Level up your skills

July 15 is World Youth Skills Day. Many people do not know about this day; I myself only found out by chance when I came across a poster advertising vocational skills training classes for young people that is “running” to attract students on Facebook. I do not know what those classes teach, but whatever they teach must be useful, because skills are considered the weakest link for a large number of Vietnamese youth today.

Skills (the online community likes to write in English as “skill”), are the sum of abilities, knowledge, and capacities that a person possesses and uses skillfully to solve a specific job or problem. We are certainly familiar with the terms: soft skills - skills that are not directly related to expertise but are very important in thinking, communication, behavior...; professional skills; self-management skills; social skills - the ability to listen, understand, negotiate, resolve conflicts, interact and cooperate with others in work and life; technology skills... After many years of working in an environment with many young people, I have noticed that many of them are very good, even frankly assessed as being particularly excellent in professional skills and technology skills - something that the previous generation had to work for many years to gradually improve. However, many of them are somewhat limited in soft skills, self-management skills, and social skills.

Talking about skills sounds big, but in fact, skills are the attitude and behavior of young people in work, life, daily communication, with themselves and those around them. In the office environment, it is not uncommon to see the elderly busy cleaning up after a party, while a few young people finish eating and stand up to return to their seats, they clearly assume that it is not their job, that the company does not pay them to do that. Around the desks of many young people, the corners of the table legs, under the water glasses, computer mouse pads... are covered with dust and dry food scraps, while their owners are wearing nice clothes and wearing fragrant perfume. Walking in the company hallway, if they see a piece of scrap paper, a candy wrapper... scattered, the reflex of many young people is to step aside and continue walking, few people know how to bend down to pick up the trash and put it in the bin. All of these are soft skills: demonstrating a civilized lifestyle from the smallest things.

Many of you do not understand that civilization does not come from how much the clothes you wear cost, which brand of limited edition shoes you are wearing... but civilization is where you live and work every day, where you eat and drink, where you lie down and sit, must always be neat, tidy, clean, and fragrant. That cleanliness is not to deal with the eyes of the world or to buy a reputation with colleagues and partners, but even when no one is looking, it is still necessary to ensure the same quality. From cleanliness in terms of hygiene in particular to cleanliness in work and life in general, doing everything neatly, finishing everything, solving difficulties, living happily, it is said that, that is the most essential skill that many young people do not fully understand and lack.

Many small and medium-sized business owners also complain that recruiting young staff today is too difficult! It is not because of a shortage, there are many unemployed young people, there are many students with free time during the summer break, but there are not many who are patient enough to do manual labor and endure work pressure. When applying for a job as a marketing staff, coffee shop, fashion store... and hearing that they have to work the noon and evening shifts, they immediately refuse, because "At noon I have to rest, and at night I am busy going out with my girlfriend!". After working as a supermarket saleswoman for less than a month, hearing customers complain a few times about miscalculating bills, feeling bored, they quit because "too much pressure". Working as a bakery assistant, struggling with flour, sugar, butter, milk... 8 hours a day is unbearable because "there is too much cleaning, my hands are wrinkled"... There are countless funny and sad reasons that young people give to refuse jobs, making business owners fed up! It is also very difficult to instruct them, because many young people today have very high egos. Whenever they feel pressured, uncomfortable, dissatisfied, or even a little upset, they immediately quit their jobs, not caring about recognizing and improving their own life skills.

Developing skills for young people is a long story, and the first chapter and the one who decides the ending of that story are the parents. Today's young generation mostly enjoys a fairly full material and spiritual life, rarely goes hungry or lacks clothing, and their needs are often quickly met by their parents. Therefore, they lack patience, perseverance, motivation, effort, have excessive self-confidence, maintain a selfish lifestyle, focus on form, and love to do great things, but rarely know how to build from small things. Therefore, from the time their children are young, parents must play the role of a guide, orienter, role model, and teach their children basic skills in studying, working, and living.

After all, when you grow up, if you lack those skills, at some point, you will learn them; it's just that life will teach you at a very high price!