The more we learn, the better we embellish the relevancy of our life!
Professional development involves not only formal education, but also additional training, and certification for one to boost skills, enhance employability and meet their career goals In the journey of professional development, one should ideally not only earn the basic concepts of the career field, but also learn problem-solving, decision making, effective communication, developing assertiveness, listening, public speaking, and many more.
HLE (Home Loan Expert Nepal), an Australian mortgage industry, which is one of our supporting organizations, organized a professional development program from 17th August 2022 to 30th September 2022. The sessions comprised Public Speaking and Communication Skill, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, Teamwork and Leadership, Basics of Australian Mortgage Industry, Growth Mindset and Customer Services and Time Management and CV building.
Public Speaking and Communication
The first session was on public speaking and communication. This session was really beneficial for both personal and professional life. The activities were connected to the workplace environment. We got to learn more about communication and public speaking tips and techniques. We grasped many ideas which could be even put into our practice. The workshop was very interactive and at the same time very informative. It is obvious that our communication skills cancritically affect what we want to achieve. We learned what a great speaker must possess for effective communication – including body language, confidence, content articulation, and audience connection. Further, here are some highlights of our learning:
- We learned about various forms of communication, including written, visual, and nonverbal. Verbal communication is all about speaking whereas non-verbal communication includes body language, facial expressions, and vocalizations. Written communication comprises words, symbols, and numbers and visual communication uses photography, paintings, drawings, sketches, charts, and graphs.
- We understood more about business communication. Business communication is the exchange of information both inside and outside of an organization and we must be aware that effective business communications must be clear, concise, and consistent.
- We gathered some ideas on howto put these skills into practice in the real competitive world.
Critical Thinking and problem solving
I was really looking forward to this session because I have felt that problem solving has been one of my weakest points. Problem-solving and critical thinking are very familiar terms, but we are unable to put them to practice in our daily lives. This session has provided me with ways I can improve at problem-solving. Evaluating the information at hand, facts and evidence searching, observations, and arguments are major parts of critical thinking. It’s a reasonable reflective thinking which mainly focuses on deciding what to believe and what not to believe. Critical thinking is very important wherever we go or whatever we do.
At the session, we learned to follow the following steps to improve at critical thinking. First of all, we need to identify the problem or issue, then create inferences on why the problem exists and how it can be solved after that. We need to collect information on the issue through research, and organize them. Then, we need to develop solutions, and analyze the best alternative. The next step is to select potential solutions and put them into practice and finally we need to properly implement the solution to solve the problem.
Thus, from the session, I achieved the following:
- Learned to think critically.
- Learned ways to implement the potential alternatives in our day to day life.
- Familiarize with procurers of critical thinking.
- Gathered more confident to resolve my problem on my own.
CV writing and Interview Training
A curriculum vitae (CV) is a detailed document that describes one’s employment qualifications. Applicants often use a CV to highlight their academic and professional achievements. It is used while applying for jobs in industries that demand a person’s particular training or experience. It promotes your abilities and experience while showing your suitability for the position. In the competitive job market of today, the first impression is often regarded as the last impression.
This session was really an important session since, CV is a key way to put an upstanding impression on anybody. This session has assisted us to make a flawless CV according to the needs of the career field and respective market. We also learned about cover letters, which is a letter of introduction that is attached along with another document like resume or curriculum vitae.
The things that we grasped from this session are:
- When writing a CV, we should keep it short (1-2 pages) and sweet.
- We should use a consistent tone, short sentences, action words, and an easy-to-read style. Furthermore, we need to use formal tone and update it whenever it feels necessary.
- While designing the CV, we need to avoid unnecessary and distracting graphics. Keeping it simple will help your CV look clean, professional and easy to read.
- We need to be very familiar with cover letters, including what they are, how to write them, and their importance.We got to know about different sorts of interviews, the most typically asked interview questions, and the STAR interview technique.
Time and Stress Management
Time and stress management are other important skillsfor our lives. It can be very difficult to balance time and stress at the same time, but time and stress management are very essential to increase our productivity and to balance between our personal and work lives. This session was conducted virtually, so we did a small activity with music and breathing exercises to bring calmness inside us. I learned about five time management principles which have also helped me to manage my timetable..
I also learned about the value of doing some exercise on a daily basis to reduce our stress.
Some outcomes from the session:
- We learned about various aspects of stress and the ways how to handle them.
- We are now very familiar with time management principles.
- We learned many tips and tricks to manage our time and to reduce our stress.
Growth Mindset & Customer Services
The last day of the session was about Growth Mindset and Customer Services. We were very much excited for this session since we had the closing ceremony of the sessions on the same date.
The term “growth mentality” refers to a perspective on difficulties and failures. Even if we struggle with particular skills, people with a growth mindset think their abilities aren’t fixed and they have the belief that they can improve their skills and intelligence through time. This mindset can affect performance, attitude, behavior, action and results. This session included very enjoyable and informative activities. As an exercise, we discussed our failure in different scenarios and our mindset attached to it. This helped us to understand the root cause for our failure.
Similarly, customer service is the assistance you provide to your clients from when they first get in touch with you until months and even years later. Customer service is essential for the success of any organization. We discussed our personal experiences regarding customer service, which was both relatable and informative.
Outcomes from this session:
- We learned about mindset, its types and cycle of mindset.
- We gained more clarity about the growth mindset and fixed mindset. I believe, now, I am capable enough to know which mindset is better for me.
- We have been reminded that the consequences of life are significantly influenced by mindsets.
- We have learned that customer service encourages client loyalty and simplifies employees’ tasks.
We are very thankful to HLE Nepal for such wonderful professional development training. We really appreciate the valuable input made towards our development. This program taught us a lot of useful skills. We, the Samaanta Fellows, are already trying our best to implement them in the best possible manner. The sessions provided will make quite a difference in the future of students like us who are soon going to compete in this professional world. I genuinely believe that this experience has helped me a lot and enhanced my problem-solving, decision-making, communicating, presenting, and listening skills.
Thank you HLE Nepal!