That’s right, training & motivation doesn’t last!….. Neither does bathing; and that’s why we repeat it!’
Our logical minds can easily accept that the food in our stomach does not last – we need to repeat it every few hours, the air in our tyres needs regular replenishment, and yes – if we are to lose weight or get fit – just one visit to the gym isn’t going to cut it. It is not uncommon today, to see doctors, lawyers, engineers, tax consultants, etc taking time out to upgrade or just update themselves. So, why should training or any kind of soft skills development be any different?
My good friend and business partner, Swati Pradhan (an entrepreneur and executive coach, based in the UK) says, ‘When soft skill development is driven and encouraged by the organizations senior leadership – trainings are taken seriously and a culture of continual improvement gets automatically imbibed. Inevitably, such a company earns the reputation of being a preferred employer – and predictably, this enterprise now attracts some of the best talent in the industry’.
Maslow and numerous other authorities in the field of psychology endorse that ‘personal growth and self development’ is a strong human need and thus – when an institution starts to fulfill this need – good quality people are attracted to it as fly’s are to honey.
Over time, companies that are consistent with soft skill trainings see -
(a) Growth in turnover
(b) Higher profits & reduced costs
(c) Innovation & higher levels of staff motivation and
(d) Enhanced loyalty
All of the above represents extraordinary levels of .
We live in a world of microwave ovens, instant noodles and crash diets. So, our psyche tends to expect instant gratification from everything. The few that comprehend the concept of delayed gratification acknowledge that soft skills training is not a quick fix. While it’s true that one or two training programs produce little results, it is also true that a regular and methodical application produces enormous tangible and intangible gain.
The moment we can regard soft skills trainings as a long term fitness program, rather than as a one time purchase of machinery, we have taken the most important step towards organizational and personal success.
The second wood cutter made less noise, spent less effort (and time) and yet accomplished greater results – all because he took the time to sharpen his axe.
In order to ‘go up’, we first need to ‘grow up’ i.e. develop ourselves. And in order to grow up, we need to ‘give up’ i.e. our inhibitions towards self development, relationship enhancement and change.
Soft skills development requires the element of discipline – nothing more and nothing less. Rest assured, the price of discipline is far less that the price of regret.
Another great video by the AXA team
Hone Your Skills ? The Road To Success In MLM
Many things may come to mind when someone tells you to “hone your skills.” As this pertains to network marketing it simply means getting back to the basic fundamentals in building a mlm company. Only a few items are required for success. The problem is that most people get involved in mlm without having these basic skills. They’re promptly told what they need to do to start making money without even learning the basics.
It would be like taking someone who’s never played basketball before and trying to first teach him how to do a behind the back pass, dribble between the legs, and then go foran alley-oop on his first dayplaying the game. This is setting your new guy up for failure. He Figure out how to dribble, pass, and shoot. These are the root skills of the game.. Mlm is the same. You must master the basics beforetrying any internet marketing campaign, creating any copywriting materials, etc.
There are only a few skills you must master in order to succeed in network markteting.
The chief element you mustbe taught is how to effectively prospect others. There are several different ways to do this. The simple formula that Iuse is F.O.R.M.
F – Family. Ask questions about their family.
O = Occupation. Does their career meet their financial goals? Get details.
R – Recreation. What do they enjoy doing for hobbies?
M – Message. This is your call to .
The purpose is to find some common ground between you and your prospect. You start to build trust with him.
You must also get information on prospecting. Look to your mentor in your primary business. Get some books on the subject.
an alternative method to hone your skills is asking for the sale.
You can be the best prospector in the world and have a million names on your list, but if you can’t seal the deal you won’t make sales nor sponsor reps. Many people do tons of work and still don’t make money, because they haven’t learned this skill. Many network marketers are spending countless hours on Facebook, writing great content articles, creating videos, and doing all kinds of online traffic generation techniques with no money coming in from their businesses. They may have huge subscriber bases. It’s worthless without having closing skills. Always work on honing your sales skills.
The other skill you must hone is not really an actual skill. It’s an understanding of human psychology. You need to ascertain they way we process information. You need to figure out what motivates people to take action. Read books similar to “How To Win Friends And Influence People” by Dale Carnegie and others like it to improve in this area. The only other way to learn is by just getting out in the market and talking to people. By practicing the first two fundamental skills you’ll begin to understand the way your prospects think.
A great place to hone your skills is Facebook. There are an endless amount of people you can talk to there. Practice the fundamentals. Succeed. Click this link now to get my Free Facebook Lead Generation Webinar.
Top 5 Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs
Becoming a successful entrepreneur isn’t just a matter of luck or circumstance. People who are successful building businesses share certain characteristics that allow them to be successful. The good news is that these traits can be learned. I’ve spent some time studying successful entrepreneurs and have found these traits to be a common denominator of those who successfully build and maintain small businesses.
* The need and ability to control and direct their own undertakings.
Successful entrepreneurs love to be in control. They live by the motto, “If it’s to be, it’s up to me.” Successful business people tend to chafe under the constraints of organizations where they are at the whims of other people as managers or co-workers.
* They are goal oriented individuals.
Successful business people love challenges. They are constantly chasing new goals and evaluating their progress in light of these goals. Often, making money becomes a measure of achieving success rather than an end in itself.
* Strong work ethic.
Prosperous business people aren’t afraid to work very hard to achieve their goals. Though they may seem to be workaholics, they generally enjoy their work and don’t mind putting in the long hours that are required for success. They are single minded and prepared to do whatever it takes to succeed in their business.
* Self confidence.
People who succeed as business owners are self confident individuals. They believe in themselves and their ability to do what it takes to run their business. They aren’t deterred by setbacks and aren’t afraid to step in and take the reins in any situation.
* Passion.
The best business people are passionate about their endeavours. They choose a business that they love and believe in. This belief gives them the courage to work hard and persist in the face of setbacks. Their enthusiasm becomes infectious and helps them inspire and lead others. This passion improves their courage, persistence and ability to sell their product.
The good news about these characteristics is that they are all learnable skills. By spending some time reflecting on these characteristics, you can develop the skills necessary to be a successful entrepreneur.
It also provides a tool for checking to see if you’re on track. Are you passionate about what you do? If not, you’re not likely to see the best possible results, you’d be better off to find something which you are passionate about and find a way to build a business around that.
Do you regularly set goals and have a measurable way to track them? If not, spend some time figuring out where you want to go with your business and define some of the steps along the way as well as a method for tracking your progress.
Finally, never stop learning. It’s not enough to simply find out about successful people, you need to find ways to apply this information in your daily and working life.
Leadership Through People Skills
Leadership Through People Skills
The pioneers of the Dimensional Model for managerial behavior demonstrate how to master skills that boost productivity
Robert Lefton and Victor Buzzotta, cofounders of Psychological Associates, have revolutionized managerial procedure with their Dimensional Model--a behavioral standard that has been adapted and imitated by companies all over the world.
Leadership Through People Skills outlines this model, as the authors explain in detail how people skills work and provide exercises designed to improve them. They also offer strategies for using these skills in the right situations, at the right times, in the right ways with direct reports, peers, and bosses.
Managers will learn how to improve their:
- Sizing-up skills: interacting effectively through appropriate action
- Communication skills: strategies for finding out what others are thinking
- Motivational skills: giving people a compelling reason to do their best
- Adaptive skills: fitting actions to the people for whom they are intended
People Skills by Robert Bolton (1986, Paperback, Reissu
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How to Develop Soft Skills
How to Develop Soft Skills
Technical skills have little value if you have poor soft skills. Don’t get me wrong, your tech expertise matters. But don’t be fooled by your tech skills. King of Linux, champion of Oracle? You’ve got it made, right? Give me a break! Tech skills alone are no guarantee of success.
Although technical skills are important for most jobs, soft skills can be even more important. Employers are looking for candidates with strong communication skills, creativity, analytical thinking, diplomacy, flexibility, problem-solving, leadership, team-building, and listening skills. If you’re weak in any of those areas, here is what you can do to improve.
Instructions
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The first step is to identify your strongest soft skills. When writing a resume or speaking in an interview, emphasize your strengths. In most professions, technical skills are important, but soft skills can be even more important to employers. They want to know if you are dependable and can deal with people in a positive way.
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After researching soft skills, determine which ones may be weaknesses for you. Do you hide under your desk at the first sign of conflict? If you have a problem dealing with change, aggression, office politics or difficult people, consider attending a class to address the issue. It is an investment in your future.
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If a formal class is too expensive, consider borrowing books or videos from your local library. Many books have been written about improving customer service skills, assertiveness and handling difficult people.
Soft skills empower you and create opportunities.
In my opinion, the main benefit of soft skills is empowerment. How does your tech skill translate to value? How do you create opportunity? Soft skills are useful for creating and taking advantage of opportunities – jobs, career and business. No matter how great your tech skills are, when job hunting, your marketing skills should be first-class. Otherwise others who may not be as capable as you, but who have better marketing skills might beat you to the jobs or work you want. There are opportunities in IT. But there are also challenges and competition. In such a competitive environment, perception often reigns supreme.
If your technical competencies are similar to those of other candidates how do you differentiate yourself? You claim to be a technical wizard. The problem however, and this is a big however, is how do I know if you are good if you can’t sell what you have – yourself or your ideas? Your certifications and previous work experience are important. But the issue at stake is this: can you convince the interviewer or clients that you will solve their problems and deliver value?
Soft skills not only improve your career, they also offer personal growth.
Interestingly, the acquisition of soft skills also empowers you by allowing you to build flexibility into your future IT career plans. How? Most soft skills are regarded as transferable skills, e.g. communication, project management, business and team work, which are needed in nearly all aspects of life, not just for your career alone. You need to grow not just as a techie but also as a person.
Developing professional ethics is vital to your career.
Stop negative conduct whether deliberate, due to ignorance, or because of an unsupportive environment. No matter your environment, you can’t afford to be ignorant, insensitive or unprofessional simply because you feel you are a technical guru. IT “Hot stuff”, swallow your pride, dig deep and identify your soft skills gap. Then make a conscious effort to close the gap. Nobody is perfect. But that’s no excuse to empower your weaknesses. Developing your tech skills while actively cultivating poor soft skills is akin to moving one step forward, two steps backwards. It burns and wastes what you hold dear –time, money and resources. Poor soft skills devalue. Period!
Control co-worker’s perception of you as a professional and an expert in your field.
If you are perceived as being difficult and unfriendly, of what value are your Linux skills when no one is ready to work with you? Are you doing your best in your area of specialization? But to people that interact with you – colleagues, clients, instructors, managers – what is their perception of you? A great asset, a fantastic contributor, just someone who does IT stuff, or the techie from hell? It’s a hard fact of life, but this book will often be judged by its cover. Most importantly, it’s not just about succeeding in work or business. What is the essence?
To grow as a professional, to grow in business, you must also grow as a person.
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Critical Thinking Skills
Critical thinking skills in individuals are important since this will be the method by which he will put order in his life. Unknowingly and without being conscious, he applies analysis and evaluation of the beliefs and principles he will uphold as the guiding forces in his life. Often he will seek for explanations that can strengthen his convictions.
Critical thinking skills however can be influenced by innate traits and characteristics that will often direct to certain inclinations. This is where the methods of critical thinking skills can be influenced by certain sets of pre-recognized beliefs which may have been instilled even before the time an individual can apply his own analytical skills.
As a person enters into his own maturity, certain cultural, moral and spiritual values were nurtured in his mind during his growing up years. This will determine the areas where his critical thinking skills will apply. It can develop in him a sense of bias and prejudice, which will prevent him for considering other ideologies.
He will also develop tendencies that will always lead him to what he has been used to. An individual will also aspire for what has been nurtured in him as the goal to reach for. Hence, the analyses he will apply are often confined to areas he is familiar with. However, as his critical thinking skills progress, the individual will also go into the process of comparison about his beliefs and that of the others. As he goes through this process of his critical thinking skills, he will develop prejudices, biases, idealism and heroism.
It may also create in him a feeling of want, desire and ineptness and will direct his critical thinking skills to methods of achieving these wants and desires. This is where his moral and spiritual values will have a direct influence on his choices. His religion may recognize certain practices as acceptable because this has been a tradition he grew up with. His critical thinking skills may veer from what is usually the norm, if outside of his cultural society.
His moral values may also influence his choices in life and will also be in accordance with his environmental conditions. He may develop notions that may be opposed to what he grew up with or will conform to it. His critical thinking skills will consider the negative effects it contributed in his life, which he may desire to escape from. In the same way that he will be comfortable with the positive effects in his life. As a result, he may not take any risk at all in making critical choices in his life.
Based on this, a person’s critical thinking skills will always put into light what has been taught to him, what he has observed and witnessed, or what has caused him pain and enjoyment all through his growing up years. There is also the development of his maturity or whether he recognizes the fact that his actions and deeds can also affect the lives of the people around him.
He will utilize his critical thinking skills but will always base his assessment and inferences in the knowledge that has been stored in his mind; no matter how raw or refined they may be.
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What Skills do You Need to Become a Stockbroker?
If you would like to become a stockbroker there are several key skills that you will need to be a success. Stockbroking is a very competitive industry and only those who are at the top of their game will reach the pinnacles of the profession and earn the vast remuneration that is on offer. So, what are the skills and qualifications that will help make you a great stockbroker?
Communication
Being able to communicate effectively is an essential part of being a stockbroker. When you are dealing with large transactions that involve millions of pounds each, one false communication could prove costly.
Self Motivation
A stockbroker must be self motivated. In such a competitive environment those lacking self motivation and determination will soon begin to fall behind. This will lead to employers looking at your performance and maybe evaluating your position in the company. This has been particularly prevalent in recent years with the cutbacks being made in the industry due to the tougher financial times that we are currently facing.
Analytical Brain
In order to succeed as a stockbroker you will have to be able to analyse information and act on your findings. Much of the art of being a stockbroker is spotting patterns and trends. Once you have spotted a trend you need to be able to effectively decipher that information to make an informed decision. Do this well and you will make your company a hefty profit, do it poorly and you could be looking at a loss.
Fitness
A certain level of personal fitness is required to become a stockbroker. A stockbroker works long hours and is a stressful job. This two factors combined can take a toll on your health if you are not fairly fit, which could lead to you having to take time of work to recuperate and therefore cost you money.
Academic Qualifications
The stockbroking industry is different to how it was twenty years ago. Gone are the days where you could leave school without qualifications and start as a “tea boy” and work your way up to being a stockbroker. Today more often than not only those with a degree in economics, finance or business from a top quality university are considered for jobs.
The above skills and qualifications are just a few that are required in order to become a stockbroker. If you have a good balance of the afore mentioned skills you will be able to apply for stockbroker jobs andcould soon find yourself on the way to a very lucrative career.
Click here to find out more about stockbroker training that can help you become a stockbroker
learn how to boost your confidence and raise your self esteem.
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10 Tips for Successful Freelance Writing
It is quite possible to make a living by writing from home but it may be a difficult process to build up the right contacts and openings. Use these tips to develop a successful writing career.
Qualities Needed
A freelance writer needs to be self motivated. Although there may be deadlines, there is no boss in the next room to enforce them. Perseverance is also important as contacts and opportunities are built step by step. This especially applies to those who don’t have journalistic backgrounds.
Working for Free
Write letters to newspapers and magazines and work for free where appropriate. The exposure can provide published clips to refer to and may lead to paid work somewhere down the line.
Internet
The internet has transformed the writer’s world and understanding it is essential for success. Many writers submit the majority of their work by email and also communicate through the computer. The web has also opened up incredible avenues for research.
Articles on the Internet
There are dozens of sites that accept articles from writers and pay them per number of page views. This is a number game but can be built up into a lucrative passive income. The key words are patience and quantity.
Contacts
Networking is important for writers working from home. Attend writers’ conferences and make an effort to link up with like-minded people on the internet and locally. Although there will always be a natural competitiveness, a fellow writer can be a great set of eyes for picking up errors and weaknesses in a piece of work.
Competitions
At any given time, there are hundreds of writing competitions on offer. Some give free critiques and others can lead to publication in anthologies. Work that doesn’t place can often be adapted into a newspaper article or a short story for a magazine.
Training
It is important to be familiar with industry standards for the presentation of work. Read guidelines from various publications and be careful to adhere to them. Basic graphics skills can also be useful, especially when the writer is responsible for the layout of a piece of work. Read library books and attend courses to brush up on these skills.
Photography
This skill goes hand in hand with writing. Invest in a digital camera and practice taking all kinds of shots with it. Publications often pay extra when images accompany a piece of work.
Opportunities
Actively search out stories and watch people diligently. Learn how to conduct interviews and be prepared at all times. If possible, carry a camera. Opportunities are everywhere, waiting to be recognized.
Equipment Needed
A freelance writer needs a dedicated area to work in and some basic technology. A computer/laptop, printer, camera, broadband connection, handheld recorder and office supplies should be enough to get by with.
Freelance writing can be a very satisfying career. Embrace the challenges and keep working at it day by day until the successes start to flow in thick and fast.
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