Go beyond academics

One day, I was talking to someone who was heading for a job interview (one of the areas that I coach executives to excel at) and the vibe I got was that of worry. “How come you seem so concerned?” I inquired.

“You see, the other competitors have better academic qualifications” was the response. My response? “Well, academic qualifications are definitely important and yet there are other things which are considered. Your character, past performance, how you actually handle yourself and respond to questions during the interview on the day – all those count”.

The moral of the story is that some people use academic papers as an excuse to dampen their spirits and that’s unfortunate. Why? Because professional and personal growth is definitely beyond academics.

The reality is, given the two – past results versus current academic qualifications, results will win at least 70 percent of the time. The ideal of course is to have both academics and results. This is also a wakeup call for another category of people who think that just because they have the papers then, a red carpet should be laid out for them. No my friend. Things don’t work that way. You have to prove yourself too.

Qualifications give you an entry, a right to appear before the interview panel as an example. But at the end of the day, whoever is hiring wants someone who is the best fit for the job. Meaning, you can deliver the results.

So, as you work on being a better person, remember that besides academic qualifications, you need to develop other abilities such as team work, resilience, self-drive, results orientation, confidence and other related qualities that will make you shine above the crowd.

Ethan Musolini is the CEO of Success Africa, motivational speaker, HR consultant and success coach.
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