Becoming Globally relevant in the years to come

It has been a long year and a long decade in general. We all have plans for the new year, the new decade. Where you hear people say, “VISION 2020, MAFO”, “2020 na my year”, “I go humble die for 2020”, a lot of funny resolutions. You know, all these cannot come to life, without taking actions.

From that video, a lot of people sought to purchase the popularly expensive benz, but many or most of the seekers were unable to achieve that goal. 2019 has come to an end, new year resolutions coming up, new seasons, new years, new developments and many more. 2019 being a very long year, made a lot of positions and taught a lot of lessons for the years ahead. A lot of unaccomplished goals, a lot of unsettled debt, a lot of stones unturned, due to laziness and procrastination.

Global relevance in your career

We need to stand out as people, as persons, as managers, as accountants, as lawyers, as engineers, as wealth controllers, as whatever you are. Giving yourself GLOBAL RELEVANCE is much more than just having fun. And to be globally relevant, you have to be globally competent and competitive. Globally competent in the sense that you can be relied upon, your competence to deal with issues is not questioned; competitive in the sense that among your counterparts, you can stand out, you gradually give yourself the global relevance that you need.

Global Competence as a key factor in Global Relevance, consists of 4 ingredients. Ingredients that will give you GLOBAL Relevance:

1. Investigating the world: You should be curious to learn about other countries and cultures. Their languages, their food, know things about the global world. Knowledge of this would give you an edge over another who doesn’t know this. Being globally competitive has given you global competence and a stepping stone to global relevance.

2. Recognizing perspectives: You need to be aware that people from other cultures may not share the same views as you, and to appreciate that fact. This is more personal and inter-personal. Respect their beliefs and don’t criticize them openly.

3. Communicating ideas: You can convey your thoughts using verbal and non-verbal techniques effectively to diverse audiences.

4. Taking action: You need to use your global knowledge and skills to get involved in projects that make a difference to the world.

There are areas you should work on to give yourself the global competence and relevance that you need. Let me list the areas you should give yourself relevance in respect of your career.

      Certifications
·         Courses
·         Soft skills
·         Hard Skills
·         Enterprise and Vocation
·         Competitions
·         Taking leadership roles
·         Other skills in aspects of technology, finance, art Etc.
·         Internships, industrial training, SIWES and so much more.
·         Learn languages
.         Others: Effective communication skills, Copywriting, Creativity, Analytical Skills, Project Management, Strategic Thinking, Flexibility and willingness to know more.

Certifications and Courses

As of the old times, certificates were seen as very valid and being way makers. Today, certificates may not be the only ways out, but they are an added advantage. There are some sites that give free certifications on taking some free courses. Some are paid, you can also go for those ones.

1         Coursera
2.       EdX
3.       Khan Academy
4.       Udemy
5.       ITunesU free courses
6.       MIT OpenCourseWare
7.       Stanford online
8.       Codeacademy
9.       Open culture online courses
10.   TED-Ed
11.   Google digital training
12.   YALI
13.   Shawacademy (for January alone)

Soft Skills

These are skills learnt that give you extra value in your profession. Like your dressing, your greeting, your courtesy, the manner in which you relate and so much more. It is a personal skill that is usually interpersonal, non-specialised, and difficult to quantify, such as leadership or responsibility.

You need to develop soft skills for better work experience and a good atmosphere. A lot of people lack these soft skills and it’s one of the things an interviewer looks for in a job seeker. These skills will stand you out and add spice to your global relevance.

Hard Skills

This is about your technical know-how and your skills which are interpersonal. As a music producer, how well do you do it? as a graphics designer, how well do your designs stand out? How good are you? Can your skill stand you out? Can it give you the global relevance that you seek? If not, build yourself, its an ingredient of global relevance.

Enterprise and Vocation

Be enterprising, develop entrepreneurial skills, learn business, be an entrepreneur, build an enterprise. A side hustle can help meet with petty expenses and also help develop you. Skills learnt and the experience gained will cause you to stand out and become globally relevant in the long run.

Competitions

This would apply to majorly students. There are case study competitions, essay competitions and so much more. Get involved, it would give you exposure and build confidence for real life situations.

Taking leadership roles

Yes! Leadership builds the potential in you. The ability to manage, to coach, and deal with human resources – the most complex resources of any establishment, gives you that competence and on a larger scale, global competence.

Other skills in the aspect of technology, finance, Etc.

You can learn coding, programming, website development, forex trading, bitcoin trading, cryptocurrency, digital marketing, and so much more. Learn them, they would be an icing on the cake, very helpful and good for you. Just keep learning and improving your self-worth and your global relevance on the very long run.

Internships, Industrial Training, SIWES Etc.

Internships build our confidence and gives us that acumen for future challenges and real life situations, thinking outside the box is encouraged and many more.

There are some platforms you can visit to help grow your career, find jobs and more.

1      LinkedIn

2      Indeed

3.       Careerealism

4.       Job-hunt

5.       Jobbait

6.       Careercloud

7.       GM4JH

    8.  Personalbrandingblog

9.       Jibberjobber

10.   Neighbours-helping-neighbours

Learn languages

You don’t want to travel out of your country to a strange land and you don’t know their language. You will be lost in the affairs running there. Download a languages app that would help you.

Other skills you must possess include copywriting, analytical skills, Etc. go for them!

Other things you must do as a student for global competence:

1. Watch global news:

Instead of just viewing Indian news channels, you can explore news channels from other countries. Aside from the US and UK, many countries also offer news in English, for example Al Jazeera (Qatar), RT (Russia) and CGTN (China).

2. Download a language app:

There are a range of smartphone apps that help you learn a foreign language. Some popular ones are Duolingo, Babbel and Busuu.

3. Go for low-cost global travel:

Going to other countries doesn’t have to be expensive. Many low budget travellers go back packing, stay at youth hostels (or AirBnB), travel in local trains or busses and prefer to go to smaller towns away from the big cities in many countries. This gives you a chance to really interact with the locals while also being easy on the pocket.

4. Do an internship abroad:

There are a few non-profit organizations that arrange internships in companies or volunteering with NGOs for foreign students. These could be worth investigating.

5. Have a mentor who is of course globally relevant:

“Tratta con quelli che sono miglio de ti e fagili” – Associate with those better than you and pay full expenses.

Whether you choose to become globally competitive with the help of your institution or independently, these capabilities will become even more important over the next few decades and will be a key requirement for your future career success!

Giving yourself that global relevance requires you to be relevant anywhere you may find yourself. You need to give yourself hope at different times. You need to be an ‘hot cake’, you need to be sought after, you need to be happy.

While you are young, educate yourself by observing the real world, learning what it is and how the real people in it act and react. Remember: keep your eyes open, your mouth shut. Shape yourself, acquire the tools, eliminate as nearly as possible the traits that you have that will hinder you. This will require great effort at the beginning; later on, not so.

Enjoy the new year.

Cheers!