Am I a Professional?

Professionalism seems to be a simple & easy going attitude at our workplaces for our youth. Despite its being imperative for individuals working at different organizations, institutions & companies we consider professionalism as something acquired automatically during our course of study at our colleges/universities. 

The reality is quite different from this assumption. Students unfortunately do not understand & realize the intricacies in becoming a professional in the real sense especially in practical life.

Working & earning as an independent individual & contributing for one’s family is an obsession which each one of us carries during our course of study. Coming out of our educational settings with enthusiasm, urge & energy to serve keeps all of us on our toes to look for the right kind of job.

Being a student we never realize & perceive that life is extremely treacherous & benefiting at the same time. It depends on our own sense of judgment & hope that we acquire & achieve whatever we wish or visualize.

We leave our educational institutions & enter into pragmatism with high hopes, energy, enthusiasm, honor & dignity with enlightenment in our eyes & heart to serve & achieve. We are all passionate to lead, manage, persuade and communicate for our acknowledgement as a professional.

We make ourselves ready for the interview day like anything. A quick shower, best dress, best perfume, little makeup etc & you are on your way to perform. You reach there in time as you have already worked out the distance & time taken to be there to avoid being late. You have been asked to wait for your turn as other candidates are also in line.

Finally you are being called to appear for an interview. You are being tested on your diversified skills & competencies through various questions. You being smart & intelligent responded appropriately & qualified for the job. Your selection has given you a sense of achievement & motivation to reach the optimum level of excellence within no time. You now have the opportunity to prove yourself as a professional devotedly.

It’s your first day at work & you took charge of your duties & responsibilities with great fervor. One day you were not feeling well & you didn’t reach office in time, as you reach office after two hours delay you resume your work quietly & thought you are not being noticed & you carried on with your work.

Next morning you again felt bad in stomach, headache or temperature you were unable to reach office therefore you preferred to stay home & take rest. Next day you reach office, everybody among your colleagues asked about your absence from duty & you described your illness. You didn’t report anything to your boss as you are scared of being caught.

Your boss called you in his/her office & asked about your absence, you repeated the same story but there was just an intimation of remaining careful in future from your boss. He offered you a cup of tea & you thought what a pleasant personality he/she is who is so compassionate & kind to you.

Days, weeks & months go by & you carried on with your work. One day you received a call from another job & you responded positively. You have to appear for another interview during your working hours therefore you requested for a break. You didn't tell anyone about your new opportunity at other place & you went on for it. You got selected there too but now you are confused whether to keep the previous job or take up the new one. Finally you reached a decision to take up the new challenge & explore it. Now the issue which stands in front of you is what to do with my previous employer? How to tell him that I’m leaving? What should I say? Which excuse is the most appropriate one?

You stopped going to your previous job & joined at the new one. Your new job although paying more but requires more working hours & higher level of accountability as well, which makes you uncomfortable sometimes. This frequency of accountability rises with the period of time. Now you start remembering your previous job which used to give you more autonomy & empowerment as you were the in charge of your department.

Your days & nights become restless & stress grows with every passing minute. You received calls from your previous employer asking about your absence from work but you didn’t respond to his phone calls. Eventually you are fired from the previous job by being irresponsible.

One day one of your colleagues at your previous job came to visit you & inquired gently about your absence from the job. The first thought which came to your mind was to create a fictitious story but ultimately you realized that there’s no use of lying. Eventually you narrated the whole event positively & honestly to your friend. He suggested few points to ponder as he considers you as a fresh person in job.

He gave few examples from his own work experience & narrated how he has to pay the price of losing both the jobs at the same time when his present employer inquired about his track record from the previous one. Such type of attitudes & behaviors are considered as unprofessional by every employer.

There are many among you who are very well qualified, trained & skilled but unfortunately due to lack of professional attitude towards their work they tend to lose their dignity & honor at their workplace and sometimes have to pay the price in the form of losing a good job as well.

I would like to suggest few ways of becoming a successful professional in your future:

Learn a lesson from each & every mistake you make

Take permission from your senior before going for any kind of leave

Use the method of communication & discussion before taking any action

Inform your heads even if you are coming late

Develop the habit of writing an application for any kind of incentive you want to acquire

Avoid mixing your personal relationships with your professional commitments at workplace as it spoils your reputation.

Avoid procrastination as much as you can

Try to remain organized and planned for your tasks

Always be polite, compassionate, kind but firm at the same time to be a successful professional.

These are just few experiences to share but there are many more too. I hope the above mentioned suggestions would definitely help fresh professionals to be successful ones at their workplaces whether belonging to corporate sector or non corporate sector.

Professionalism is not a trait which can be learnt overnight rather it need to be practiced at our daily routine tasks which is the only method of turning us into prosperous & thriving professionals of contemporary era.