There is no denying the fact that because of rapidly growth of humanity, a modern society provides a huge amount of different jobs. For instance, a person can be a teacher, an engineer, a manager, or choose a specific and complicated position. Despite the huge differences between these occupations, all of them are well-known and recognized by society. However, there are some hidden jobs that deserve some words here. A good illustration here is a mother’s work. It is often taken for granted; nevertheless, it also demands special knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) from women around the world.
But there is another interesting hidden job that I must consider. Students also can be analyzed as employees because of the several reasons. First, they have a lot of duties that they must do on a regular basis in order to achieve better results and get a diploma. Second, these people have to meet special KSAs. Finally, student’s grades form their compensation package.
Recognizing these facts, the main aim of this paper is to look deeply into this issue and explore an ordinary student as a modern employee. In order to implement this task, a general student’s job description, KSAs, as well as list of special trainings and developmental activities that should be provided in this case are included in this essay.
Job Description
Truth be told, there are a lot of responsibilities that are required for a student as an employee. The most valuable of them are listed as follows.
All students have to attend their classes on a regular basis and according to the appropriate schedule. In terms of regular worker, each organization or company has its own working hours and its employees must follow them. Any violations of this process lead to different negative issues for a person. Student’s working place is a university campus. Therefore, working hours can be flexible and depend on the special day of the week. Nevertheless, such agenda is obligatory and compulsory one.
Besides, students also must participate in different college or university’s events and activities. In fact, this is an equivalent of corporate culture. For instance, each educational institution has its own sport teams, annual events, and other extracurricular activities. Participation in them makes student more successful and provide additional bonuses for a future promotion.
Each student has a student advisor. This person is extremely important for a thriving study process. Therefore, interaction with him/her and following his/her recommendations are compulsory for a student. Effective cooperation will bring a fascinated outcome. For instance, a student may attend more useful classes, cooperate with professor that can help to reach useful knowledge, and solve some important administrative issues without any difficulties.
There is another duty that should be mentioned in this paper. A student must prepare a specific research as a part of his/her graduation process. This issue is very challenging due to the fact that it requires performing several sub tasks during the several years of study. On the other hand, it is also the most important responsibility because it gives an opportunity to get a promotion and to become a graduate.
Taking into account all of these issues, it become obvious that student’s job description is full of important long-term and short-term tasks and duties that require a lot of efforts.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
In fact, each job has a unique set of KSAs that is created by Human Resource Manager and it helps to find the right person for a specific role. Consequently, a student as an employee also has special KSAs that are listed as follows.
Knowledge provides a well-created theoretical basis without proper practical experience (Reh, 2016). According to this fact, student should be familiar with main college rules and activities from a special tutorial or educational book. For instance, he/she must be aware of campus guidelines, classes format, necessary equipment or other important things that are crucial for successful educational process. Besides, students must have a good theoretical knowledge about his/her specific subjects for quick understanding of assignment during the practice.
Skills are based on successful combination of theory knowledge with its practical implementation (Reh, 2016). Thus, student should be able to find and study necessary material as well as solve different practical issues that are based on this information. In addition, it is also valuable for a student to be able to manipulate with personal computer and other prevalent devices. Furthermore, a person must obtain the basic learning tools and methods. Besides, he/she has to be able to demonstrate simple skills such as writing, reading, and retelling necessary data. Moreover, student must perform general calculations without any difficulties.
Some people argues that skills and abilities are the same. But to be frank, they have a very important difference. Abilities are inborn ones; thus, they are used for better selection process (Reh, 2016). For example, a person that has an ability to coordinate a group of people may be a great manager. The main task for a student is leaning. Therefore, those of them who have an ability to understand new information, remember different numbers and important facts, paraphrasing the reading material, as well as making their own conclusion about chosen topic can become successful student and graduate with honors.
Without a doubt, the question about KSAs that are required for a student as an employee is a difficult one to answer definitely because of the variety of major and their features. However, those that were mentioned above can be applied to all modern students in the world.
Training Courses
Nowadays, it is a common fact for a lot of organizations and companies to provide special training for their personnel. In general, these events must help an employee to become a part of the team, learn necessary knowledge, and create better understanding of the manager’s expectations about his/her achievements ("How to develop people & improve performance", 2012). Thus, I propose the next trainings for students.
These ones are basic trainings for typical students; however, it is better to create a special training program for each person separately and based on his/her KSAs, performance, and major.
Developmental Opportunities
Promotion is important for every employee because it shows that all efforts can be rewarded. Students can become graduate ones; but in order to achieve this goal they must perform several steps. Mentor may help to choose the right direction and find developmental opportunities that are necessary in this case. The most important of them are listed as follows.
A supervisor should provide an honest but kind assessment of the student’s current work ("Motivate Staff to Continue Developing Their Skills", n.d.). As a result, a person will see his/her weaknesses and strengths, as well as receive a better strategy for a future.
A mentor also must ask a student about his/her personal expectations and dreams. According to this list, a supervisor can suggest possible solutions. For instance, it can be an attractive internship in the chosen field of study, trying to be a volunteer, communication with a needed professor, or possible transfer to another university for gaining new and vital experience for improving current performance and future promotion.
Conclusion
Therefore, from what have been discussed above, I may safely come to conclusion that being a student is a challenging and complicated task. However, job of the student may become more interesting, brighter and more successful with implementation of job description, KSAs, trainings, and developmental opportunities in it. For instance, a proper job description gives a right understanding of the most important duties and KSAs show the image of the typical student. In addition, training courses make student’s life easier and more comfortable. Consequently, necessary developmental opportunities will create a needed direction for future growth and improve current student’s performance.
References
How to Develop People & Improve Performance. (2012). BusinessZone. Retrieved 14 January 2017, from http://www.businesszone.co.uk/community-voice/blogs/thalestraining/how-to-develop-people-improve-performance
Motivate Staff to Continue Developing Their Skills. Hr.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 14 January 2017, from http://hr.berkeley.edu/performance/performance-management/cycle/motivate
Reh, F. (2016). Understanding the Concept of Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: KSA. The Balance. Retrieved 14 January 2017, from https://www.thebalance.com/understanding-knowledge-skills-and-abilities-ksa-2275329
