Are You A Certification Hunter?

The ending of Spring in Johannesburg comes full of life, bringing with it the energy and promise for the hot days and holidays that follow. This is the time of the year when everything comes to a standstill. The time we trade the unforgiving year with the fresh, crisp goals of a new beginning, new hope and new possibilities. No sooner are those hot lazy days of summer ended when the mad scramble for qualifications begins. Anyone and everyone who is able to, will register for some qualification or other. Ironically, this noble cause that should create a nation of career builders, instead produces unacceptably high drop out rates, huge numbers of unemployed, disillusioned graduates and a nation in a critical skills shortage. Something is very wrong!

Whilst the quest for education is a worthy endeavour, it needs a fertile foundation in order to flourish. It needs a functional use of language skills. Currently twenty eight out of twenty nine matrics are functionally illiterate* and yet eighty percent will endeavour to obtain higher education, and fifty percent of those will graduate. We should therefore not be surprised to see graduates from colleges and universities who are unable to convert the knowledge gained into marketable skills. .

The basic requirement of any career is competence which needs communication before education. Competence comes from skills built on knowledge that can be applied. The cornerstone is functional literacy made up of:

• Oracy (speaking and listening with understanding)
  
• Literacy (reading and writing effectively)
  
• Numeracy (ability to understand and use numbers) and
  
• Techno leteracy (e-mail, cell phone, internet).
  

Poor communication ability creates a huge barrier for competence. Therefore, learning to use language efficiently must be the primary aim. Communication comes before qualification.

Here is a simple test - can you:

• Read to understand and follow a set of instructions, or written directions - find an address or a telephone number?
  
• Write a mail that can be understood by another person in the way you intend it - write letters or memos, in different tones?
  
• Listen and clearly understand another person's problem or request - answer a telephonic request that leaves the caller satisfied?
  
• Speak so that the person can understand the solution you present - can you articulate your thoughts and ideas - are you able to persuade, negotiate or inspire another person to your way of thinking?

Learning is essential - lifelong learning is critical - to remain employable. Beware of studying any low demand courses offered by a number of institutions who are badly managed and lagging behind market appetite for skills. They will trap you into these courses in an effort to cover their costs. Many of the 70,000 of unemployed graduates have fallen into just this qualification trap. They have studies courses where there is no demand.

Finally, the purpose for higher education is to provide you with skills so that you can develop competence to meet a prospective organisation's goals. A qualification is not knowledge, it is the potential for knowledge. Knowledge is not skill, it is the potential for skill, skill is not competence, it is the potential for competence. Beware of becoming a 'certification hunter' rather than a 'competence builder'. A piece of paper may get you into the career door but unless you can actually do the job you will be escorted out again.
Become attuned to skills gaps and career hotspots and get skills that are in high demand. This is the only way to recession proof your career. And there is no skill or qualification that is more in demand than communication!