Why is it important to develop your human capital?
Though she probably did not realize it at the time, Catherine Winters took a major step toward a career when she got involved with Second Life. The skills she developed through Second Life expanded her human capital and eventually led to a steady job. Developing one’s human capital is the key to success in the job market. But how does a person go about doing that?
Developing your human capital is a lifelong pursuit. It continues as long as you are expanding your skills, experience, and knowledge.
The first step in building your human capital is to identify your aptitudes, interests, and aspirations. [n other words, start by thinking about what you are good at, what you like to do, and what you hope to accomplish in your working life.
This assessment can only be done through honest self-evaluation. [t is important to be realistic about your skills and abilities, but it is also important to pursue your dreams. It is not always easy to assess yourself. Fortunately, there are some tools that can help. Career counselors can offer useful advice and help steer you in the right direction. Many self-help books focus on helping readers to find and develop a career path. Aptitude tests and skills inventories can also help you analyze your abilities and interests.
Education is one of the main routes to developing human capital. A good general education gives you many tools for success in the working world. A more advanced education will help you progress even further. There are many ways to advance your education beyond high school. Besides the traditional four-year college or university, there are community colleges, technical institutes, job-training programs, and online courses.
Higher education may also qualify you for certification or licensing to practice a particular profession. Certification is an official recognition that a person is qualified in his or her field. [n some professions, certification is required by law. Teachers, for example, must be state certified to teach in public schools. Doctors must pass state licensing exams to practice medicine. In other fields, certification is voluntary. However, certification is usually recommended as a way for aspiring professionals to show their competence and commitment to their field.
Education will also help you earn more money. The difference in wages paid to high school and college graduates has grown over the years. In general, wages are rising faster for more educated, more skilled workers than for less educated, less skilled workers. In 1980, men with college degrees earned an average of 44 percent more than men without degrees. By 2012, this gap had widened further, increasing to 79 percent.
The value of a college degree is increasing for several reasons. As U.S. businesses seek a comparative advantage in the global economy, the demand for well-educated knowledge workers is growing. Many employers believe that a college education makes workers more productive. Others see a college degree as a sign of motivation and general ability. Either way, a college degree serves as a screening device that employers can use to identify high-value employees.
Another way to build your human capital is through work experience and on-the-job training. When hiring new workers, employers often look for people who have significant experience and have developed useful job skills. The importance of work experience explains why wages tend to rise the longer a person has been in the labor force.
Of course, getting a job can be difficult when you lack work experience in the first place. But it is not impossible. Some employers prefer to hire people they can train on the job. A restaurant, for example, might hire a cook trainee who would start out doing low-level kitchen tasks. Over time, a cook trainee would learn how the kitchen works and how to prepare items on the menu. For a trainee who is dependable and willing to work hard, on-the-job training can be the first step on a career path.
Another way to get a job when you have no experience is to seek out an entry-level position in a field that interests you. Typically, entry-level jobs-such as office assistant and sales assistant-do not pay much.
But they can provide valuable experience and allow you to start building a work history. By starting at the bottom, you show your willingness to work and to gain the experience and skills you need to move up the job ladder.
The level of energy and enthusiasm that workers bring to a job also increases their value to employers. The workers who stand out are often those who make the greatest effort and hold themselves to the highest standards.
In some jobs. workers are rewarded based on how much they produce. This is true in many sales jobs, for example. where people work on commission and earn a percentage of everything they sell. Other jobs may pay year-end bonuses or offer salary increases based on worker productivity. In either case, workers enhance their job opportunities by making the effort to work hard and excel at what they do.
People can also develop their human capital by building a personal-professional network of friends and colleagues. One way to do this is to join a professional association. labor union. or other type of occupational group. Belonging to such a group can help people develop work contacts and create a sense of community in their chosen field.
Other ways of building a personal-professional network include getting involved in community affairs, volunteering, or participating in a local sports team. Such activities help people expand their connections within the community. These connections can have positive effects on their working lives by creating new job contacts and new opportunities for professional growth.