Essay on Academic Skills in Practice

Transferable skills are the skills that students learn in schools and institutions and later on upon graduation start applying it in real life situation. According to Andrew and Higson, higher institutions should produce graduates with essential skills that suit the contemporary job market (Clarke 2017, p.14). The soft skills enable a graduate to improve productivity at the workplace and in daily life. Transferable skills vary from one career to another. For instance, the generic skills in education include communication skills, planning, team building, time consciousness and problem-solving skills. There is an overwhelming concern in the education sector to equip learners with employable skills both at local and international level (Hooker and Whistance 2015, p.22). Many universities and colleges purport to have best measures in place to enable successful power transfer, but the situation is still wanting. It is necessary to use the available resources and set facilities sufficient to achieve the best end results in the transfer of skills.

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The transferable skills are beneficial because they lead to job mobility. Currently, due to ever changing technological, economic, social and cultural dimensions, many opt to change their career programs that will enable them to suit the current job demands. Just like the notion of change and nature, when you can't change for good then life definitely will change you. I will opt to acquire transferable skills as a teacher because it will enable me to be flexible and suitable for various job environments. Additionally, it is also easy to exit a current job and enter a new occupation with easy. For instance, apart from being a teacher and a facilitator, I can switch my career anytime basing on the factors such as classroom boredom (Jones 2013, p.100). Although its hard to change the career as a teacher due to dedication nature of teaching, it is important to have career change when one is not satisfied. A teacher has a superior appeal in most of the job markets because one can shift from being lecturing to counseling, teaching to planning, and teaching to administration, thus making the teacher a jack of all trades. However, change of career basing on the view of other people or admiration can lead one's career life into a ditch. It is always advisable to follow your heart in making decisions because once is responsible for his or her cause of action. The cost of transition constitutes an individual passion, financial capabilities, devotion and time constraint. Therefore, a merit in development will involve choosing the best career that is feasible and cost effective in terms of money, time, passion and dedication. More so, being aware of one's skills and ability is crucial as an initial stage in embarking on a shift in career (Lindberg and Rantatalo 2017, p.265). It is also important to visit online job websites to look for skills that suit your competence. The comparison of soft self-skills with that of employers' needs make is possible to spot a gap in skills hence shading light on the need to develop and cover the missing link. However, while preparing for a resume during a job application, it is important to consider the priority skills as a requirement of a particular job.

Lack of qualifying experience does not doom a person from changing a career. As much as many industries demand an experience that suits their requirements, most employees in business are looking for potential in individuals to increase company's productivity. It is therefore, a duty for a person to show the potential using relevant soft skills. The ability and quality to execute appealing generic skills lay a wider base for employment. Such potential includes the capacity to communicate effectively, demonstrate positive work attitude, and show innovative mind in different industries. For instance, due to continuous development in business technology, employers' use Psychometric testing to determine the behavioral characters of potential employees. It gives results on the personality of an employee, skills he or she possess, and talent rather than basing on the experience. Teamwork is paramount in every business organization; it is an expectation of every company that an employee will work with others as a team to achieve the common objectives and goals of the organization (Maurer and Mawdsley 2014, p.33). Individual contribution in teamwork is valuable in realizing the major purpose of an organization being in business. Sometimes working as a group increases the rate of task completion, and solving group conflict. Leadership skills will entail a big step in determining what makes a great leader. For example, it is important to acknowledge the instances that one had to bear the full responsibility of leading others, the motives behind leading, and task accomplishment. There is also need to consider whether you can delegate duties without making mistakes or seek for help in day to day activities that you lack expertise (Martini and Cavenago 2017, p.19). It is also important to review one's personality as a leader, such as showing charisma in handling issues at hand or ways of improving on it.

The success of transferable skills also calls for personal motivation and time consciousness; career change will require that one makes an urgent priority in tackling the workload. It is crucial to display excellent individual organization skills and time management to prove to employers that indeed you are the perfect match for the job. It is important to lay them down on the cover letter as well as express them during the interview. Time consciousness helps to give tasks to hand the first course of action, though it is important to avoid distracters that can lead to incomplete tasks and lateness. Transferable skills also help in becoming proactive in handling emerging issues before they occur rather than reacting to incidences that have already taken place (Nagele and Stalder 2017, p.740). It is significant to note that different jobs levels have a different degree of stress. Therefore, individual should not put their personal interest and pressure before the company's interests. According to Richard Branson, listening skills are the critical factor that determines employability of people. However, most employers complain about their employees' inability to listen to instructions and adhere to organization policies. Many employment jobs will require keenness and comprehension of the processes taking place within a firm. Failure to be attentive leads to career problems such as costly errors and misunderstanding. It is also easy to miss out on viable opportunities in the job market. Active listening is vital in eliminating attention misconceptions in various workplaces.

The following are the five areas in teaching that can lead to the development of soft skills to become employable elsewhere. Communication skills in making the lesson plans, school and institution reports, time management in prioritizing lesson plans, organizing classroom groups to build teamwork and editing students academic work. A teacher can become an administrator through leadership skills without forgetting the educational qualification. As a teacher, one will give direction on how to run daily institutional activities. Besides, a teacher can decide to advance his or her career into a master, doctorate or Ph.D. level. Improving on the initial academic qualification also leads to the development of stronger soft skills. It also increases the credibility of a person in the employment market. The ability to be a facilitator and a planner in a school setting, it can enable a teacher to become employable as a program director in various organizations, it is possible to work in children care centers, museums, zoos, daycare facilities and national parks. A program director has the responsibility of coordinating both academic and non-academic tasks. Similarly, a teacher can become employable as a curriculum specialist. Research done by the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that most of the curriculum specialists come from education centers (Sarkar, Overton, Thompson and Rayner 2016, p.23). A school curricula specialist has a role in ensuring the education sector has a standardized curriculum recommendable by the international standards; assess the effectiveness of teaching standards in institutions and the usability of instructional materials. Most of the employees in this sector possess the masters' degree. A teacher can become a corporate trainer besides his or her significant role. Companies always keep the employees updated through in service activities. A teacher qualifies to t6rain such employees on the emergence of the new protocol, policies, and technologies relevant to their field of specialization. A teacher is a preferred candidate to select as an employ because of proficient skills in instruction, the will to help others and strong capacity to apply various teaching strategies suit different levels of intellectuals (Sumarwati, Yunos and Ibrahim 2017, p.969). A teacher can become a corporate trainer in the financial organization and banking system. He or she can train on the stock exchange and Forex. Likewise, the development of transferable skills can be through the nature of the vocation program. For instance, most courses in business studies give a person an opportunity to chair meetings, an active component of team leadership. However, not every graduate from the university or college can practically display the transferable skills in the outside world, since it is a duty of every person to develop personally. It is a personal responsibility for everyone to exercise such skills, a sacrifice for a successful career shifting.

Personal development is important because it provides an opportunity to discover the potential of one in job opportunities. It is an attractive attribute to human resource managers since it indicates a sign of possibility to change when in a time of need, flexibility increases job adaptation to new business risks. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of an individual leads to high personal awareness. It is also important to note that the current career opportunities require high competence in computers skills and knowledge on the latest technology (Tomlinson and Tomlinson 2017, p.340). The basic information technology skills such as the use of spreadsheet, word processing, and other IT software programs puts a person in the best career opportunity and employment. It is also important to realize the usefulness of information technology in business to develop a technological mindset in carrying out duties and responsibilities.

Conclusion

To stand out victorious and unique in career shifting as a result of generic skills, we need to be clear on the value of education and personal efforts in acquiring valuable skills. It is not a guarantee that sole education purpose is to transfer skills from one generation to another. Year in year out has seen universities discharge a flux of graduates into the job markets, hence leading to a pool of corporate skills. Excessive supply of graduates into the job market can be manageable if the new graduates receive knowledge on how to acquire and exploit transferable skills for a better choice of career and employment. One of the best courses that lead to the insights of soft skills includes humanities, social sciences, and arts. An increasing demand of employers in the job market has shaped the view of quality pertaining universities. The focus has shifted from the transfer of knowledge to the development of practical skills that can be useful in solving problems basing on intellectual. The ability to adapt to new environment, work as teams, embrace diversity, demonstrate strong p...