How to increase your Employability Quotient?

How to increase your Employability Quotient?

Just a degree in the subject you are studying is not enough to make you a desirable employee today as the competition in the career sector is just getting worse everyday. Qualities other than the percentage of marks are highly appreciated. Additional qualifications and experiences increase the count of skills in your resume and thus, increase the probability of you getting selected in work places of quality.

You may ask how scoring well in a particular subject is not enough. It is enough if you just want to get placed, but it is not if you want to be considered as a grown-up, alert person and employee. And these habits are better developed when you are young and a student, when the mind stays most eager to absorb new things.

1. Become a voracious reader: That is said about practice. And reading is also one. A formal education gives us formal knowledge but the contemporary or period practical scenario can be known from the written records. Reading expands the horizon of our knowledge like nothing else and it is wise to read every kind of literature without any distinction, be it magazines, newspaper, novels, comics, travels and self-help books, etc.

2. Use Internet productively: Reading does not necessarily have to be only from books or any other kind of hard copy. This is the era of internet and almost everything has a copy of it on the world wide web database. They even come for free and can be accessed much more easily from any part of the world. Rather than scrolling down the unproductive updates on the social-networking websites, reading both knowledgeable and interesting stuff online enhances one's outlook.

3. TV can be a source of learning: Watch television but for constructive purposes. Watch channels that will contribute to your outlook like History, National Geographic, etc. Channels playing films, series can also be watched from an academic point of view, analyzing the making of those pieces of art.

4. Practice speaking well: No matter how extraordinary your ideas are, they will not reach another if you fail to express them. Learn to communicate in at least one language, especially in English, properly. And conveying more ideas in less words is always appreciated. Developed soft skills is a one of the most sought after qualities in a candidate.

5. Build upon your confidence: Many interviewers and recruitment panels check the confidence level of the candidate rather than his/her knowledge about the subject. Fumbling while giving the right answer is worse than telling a made up one with no worries on your face.

6. Work while you are stuying: Being a student, most of the times, is not a full-time job. If you want more productivity than leisure, take up some small work in your campus's computer cafes, libraries, restaurants, laboratories or, better still, in NGOs. Working part time in your or even some other industry can add more feathers to your resume and will give you some extra rupees to spare. Even if the money is not there, the experience will always count.

7. Foreign language can help: Ludwig Wittgenstein had said, “The limits of my language are the limits of my world.” And limiting your world can be fatal when it comes to competing with the world. Learning a foreign language makes you cover more books, understand foreign cultures.

8. Extracurricular makes you extraordinary: Having a certificate, even an informal one, in something that is totally out of your syllabus, shows your versatility. Indulge sometimes in varied activities because you are always more talented and capable than you think.

9. 'A goal without a plan is just a wish': Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's quote says it all. Without planning your day to day life, it is very difficult to finish anything in time. To plan for your goal, you have to start with planning your day.

10. Not a party animal, just social: It is not necessary to get involved in every gathering you encounter. But being asocial keeps you from meeting new people and developing new skills and contacts through interaction. A warm conversation in a social gathering is the best way to get warm social acceptance. This also improves your social skills and makes others, even interviewers, feel comfortable around you.

Strike when the iron is hot. Your tender mind of a student can take up habits more easily than the mind of a professional. Along with certificates, these skills will provide you with more and better chances of employment. Starting today, is what we suggest!