Employability Skill Notes - Part A
Employability Skill Notes - Part A
Employability Skill Notes - Part A
REVISION NOTES
Self Management Skills are those skills that help a person to control his thoughts, wants, feelings and
actions. It allows you to maximize your productivity and performance in various fields of your career.
When we talk about employability, Self-management skills help you to manage a good career path. It
helps you to overcome in many bad situations. Here in this article, we will discuss Stress and Stress
Management Techniques and also we will discuss how to work independently.
Following are some of the skills you must master to succeed in life:
Self-awareness: Ask for honest feedback. Gather insights on your personality and work-specific
proficiencies. Think about your daily interactions and how you handled situations well or could
have handled them differently.
Responsibility: Taking responsibility for your tasks is very important. Taking ownership is the
step towards self-development. For example, if you have been assigned a task by a teacher; ensure
you take complete ownership. Even if you are unable to complete the task on time, you must
report it and then correct it.
Time Management: Prioritise the things you have to do. Remove waste and redundancy from
work. Make a time table and follow it diligently.
Adaptability: Stay current with best practices and read up on new information always. Prepare
yourself for new changes, so that you can transition seamlessly.
What is Stress?
Stress can be defined as our emotional, mental, physical and social reaction to any perceived demands
or threats. These demands or threats are called stressors. Stressors are the reason for stress.
For example,
• you are too close to the exams but feel unprepared.
• you are experiencing a loss of someone close in the family.
• you are worried about what people would think of you if you don’t dress well or cannot speak
confidently.
Stress Management
Managing stress is about making a plan to be able to cope effectively with daily pressures. The
ultimate goal is to strike a balance between life, work, relationships, relaxation, and fun. By doing
this, you are able to deal with daily stress triggers and meet these challenges head-on.
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Management Techniques
Here are a few simple stress management techniques.
Time management: Proper time management is one of the most effective stress-relieving
techniques.
Physical exercise and fresh air: A healthy lifestyle is essential for students. Stress is generally
lower in people who maintain a healthy routine. Doing yoga, meditation and deep breathing
exercises help in proper blood circulation and relaxes the body. Even taking a walk or playing in
the park will help you get a lot of fresh oxygen, which will help you become more active.
Healthy diet: Having a healthy diet will also help you reduce stress. Eating a balanced diet, such
as Dal, Roti, vegetables and fruits will give you the strength to do your daily work efficiently.
Positivity: Focussing on negative aspects of life will add more stress. Instead, learn to look at the
good things and stay positive. For example, instead of feeling upset over a scoring less in a test, try
to maintain a positive attitude and look at ways to improve the next time.
Sleep: We should get a good night’s sleep for at least 7 hours so that your brain and body gets
recharged to function better the next day.
Holidays with family and friends: Going to a relative’s place, such as your grandparents’ house
or a new place during your summer vacations can help you break from the normal routine and
come back afresh.
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify and manage one’s own emotions, as well as the
emotions of others.
Emotional awareness : the ability to identify and name one’s own emotions.
Harnessing emotions : the ability to harness and apply emotions to tasks like thinking and
problem solving.
Managing emotions : the ability to regulate one’s own emotions when necessary and help others
to do the same.
Finding Weaknesses
Point out the areas where you struggle and the things you find difficult to do.
Look at the feedback others usually give you.
Be open to feedback and accept your weaknesses without feeling low about it. Take it as an
area of improvement.
Ability
1. An acquired or natural capacity
2. Enable you to perform a particular job or task with considerable proficiency.
Self-motivation
Self-motivation is simply the force within you that drives you to do things. Self-motivation is what
pushes us to achieve our goals, feel happy and improve our quality of life. In other words, it is our
ability to do the things that need to be done without someone or something influencing us.
Types of Motivation
Internal Motivation – We do things because they make us happy, healthy and feel good. For
example, when you perform on your annual day function and you learn something new, such as
dancing, singing, etc., you feel good.
External Motivation – We do things because they give us respect, recognition and appreciation. For
example, Suresh participated in a 100m race and won a prize. This motivated him to go for practice
every morning.
Building Self-motivation
Find out your strengths
Set and focus on your goals
Develop a plan
to achieve your goals
Stay loyal to your goals
Goals: They are a set of dreams with a deadline to get them, for example, saving pocket money to
buy a favourite mobile phone by a particular date.
Goal setting: It is all about finding and listing your goals and then planning on how to achieve them.
• Specific : A specific and clear goal answers six questions. Who is involved in the goal? What do I
want to do? Where do I start? When do I start and finish? Which means do I use? Why am I doing
this?
Not a specific goal: “I would learn to speak English.”
Specific goal: “I would learn to speak English fluently by joining coaching classes after my
school everyday, and in six months I will take part in the inter-school debate competition.”
Measureable : A measureable goal answers the questions “How much?”, “How many?” and “How
do I know that I have achieved results?”
Not measurable goal: “I want to be rich.”
Measurable goal: “I want to have 5 times more money than what I have today in my hand at the end
of this year.”
Achievable : Breaking down big goals into smaller parts will make the goal achievable. Bigger Goal:
“I want to become a teacher in my school.”
Realistic : A realistic goal would be something that we want to achieve and can work towards.
Example of unrealistic goal: “I will read my entire year’s syllabus in one day and get good marks.”
Realistic goal: “I spend 3 hours every day of the year after school to revise my subjects to get good
marks in the exams.”
• Time bound : A SMART goal should have a timeframe by when the goal needs to be achieved.
This encourages us to take actions to completely fulfill the goals.
ICT skills help us to communicate, run our business and stay connected with our family and friends.
Hence, every person needs to acquire ICT skills and build them to stay updated with the latest
software and applications (apps).
OPERATING SYSTEM
An operating interface between user and computer which directs the processing of programmes and
controls the operation of computer.
Some of the functions of Operating system are:
It supervises all the hardware on a computer and monitors each device’s status, including
whether it’s in use or not.
It also checks whether the device is functioning properly or not.
It also controls software resources of the computer.
It controls how much memory is used by the computer, keeping track of which memory is free
and which memory is being used by which software.
It controls how a computer system’s files and directories are organized.
It keeps track of the amount of disk space used by a specific file.
It allows you to create, copy, move and delete files.
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MENU, ICONS, AND TASK BAR ON THE DESKTOP
The components of Windows are as follows –
Taskbar – The long horizontal bar at the bottom of the screen is called the taskbar. The Start button
is located to the left of the Taskbar, and Date/Time is located to the right. On the Taskbar, you can
also see icons for open programmes and a few shortcuts.
Start button – It is located on the left of the taskbar. Clicking the Start button opens the Start menu
and provides access to programs and features.
Recycle Bin – The user’s deleted files and folders are kept in the Recycle Bin. You can restore
accidentally deleted files or folders from the recycle bin.
Files – Every single thing you keep on your computer is kept as a file. A file system is a method for
naming, storing, and retrieving files.
Creating File
1. Right-click anywhere in the blank area of the right-column.
2. In the Shortcut menu, click New and select the type of the file you want to create.
Folder – Folders and directories are groups which contain single of multiple files. There may be
related files and/or subfolders in each directory and folder. One or more files and other sub-folders
may be located inside a sub-folder. This makes files easily accessible.
Creating Folder
1. Double-click the Computer icon.
2. Select the drive in which you want to create a new folder. Say, Local Disk D:.
3. Window will open up showing files and folders in Local Disc D:
4. Click New Folder on the toolbar
5. A new folder is created with name New Folder highlighted.
6. Type a name for the folderCreating a file
Renaming folders and files
1. Right-click the file or the folder.
2. From the shortcut menu, select Rename option.
3. Type the new name or edit the existing name and press the Enter key.
4. Or Just select the file/folder and press Function key F2.
Deleting files or folders
1. Click the file or the folder.
2. Press the Delete key.
3. Or Right-click and select Delete option from the Shortcut menu.
BASIC SHORTCUTS
CTRL+ z — undo
CTRL+ y — redo
CTRL+ a — select all
CTRL+ x — cut
CTRL+ c — copy
CTRL+ v — paste
CTRL+ p — print
CTRL+ s — save.
FIREWALL
A computer firewall is a network security system, software, or programmable device that monitors
and regulates incoming and outgoing network traffic in accordance with user-defined security rules.
Computers connected to a network, such as a LAN or the Internet, are more securely protected by
firewalls. Typically, a firewall creates a wall between a trusted internal network and an unreliable
external network, like the Internet. Each packet of data, whether it is coming in or going out, is
examined by the firewall, which then decides whether it should be permitted to pass or stopped.
COOKIES
When you visit an internet website, a user’s computer stores a little file known as a cookie on it.
These files are used to store information personal to a given client and website.
A cookie is sent by a website when you visit it and is saved on your computer in a file. A cookie can
only be read by the website that created it. This information cannot be accessed by other servers.
THREATS TO COMPUTER
Threats are the ways in which personal information can be leaked from a computer without our
knowledge.
(a) Theft: Theft means stealing of information or hardware. These may be of three types:
• Identity: Where a hacker steals your personal information and assumes your identity. Using this
false identity, the hacker can gain access to your account information or perform illegal activity.
• Software Piracy: This is stealing of software and includes using or distributing unlicensed and
unauthorised copies of a computer program or software.
(b) Virus: Viruses are computer programs that can damage the data and software programs or steal
the information stored on a computer. Major types of viruses are Worms and Trojan Horse.
Worms: These are viruses that replicate themselves and spread to all files once they
Information and Communication Technology Skills 81 attack a computer. This makes it very difficult
to remove them.
Trojan Horse: A Trojan Horse disguises itself i.e., it appears to be a useful software program but
once it reaches a computer it starts behaving like a virus and destroying data.
• Online Predator: Online predators are people who trap you into inappropriate relationships.
They may be older people posing to be your age, bullying you into doing illegal activities
online and sometimes face to face.
• Internet Scams: Sometimes you may receive very attractive offers saying you have won huge
money in a lottery and that you can claim the prize by depositing a certain amount of money. When
you deposit the money using credit card or online banking, you not only lose the deposit money but
your card/account information may be misused later.
(a) Use passwords to login to your computer: Use passwords that are difficult to guess. Passwords
are difficult to hack if they are a mix of small (For example ‘a b c d’) and capital letters (For example,
‘H J E R’), numbers (For example ‘8 7 6 5’) and special characters
(For example, ’% ^ # $’). This would prevent unauthorised people from using your computer.
(b) Install Anti-virus and Firewall: Anti-viruses and Firewall monitor the data coming in and out of
a computer and prevent and viruses from entering. Anti-viruses can also detect and clean viruses that
may have entered a computer.
(c) Encrypt Data: This is usually done by banks and companies in which important customer
information is stored. They can encrypt their entire hard disk using the encrypting feature in Windows
(Bitlocker). This would force users to use a decryption password (or key) before starting the computer
thus preventing unauthorised usage.
(d) Secure sites: Give details of your credit card or bank account only on secure sites. See in the
address bar of the browser. If the site address starts with https://and a lock symbol, then it is safe to
give your credit card and bank details.
ENTREPRENEURIAL SKILLS II
REVISION NOTES
ENTREPRENEUR
The word ‘entrepreneur’ is derived from the French word ‘entrepreneur’ which means to undertake.
An entrepreneur is an individual who creates a new business, bearing most of the risks and enjoying
most of the rewards.
A person who sets up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit.
or
A promoter in the entertainment industry.
or
An entrepreneur is a person who sets up a business with the aim to make a profit.
or
Entrepreneurship is the process of designing, launching and running a new business, which is often
initially a small business. The people who create these businesses are called entrepreneurs.
or
An entrepreneur is the person who sees a problem in the world and immediately focuses on creating
the solution. They’re the leaders that strike out on their own to improve society. Whether they’re
creating jobs or a new product, they constantly take action to ensure world progress.
ENTREPRENEUR SKILLS
There are many skills required to start a business. The most popular entrepreneur skills are marketing,
business development, customer service, leadership, execution, resilience, focus, determination, talent
acquisition, continuous learner.
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Goal-oriented: Goal-oriented entrepreneurs achieve the maximum results from their efforts in
business due to the fact they work towards clear and measurable targets.
Decision-maker: An entrepreneur has to take many decisions to put his business idea into
reality. He chooses the best suitable and profitable alternative.
Highly Optimistic: A successful entrepreneur is always optimistic and the present problems
does not matter to them. He is always hopeful that the situation will became favourable for
business in future.
Motivator: An entrepreneur has to create a spirit of team work and motivate them. So that he
gets full cooperation from the employees.
Self-confident: An entrepreneur should have confidence to achieve his goals otherwise he won’t
be able to convince his team to achieve his goals.
Action-oriented: An entrepreneur should have an action oriented vision and ideology to plan
things well.
Dynamic Agent: An entrepreneur creates new needs and new means to satisfy them. He has the
ability to visualise new ventures and new plans.
High Achiever: An entrepreneurs are high achievers as they have a strong urge to achieve. The
most important characteristic is his achievement motivation.
Trust in Self: An entrepreneur believes on their own decisions and actions as he has trust in his
perseverance and creations. He does not believe in luck.
MYTHS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Entrepreneurship is a set of activities performed by the entrepreneur. It is the process of identifying
opportunities in the market place. It is the attempt to create value. Many entrepreneurs believe a set of
myths about entrepreneurship and the most common are as follows
Starting a Business is Easy: In reality, it is a very difficult and challenging process to start a
successful business. The rate of failure of new ventures is very high but small entrepreneurship
are comparatively easier to start.
Lot of Money to Finance New Business: Successful entrepreneurs design their business with
little cash also.
Startups cannot be Financed: Under the schemes like MUDRA, entrepreneurs can raise loans
from banks.
Talent is more Important than Industry: This is not true as the nature of industry an
entrepreneur chooses greatly effects the success and growth of the business.
Most Startups are Successful: Mostly in the developing countries startups fail as they could not
manage to earn high profits.
ADVANTAGES OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP
The main advantages of adopting entrepreneurship as a career are discussed below
Independence: An entrepreneur is himself a boss or owner and he can take all the decisions
independently.
Exciting: Entrepreneurship can be very exciting with many entrepreneurs considering their
ventures highly enjoyable. Everyday will be filled with new opportunities to challenge your
determination, skills and abilities.
Wealth Creation: The principal focus of entrepreneurship is wealth creation and improved
livelihood by means of making available goods and services. Entrepreneurial venture generates
new wealth, new and improved products, services or technology form entrepreneurs, enable new
markets to be developed and new wealth to be created.
Flexibility: As an entrepreneur you can schedule your work hours around other commitments,
including quality time you would spend with your family.
Status: Success in entrepreneurship beings a considerable fame and prestige within the society.
Ambition Fulfilment: Through entrepreneurship one can fulfil his ambitions into original
products or services.
DISADVANTAGES OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Some of the disadvantages of entrepreneurship as a career are discussed below
Huge Amount of Time: You have to dedicate a huge amount of time to your own business.
Entrepreneurship is not easy and for it to be successful, you have to take a level of time commitment.
Risk: An entrepreneurship involves high risk of loss. If the business fails then it will wipe away
all the personal savings.
Hard Work: An entrepreneur has to work very hard to make the new business very successful.
Uncertain Income: There is no regular or fixed income available to an entrepreneur. So, there is
uncertain kind of income received by an entrepreneur.
Incompetent Staff: A new entrepreneur may not be able to hire qualified and experienced staff
so there are chances of incompetency by the staff due to lack of experience and knowledge.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Sustainable development is the development that satisfies the needs of the present without
compromising the capacity of future generations, guaranteeing the balance between economic
growth, care for the environment and social well-being.
The important principles of sustainable development are as follows
To carefully utilise all resources.
To conserve resources so that they meet the demands and requirements of the future generations.
To minimise the depletion of natural resources.
Respect and care for all forms of life.
People should learn to conserve the natural resources in order to protect the living beings.
Conserving the Earth’s vitality and diversity.
Improving the quality of human life.
Changing personal attitude and practices towards the environment.
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3. Good Health and Well-being
4. Quality Education
5. Gender Equality
6. Clean Water and Sanitation
7. Affordable and Clean Energy
8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
10. Reduced Inequalities
11. Sustainable Cities and Communities
12. Responsible Consumption and Production
13. Climate Action
14. Life Below Water
15. Life on Land
16. Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
17. Partnerships for the Goals
These above 17 objectives are interrelated and often the key to one's success will involve the issues
most frequently linked to another.