§ There is a big difference
between schooling and education:
A lot of people assume that both terms are
interchangeable. All around the world, and especially in Nigeria, your venture
into an educational institution accounts for a schooling; you are trained in a
relatively closed range of subjects, and you are expected to utilise this
information in the wider world.
In truth, you’re going to
need much more than that. An education imparts, not just knowledge, but skills
and judgement as well. This is imparted without recourse necessarily to a
formal school environment. Ninety per cent of the knowledge I have acquired in
my life were completely independent of anything I got in any school. There are
in fact advantages to learning away from the academic environment. The horizons
are broader, the didactic experience is richer and the lessons are more easily
applicable to real-life situations.
Very little of the
technical detail you are taught in school will be actively useful on the
outside, but an education will help you define what portion
is needful. The sooner you realise this, the better.
§ Your certificate is
beautiful, but it is a ceremonial document: So you slaved away, burning a
candle at both ends, guzzling coffee and other stimulants, and you scraped a
First Class degree by the skin of your teeth.
Brilliant. It is testament
to your focus and willpower. It is not, however, a metric of your intelligence
or wits. The ability to think on your feet and solve problems creatively are
what stand out an employee in the workplace. You will not always have the
luxury of an exam time table to prepare in advance, or the benefit of swotting
overnight.
This brings us again to
the first point, about schooling and education. Schooling may drill the
knowledge in, but education gives latitude for self-expression and spontaneity.
It is not helpful to the employer that you need to refresh your memory on your
third year course notes before proffering a solution at a crisis meeting.
§ It’s all about people
skills: When
it comes to succeeding in the workplace, you will need a lot more than an
aptitude for memorizing things. We talked earlier about the ability to think on
your feet. Allied to that, as with all things involving other people in any
kind of organized structure, is the ability to get to grips with politics.
Yes, politics. The biggest
compliment I have ever received from my editor at work is when, after a long
session recording, he said to me, “Have you ever considered being a diplomat?”
The ability to soothe egos
is priceless. Every human being strives for advancement, but you must learn to
balance self-promotion with work relations. A scenario whereby your work begins
to make an immediate superior look bad before his superiors will only breed
animosity and envy. When the shit starts to fly (pardon my French), you need
not look for “village people” on your case, a little diplomacy would have saved
you the aggravation.
Solace H.R
The Publishers
Abugist Blog
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