How to build a rewarding career in the private sector job market

"To start a great career, a person should have leadership. To become a leader he/she should have leadership characteristics. But there is nothing called universal leadership characteristics. So anyone can be a leader."

"To start a career you should have energy, willingness and capability to interact" said the Vice Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Dr. Anura Ekanayake, in the monthly Leadership and Career Guidance seminar which organised by Youth Empowerment Division of Bandaranaike Center for International Studies (BCIS) held on September 17 at BCIS auditorium.

Also Dr. Ekanayake said "We did not have benefits like you are having today from organisations like this and when we went for a job after the degree, we did not have any idea about how to face an interview, how to select a career, the required skills for the job. Fortunately nowadays you do not want to use trial and error method."

He mentioned that some traditional education institutes do not prepare their students for the needs of the private sector and still they are exam-oriented and very academic in nature. Exams and academic is important but it is not enough for a career.

He also said that "to start a great career, a person should have leadership. To become a leader he/she should have leadership characteristics. But there is nothing called universal leadership characteristics. So anyone can be a leader."

To be a leader he/she should have some qualities. First thing is a leader must discover what is about themselves that they can mobilize in leadership context.

This means everyone has to figure out what they are good at and how can they inspire people around them, how can they make other people to listen and to follow them. Second thing is followers want to be their leader Authentic. Authenticity means practicing what you breach. If leader won't do that (what they breach) people will loss faith in them.

Third thing is followers want to get a sense of excitement, sense of some significant and want to be a part of something big. Forth thing is leadership is smart at all the time which is changing the leadership styles according to the situation. Winston Churchill is the world famous example for this.

Fifth thing and the important thing is a leader should remember that the leadership is not hierarchical and it is about how a person relates with other people gets them to do things with them. The final thing is a leader must be consistent and coherence. And also he/she must be comfort with his/her self.

End of this qualities Dr. Ekanayake mention three important qualities that a leader should remember all the time. A Leader should have

* A vision

* Commitment ú Deep concern and engagement with followers

He discussed these qualities along with the world famous characters such as Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Winston Churchill etc. When Dr. Ekanayake was talking about Nelson Mandela, he told about eight principles that Mandela used which are,

* Courage

* Inspire others

* Lead from the front

* Know your enemy and learn about their favourites

* Keep your friends close and enemies even closer

* Appearance matters and remember to smile

* Nothing is black and white

* Quitting is also leading

Addressing the Leadership and Career Guidance seminar the Deputy Director of BCIS Buwenaka Samarasekara said that this is an important seminar to the young people.

He also mentioned that in their younger days that they did not have guidance that how to choose a suitable job and benefits that young people are having today.

So in those days they searched and learned about it. But as an advantage nowadays the youth are assisted by the institutions like BCIS and other institutions that help to enhance your skills get experience in certain fields. He also mentioned that when a person goes for a job the employer will go through his/her skills rather than their paper qualifications.

There were so many youth participating in this seminar by representing various organisations such as schools, hotels, companies and youth organisations etc.

The main objective of these seminars is to create a platform for the youth to interact and develop the leadership skills required in the younger generation. Since its inspection the Youth Empowerment Division of the BCIS has been empowering the youth in their activities and has helped many youth develop the skills required to survive in the modern world.

BCIS is organising another Leadership and Career Guidance Seminar in October and the Youth Empowerment Division of BCIS is inviting the young people to participate and to take a grate opportunity to make a network as well as build links with eminent corporate sector leaders in dialog. Further the youth will gain invaluable insight from the speakers on their road to success.