There is no one-size-fits-all way to obtain your diploma. There is no single type of person that is perfectly fit for seeking further education. Anyone, with a variety of different skills and experiences, can access higher education and earn a diploma qualification. Best of all, you can utilise the skills and experience you may already have and translate those into a diploma.
The beauty of being an individual is that everybody has a variety of skills and talents that they can use to their advantage. When it comes to gaining your diploma, honing your skills and acknowledging what you are good at can help you in choosing the path that is the right fit for you.
Let’s explore your life skills and qualities
Leadership
Parents are rightly celebrated for their exceptional life-skills. They develop excellent strategies for time management, leadership, and productivity, all of which come from coordinating a household and raising children. When there are so many individual tasks that need to get done in a day, parents learn to refine these skillsets day after day.
These talents would easily suit a human resources or project management diploma. People in these careers work well under pressure, are flexible, and detail-orientated. The discipline and people skills learned from being a parent are easily transferred into these areas and those that are similar. Earning a diploma takes time and dedication. Being able to organise your time and your studies, like you would organise your children and their schedules, will make you more successful at completing either of these diplomas and more.
Creativity
Your ability to think about tasks and problems through a variety of lenses and perspectives is an immense strength. Creative personalities can think of solutions that were not the first or obvious choice. They are good at considering things outside of the box and turning situations around.
Their strengths would be well suited to any number of diploma qualifications, including business, project management, and construction management. All of these diplomas and careers ultimately need a person who is a flexible thinker and able to stay calm under immense pressure.
Diplomatic
Having the emotional intelligence to evaluate all situations and respond accordingly is an incredibly powerful and useful skill to possess. People with these skill sets are often very rational and forward-thinking. They are natural leaders because of their ability to assess jobs and scenarios thoroughly. They will often raise a hand to complete outstanding operational tasks, but are also excellent at delegating tasks to their teams.
Many outstanding diplomas would suit that skill set. A diploma that would lead to a managerial position, like project management or business, would be ideal. You can showcase your leadership skills, apply your emotional intelligence to a variety of situations, and also demonstrate your ability to focus and get work done.
Planning
Organisation is one of the most helpful skills, not just for your education, but in life. You are the type of person who takes charge and who likes to be in control. You are on top of everything that needs to get done, and what is on everyone else’s schedules as well. You are good at staying on task and can get tasks done yourself or hand them over for someone else to complete.
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Suitable diplomas that would match your attributes include human resources, business management, procurement, or project management. If you also enjoy being outdoors and hands-on, then the building and construction management diploma is a good choice. If you work well with a variety of personality types, then you might like the more interpersonal nature of human resources or marketing and communications. In saying that, you are also exceptionally good at seeing projects through to completion and ensuring the responsible party has covered all aspects of a task. You would do well at handling stakeholders, employees, suppliers, and more in a business or project management role.
Your current job experience
1. RPL
Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) goes a long way in assisting someone who is looking to complete further study. Most higher-learning organisations will assess your previous undertakings and credit them towards a new formal qualification that you are hoping to complete. Any relevant aspects of your previous training or experience will be taken into consideration and put towards your RPL, even if you work in a relatively new or small industry. The benefits that come from receiving RPL credits can be reduced course length, subject exemptions, or credits in other forms.
2. Highlight results
Your future employers want to see that you are good at what you do and have worked hard to be skilled in your industry. They will appreciate your ability to complete tasks and produce good results. When choosing your diploma, keep in mind the results you have already achieved. What past positions have you held that have led you to see great success? Think of the key duties you were responsible for completing and any other tasks that fell to you.
From there, you need to decide where it is you need improvement. Were you getting solid personal results and feedback, but when you led a team, the outcome wasn’t as good? Perhaps you need a Diploma in Leadership & Management (BSB50420) to round out your knowledge and expand your career potential. Consider qualifications that take the great results you naturally produce and apply them to a wider scenario.
3. Soft skills matter
Haven’t been in the workforce long enough to show hardcore figures and statistics about your success as yet? Don’t worry, because they aren’t the only skills that matter. People sometimes think that “soft skills” aren’t as important or credible as your qualifications or results in a previous job. Whether it is your problem-solving skills, your communication skills, or your ability to think critically, your existing soft skills can assist you in assessing what diploma to undertake.
Without statistics and numbers to fall back on, consider the other skills make you equally as qualified. Are you great with people? Have you helped friends and family members through hard times? Are you a great problem-solver? If this is the case, perhaps a career in human resources is what’s right for you.
All diplomas require a varied set of skills, knowledge and experience to create the greatest success. You can take the varied work and life skills that you have acquired and use them to your advantage when trying to turn them into a diploma. Even your age can be an asset in many cases – either as a mature manager or an enthusiastic starter.
Never underestimate the skills that you have gained and your personal life experiences. Additionally, never take your soft skills for granted, as they could make all the difference when it comes to translating your talents into a qualification.
Regardless of where you have come from and the knowledge you have gained, your skills are always valuable to you. Whether you have been working your entire life or are looking to break into the workforce for the first time, your previous experiences can make all the difference to your future success.
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