"The Team and I"

Brad’s session was an insightful introduction into the importance of teamwork at the work-place. In fact, Brad taught us that at any given time anybody in the team could be a team leader and respectively the roles could change as the agenda of the conversation changes. As a result, anybody could given the chance to contribute to the team’s effort and it helps bring about understanding and communication among the team members.
Above all, Brad’s presentation helped me realise that teamwork is essentially about tolerance, understanding and respect among the team members. Obviously, there could be a certain degree of competition even among the team members; however, a team functions well if the members are willing to advance the interests of their collective will rather than individually.
As Brad said, team members should think in terms of “WE” and in terms if “I”, as most people tend to think!

Stress Management-How to Fight Stress?

Shameen Naidu’s session on stress management was one of the most emotional experiences of this programme for me. Apart from revealing some general information about the causes of stress, stress management and the consequences of stress, she really took us through a stress-relieving practice that left all of us in a good shape after the session.
In fact, the same day I was extremely stressed about something and yet her hypnosis made me feel much better, forget my fears, problems and worries, and look at life from a much more positive perspective. I am looking forward to meeting her again and I will definitely make use of some of these self-relieving exercises in the future.

THE ENTREPRENEUR?

The entrepreneur?
Marius Venter’s session was a very relaxing introductory session into what entrepreneurship really means. By giving us various interesting exercises, he aimed to engage us into an activity that we perform as both entrepreneurs and businessmen. Honestly speaking, prior to his presentation I did not have a clue of what all these complex terms, such as “entrepreneurship,” mean and I was also not interested to know.
However, his presentation and various exercises revealed the number of skills and strategies that we should develop and employ when entering the world of work. In fact, his presentation revealed once again that the process of finding and securing a job is a matter of developing your skills and abilities in various directions. Eventually, you would find a job that does not only test your strengths and abilities in this specific sector or area of expertise, but a job that takes you through a life-training course!

My Friend or my Enemy? "THE CUSTOMER"

Who is in fact the customer? My friend or my enemy?

Aki Kaliatakis’ presentation was extremely insightful to me in terms of revealing new ways to look at the issue of customer care and customer service into the realm of the work-place. Indeed, he illustrated that professionalism into the work-place does not only revolve around being competent about your own product and advertising your service, but also about how you treat your customer. As far as I understood, the way you built up your communication with the customer is completely driven by your own inter-personal skills and attributes.
As much as you can follow your company’s procedures and guidelines in terms of customer service, yet your relationship with the customer should be a reflection of your true-self. And only then the communication and interaction would be real, as much as the smile on your face would reveal the joy and satisfaction you have gained from dealing with that specific customer.
Aki’s presentation was also impressive in terms of the approach he chose to deal and interact with us-his audience. Consciously or unconsciously, we (or maybe I) believed every word that he said. The jokes he made and the references to his own personal life revealed him as an honest and a very pleasant person to me. He really made this session an unforgettable experience for me!

Education and Work! Do they go together?

In today's post I would like to refer to my understanding of the gap between EDUCATION (ACADEMIA) and the WORKPLACE. I agree with some people that education is not necessarily useful and efficient if it has not been applied (anyhow) to the world of work in practical terms. Yet, I believe that all the skills that you have developed throughout your years of education could be found helpful into the world of work one day.

In this sense, I am referring back to a comment that I made earlier in one of my previous blogs. Not always people study a particular discipline, because they believe that they would find themselves solely performing a job in this particular field. Essentailly, EDUCATION has always been a tool for acquiring KNOWLEDGE and SKILLS, and people tend to speculate today that specific education should facilitate only one kind of job. In other words, if you studied B.Com, it necessarily means that you should ultimately end up into a career of accounting or finance.

No, I do not agree. As Roy Blumenthal mentioned before, as Andrew Hofmeyr indicated earlier this week and as Lisa Garson emphasised today, education is in fact a constant process of training, a process of rediscovering your skills and then applying them to the job market. In similar terms, Lesley Emanuel stated earlier that every day is a job-interview day.

In other words, education is in fact a constant process of traning and re-developing your skills, a process of building up your strenghts and abilities in various sectors. When the ancient Greek philosopher, Plato, wrote his dialogues, he made it clear that primarily the purpose of EDUCATION is to provide you with KNOWLEDGE about yourself and about your relationship to the world. He also mentioned that EDUCATION and WORK are not two separate entities, but they are rather inter-linked and you always employ what you have learned before to various practical tasks. Thus, when you are given a certain type of job, the skills that you have learned before will come across in one way or another.

In this sense, I believe that EDUCATION and the WORKPLACE are not separated form each other, they rather co-exist. And as we have discussed throughout our various sessions so far, one does need to look solely at the jobs available that suit his (her) degree and qualifications, but to look at the jobs that suit your strenghts and qualities. In this sense, Ijeoma picked it up very well throughout her blog, illustrating Andrew Hofmeyr' point:

"Expose your qualities, not your qualifications"!

For that reason, I draw particular attention to these few points. All of us, the participants in this program, should remember that all that we have learned so far will not be wasted and it will be useful for us in one way or another. And we should all try and apply those SKILLS and KNOWLEDGE to the world of work somehow. Ultimately, the job-searching process is a process of testing your strenghts and abilities and not necessarily a process of finding whatever suits your degree qualifications.

Me, the Recruiter and the Job

Last week's presentation by Dan Sorrenberg was a key introduction into the job interviewing process. I particularly enjoyed that he shared some of his impressions and expectations of constantly dealing with interviewees throughout his life.

Indeed, his presentation was extremely useful in terms of helping me understand how important is how one behaves before and during the job interview. In fact, your strenghts and weaknesses can come across the interview immediately, but one firstly needs to know what indeed he (she) is capable of. Thus, one needs to be clear of what he (she) expects out of this certain job, why he (she) wants it and whether he (she) would enjoy it. In fact, you should tell yourself constantly:

"Do not lie! Be honest!" (as Dan said).

These issues were indeed elaborated more in today's session presented by members of the CCDU from Wits. For that reason, I make the link between last week's presentation and today's presentation.

Me, the Recruiter and the Job

Last week's presentation by Dan Sorrenberg was a key introduction into the job interviewing process. I particularly enjoyed that he shared some of his impressions and expectations of constantly dealing with interviewees throughout his life.

Indeed, his presentation was extremely useful in terms of helping me understand how important is how one behaves before and during the job interview. In fact, your strenghts and weaknesses can come across the interview immediately, but one firstly needs to know what indeed he (she) is capable of. Thus, one needs to be clear of what he (she) expects out of this certain job, why he (she) wants it and whether he (she) would enjoy it. In fact, you should tell yourself constantly:

"Do not lie! Be honest!" (as Dan said).

These issues were indeed elaborated more in today's session presented by members of the CCDU from Wits. For that reason, I make the link between last week's presentation and today's presentation.

Skills? Knowledge? Do we have them? How do we get them?

Today's session really revealed to me all the key-techniques and small details required in the process of finding a job. In particular, today's session provided a profound insight into the process of preparing for a job interview. On the other hand, the workshop on CV writing was extremely helpful towards preparing one for the different stages in writing your CV.

In this regard, the second part of the presentation highlighted the organisational structure and elements that characterise the process of job preparation. In particular, I realised how important it is for one to know how to prepare for a job interview and what his (her)expectations should be.

The first part of the presentation I enjoyed the most. The group discussion on the variety of skills required for the world of work made me realise some important things.

On the one hand, it helped me understand that the job training process is a lenghty process that involves the development of skills that you have never been exposed to before (as throughout your previous years of education). On the other hand, I realised that there is not a specific group of skills required for a certain type of job, rather any type of job could involve a variety of skills.

For example, a political analyst needs to have good presentation, oral and writing skills. This does not mean, however, that he (she) does not need to have good action-planning or management skills in order to put his (her) knowledge and ideas into practice.

Respectively, a company manager needs to have above all good management and action-planning skills. Yet, he (she) needs to develop good oral and communicative skills as well in order to communicate effectively with his (her) employees.

Eventually, the last thought that comes to my mind is that the job training process is a constant process of improving and developing your skills. In fact, nobody is born with skills, they are rather acquired and developed throughout your life (inside and outside of the workplace).

In this sense, the development of skills is a self-learning process, born out of experience, communication and interaction with others. As a matter of fact, we all learn from each other and there is not a right formula of how one develops a skill. As I said earlier, it is a matter of time and experience!

Today's insights

Today's presentation by Andrew Hofmeyr was a profound insight into the dynamics of the job application process and the world of work training. Indeed, he helped me understand how one can apply his (her) skills to the world of work, no matter what skills these are indeed.

For example, Andrew Hofmeyr talked about how a BA student could be more appropriate for the world of business than a B.Com student due to his ability to think analytically and critically. In this sense, the world of work training seems a long process in which you need to apply all the skills that you have learned throughout your previous years of education-skills that you initially believe that are not relevant to your chosen career or job-related field. As he said, your skills and knowledge can lead you to a career that you expect the least. Therefore, one needs to apply them to a great degree, as he (or she) is not sure what options might arise as a result.

In addition, the exercises that Andrew Hofmeyr asked us to do helped me realise once again the importance of team-work activity as an essential component of the workplace.

Personal Profile

My name is Valentin Tassev. I am twenty-five years old and currently I live and study in Johannesburg, South Africa. I have obtained a BA degree majoring in International Relations and Media Studies, a BA (Honours) degree in International Relations and I have almost completed my MA degree in International Relations.

I am fluent in Bulgarian, English, Russian and Italian. I have also done Latin, ancient Greek, ancient Bulgarian, modern Greek and French. My passion is indeed studying foreign languages and cultures. In particular, i am interested in a career in diplomacy and international relations or any journalism (or publishing)-related field.

I enjoy writing, watching movies and playing soccer in my free time. I hope that the current work-training programme will teach me a lot about the world of work and it will help me to implement myself succesfully into the workplace. Thus, I will try my best to make use of it! So far, it has been really an amazing exoerience for me.

Why Blogging?

My first day at the work training programme has been really an amazing experience. In fact, the idea of blogging seems appealing to me and I find it really an interesting forum for the exchange of information and ideas.

In particular, I believe that blogging helps you establish solid contacts with other people and it is also an extremely efficient tool for finding possible employers. On the other hand, blogging helps you learn from your mistakes through the recommendation of others who had read your comments and ideas and who could express their views on these matters.

Personally, I believe that blogging will help me establish contacts with the other participants in the training programme and exchange infromation on various issues. Yet, i think that the guest-speakers and hopefully some possible employers could learn a little bit more about me through the comments that i make throughout my blogs.

For that reason, i am looking forward to it!