Importance of Employability Skills for a Business Manager
During term four, I found myself questioning the range of employability skills required in acquiring a job in the employment market which I will be facing after 6 months. My career goal after passing out from the university is to be a business manager of a reputed fortune 500 company and to establish effective manager qualities and prosper in my career graph rapidly. I have been studying and learning theoretical concepts and models which are structured but not empirical. Based on the findings of several journals and articles, I come across conflicting studies and contrary information in our weekly research and feedback sessions. I was amazed to know that the importance of practical learnings boosts employability skills as compared to theoretical studies (Bulilan 2020). However, both of them are essential, but as per the new market demands, practical knowledge has more weightage for developing employability skills and scope of getting employments in various corporates.
At the start of every academic year, many of the students speak about the fear of articles they have read which states professions that are becoming obsolete in the near future. With this scenario, I ask myself how can I best prepare myself for my future career in securing a job in such as rapidly changing world. I have understood the factor that besides studying hard, I must not forget to focus on developing my skills that are essential to becoming a business manager in the coming days of high competition (Briddick, Sensoy-Briddick and Savickas 2018). Competition has been rising high due to changing market and demand of industries in effectively managing organisations that seek profit and growth rapidly. Concerning such facts, a business manager role is to oversee those day-to-day operations of an organisation, monitor and guide the employees and ensure that the organisation is running smoothly and profitability as possible. This may include designing and applying new business strategies and working with various senior managers to determine how existing business strategies can be improved.
Communication skills: As a business manager, I will be spending most of the time communicating with customers, peers, business owners, media, supplies and stakeholders. I may communicate in several ways such as one-to-one meetings, seminars, e-mail, over the phone call or social media messaging. This indicates that I must be having excellent communication skills to be precise and ensure effectiveness at all times. Besides, I need to establish a trustful and positive relationship with my employees, management team, business owners and various external stakeholders so that they can feel confident, comfortable while sharing information with me during business deals. Effective communication skills, raise the confidence level of various stakeholders associated with the business (Tang 2020). From written communication skills to oral communication skills, I need to be proactive, detail oriented and foster effective wiring and listening skills to ensure a positive relationship with my clients and employees while expressing my strategies and goals to my peers. I need to be patient while communicating with clients and use positive body language to make sure that the opposite person is feeling confident and comfortable.
Communication Skills
Leadership skills: It has been assessed during class presentations and teamwork that leadership skills are an important aspect that one must develop to ensure best work practices and collaboration to reach mutual goals effectively. An effective leader must have active listening skills, showing empathy towards the employees, the ability to communicate clear messages and transform complex ideas into an easy form for everyone to understand, strategic thinking skills and flexibility to change (Griffith, Baur and Buckley 2019). As a business manager, it will be my responsibility to increase the morale of employees and ensure everyone is satisfied, motivated and happy with their job roles in the workplace. I need to be interacting with every team member and making effort to know them better, giving employees equal opportunities and ensuring there are no scenarios of bias. Besides, making myself voluntarily available for the employees to share any concern if any to put it into work and resolve. On the other hand, identifying employee accomplishments by praising them falls under some practical ways to motivate employees as a leader. In addition, adopting an effective leadership style or approach will be a great idea to ensure effectiveness and efficiency at the same time. Transformational leadership style and transactional leadership style are the key approaches that I prefer and I will be studying in-depth to understand the various frameworks and concepts of it in more detail. With this prospect, I would develop my leadership skills effectively.
Technical skills: Technical skills include industry and business specific procedures, processes and problem-solving approaches. In the employment market, every company and industry seek industry ready or technical ready managers as it helps companies and the manager to work more efficiently and boost their confidence level (Suleman 2018). Computer and digital skills come first when one needs to develop their technical skills as these days competence in these two factors are essential to sustain in employment. While giving presentations, writing a business plan and making budgets on spreadsheets using MS Office tools or similar software, I must know how to handle and execute the jobs effectively and relative fast as compared to other candidates. If I become successful then I will be getting the job. Besides, data analytics is another key skill that managers require massively. With the help of data analytics, it may be useful for me to derive perceptions about sales projections, budget allocation and customer satisfaction rate which can be used for effective business planning for the organisation to achieve goals. In addition, project management is one more skill that I need to be developed as an organisation in these days are flexible towards change as projects are regarding innovation, divergence and renovation. Thus, with the application of effective project management skills, I could perform activities to achieve the project requirements proficiently.
While giving a presentation in class and making a conventional map through the Microsoft office tool, I have identified some important skills gaps which can hinder my ability to become employable for corporates. The first skill gap in which I have identified myself and from my peers is my communication skills. During the presentation, I feel a bit nervous and stutter with words which affects my confidence level and the way I must speak during the presentation. This is unusual and only happens when I face a large crowd or being on stage for performing. I felt it is a very challenging skills gap that I must work on to get rid of it. I have registered myself with leading speech therapy classes and personality development courses besides regular business management courses. I have been asked to read aloud for at least 30 minutes and after that, I had to deliver a speech in front of around 50 people. It has reduced my stage fear and increased my confidence level by doing the activity more frequently. On the other hand, enrolling on a personality development class that lasted for 3 months have taught me how to use positive body language, what is the importance of it and how to show empathy and confidence while communicating with the opposite person. With this method and strategy put into place, I have successfully filled my skill gap of communicating effectively (Alshare and Sewailem 2018).
Leadership Skills
Furthermore, I have learnt that when my teacher asked me to create a group for a role play and be the leader of the group, I face many challenges in collaborating with the team, guiding them and influencing them to reach the team goals within the given time. This had indicated that I possess an essential skill gap in leadership which is a vital factor to include in the skills development phase to become a successful business manager. I have gone through many theoretical studies available in the university and college library, read all the relevant literature reviews from scholarly journals, books and articles. Besides, I have practised in front of my friends while conducting class farewells which needs leadership to allocate tasks to every group member and execute the plan accordingly. With the performance of such activities, I have developed the leadership skills gradually and after frequent practices, I have established enough confidence within me to lead a team to execute a task effectively (Abbasi, Ali and Bibi 2018).
Starting from the position as a business manager and within four years I want to see myself as VP of the company. My determination, focus on studies and alignment of my skills with academics will help me to reach my goal effectively. I will be applying several relevant theories that will guide the achievement of my career planning goals. I am goal oriented, mix up with people and respect every culture and tradition as my own because I think respecting other cultures gives a sense of belongingness to the global context and it gives a feeling of being in one big family. I prefer and embrace diversity and inclusion culture incorporate and I assume that a corporate culture rich in diversity and inclusion will suit best me as per my values are concerned. On the other hand, the career theories that are covered in our course will also help me achieve my set goal effectively. By applying Krumboltz’s planned happenstance theory and trait-and-factor career theory, it has efficient influence my career planning. According to a study by Valickas, Raišien? and Rapuano (2019), evolution from the academic background to the raging employment market needs more personal possessions than ever before. The author has explained that the concept of Krumboltz’s planned happenstance theory presents a set of skills to effectively deal with unplanned events which are generated by a confused environment around (Valickas, Raišien? and Rapuano 2019). In addition, the author also defines that these career related possessions are critically important for students who are following effective variation to professional atmospheres and looking to prepare for individual career management (Valickas, Raišien? and Rapuano 2019). Overall, it asks one to pay attention less to having particular plans for their future and more regarding identifying opportunities in unplanned events.
On the other hand, applying the trait-and-factor career theory has also helped me to get influence my career plans. According to the trait-and-factor career theory, it is possible to measure both personal talents and the qualities needed in specific jobs (Churnia, Afdal and Yusuf 2021). Besides, it also undertakes that an individual can be matched to a job profile that will be best suited. With this theory, it can be assessed that my traits and the skills needed for a particular job such as a business manager can be measured based on required criteria and would effectively plan my career progression.
The recent global coronavirus pandemic has shown how epidemics can affect career planning. With the disruption of almost all sectors ranging from education to corporates, all of them are affected due to countrywide lockdowns and restrictions in transportation. Similarly, if this type of pandemic arises in the future, it would adversely affect my career planning as there will be disruption in continuing study and access to proper education (Parola 2020). Besides, with closures of company operation, there will be fewer job opportunities to hunt for. In addition, with these variations, corporates can limit their intake of new talents to cut costs and recover their economies that are affected due to global pandemics like Covid-19. This states that keeping in mind these factors are essential while making a career plan.
Conclusion
The stated career plan has the potential to ensure success in achieving my career plan. By applying certain career theories will guide me through my career planning as well as progression. However, I need consistency and more focus towards practical learning, besides giving importance to theoretical concepts as well. Overall, by adopting and following the stated plan will benefit me in the future and will also help me provide guidance to accomplish my career goal effectively.
References
Abbasi, F.K., Ali, A. and Bibi, N., 2018. Analysis of skill gap for business graduates: managerial perspective from banking industry. Education+ Training.
Alshare, K. and Sewailem, M.F., 2018. A gap analysis of business students’ skills in the 21st century: a case study of Qatar. Academy of Educational Leadership Journal, 22(1), pp.1-22.
Briddick, W.C., Sensoy-Briddick, H. and Savickas, S., 2018. Career construction materials: the story of a career development curriculum in a Turkish school. Early Child Development and Care, 188(4), pp.478-489.
Bulilan, R.S., 2020. Awareness and Implementation of Career Development Plan towards Job Performance and Satisfaction of Employees.
Churnia, E., Afdal, A. and Yusuf, A.M., 2021. Career Guidance Services: Trait and Factor Career Theory Analysis. SCHOULID: Indonesian Journal of School Counseling, 6(2), pp.102-111.
Griffith, J.A., Baur, J.E. and Buckley, M.R., 2019. Creating comprehensive leadership pipelines: Applying the real options approach to organizational leadership development. Human Resource Management Review, 29(3), pp.305-315.
Parola, A., 2020. Novel coronavirus outbreak and career development: a narrative approach into the meaning for Italian University Graduates. Frontiers in psychology, 11, p.2255.
Suleman, F., 2018. The employability skills of higher education graduates: insights into conceptual frameworks and methodological options. Higher Education, 76(2), pp.263-278.
Tang, K.N., 2020. The importance of soft skills acquisition by teachers in higher education institutions. Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences, 41(1), pp.22-27.
Valickas, A., Raišien?, A.G. and Rapuano, V., 2019. Planned happenstance skills as personal resources for students’ psychological wellbeing and academic adjustment. Sustainability, 11(12), p.3401.
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