In the world of today, personal development and growth is one of the things that keeps us relevant. According to Wikipedia, personal development consists of activities that develop a person’s capabilities and potential, build human capital, facilitate employability, and enhance quality of life as well as the realization of dreams and aspirations. TLDR, during your post-graduate programme, you should seek for personal development to build capacity and increase your employability after graduation.
Some of the ways we would suggest you can go about personal development during your program are the following:
Build skills and gain knowledge that are “in demand”
Although, your academics equips you with knowledge and skills, you should build specific skills that employers look for in your field. For example, you can take online courses on certain skillset thereby building your skills whilst studying. However, the process starts from doing your research on the skills needed on platforms like LinkedIn. In addition, research into the future of work and trends would also help to get yourself ready. Click here for a Future of work: emerging trends tip sheet by Career Masterclass.
Build your network and connections
Your network and connections are your human capital – “People buy People”. LinkedIn is a great platform to build your network and engage in conversations which also build your personal brand. The Outliers Circle community also connects you with other students and amazing contributors you can easily relate with. Your academics might be overwhelming but seek to build your human capital and thereby your interpersonal and communication skills.
Engage in extracurricular activities organized by your school
Try to get as involved as you can with your department or general activities at your Uni. Some of these activities create opportunities for you to connect more with your peers and even Uni officials. And in the process, you can gain some relevant ‘stints’ to add to your CV and gather some knowledge. We believe that the experiences you will get from engaging in such activities would be extremely valuable to you in the future and can make your program feel a bit more fulfilling. Take any opportunities to mentor younger or incoming students, as this not only helps you embrace the big picture of your current journey but you can also gain some leadership/managerial skills in the process.
Seek Internship / Work Experience Opportunities
This is probably on all our radars and may be much easier said than done especially in this Covid world. Aim to get at least one form of work experience during your program. Regardless of if this is in your chosen field of study and to the extent that you can handle it. Aside from the personal development this brings, you also get the experience of working abroad with people different from you.
Start writing a Blog or even Youtube!
No pressure here, just a suggestion 🙂 Writing a blog is great because you get to express feelings or share lessons you are learning on your journey (academic or non-academic). As an international student, it is likely that people seek your advice on topics relating to your degree, specific course or school! If you are a bit bold or writing is not your thing, then consider making videos on Youtube to record your journey. In case you are shy however, just keep a journal. You definitely want to be able to go back to it and just reminisce on where your mindset was and how that has changed. P.S, word out there is that ‘externalizing’ your thoughts, emotions and ideas can be extremely therapeutic.
Read Books
We may be writing this post with an assumption that you have more time than you actually do (sorry about that haha). But just in case you have been meaning to read more, this is us pushing you to do so! In case you actually do have the time, reading more sets you on a really strong path to personal development. See this quote: ‘If you read too much, all the thoughts/ideas you have are those of others but if you read too little or not at all, the only thoughts/ideas you would have are yours’. No need to read too much :), but try to read just enough by taking advantage of methods that works best for you such as hard/soft copy books, or using Audiobooks.
Get on track with your health and fitness
If you have come from full-time employment into your post-graduate program, you would agree that getting into a consistent working out + eating healthy routine is harder! Work on developing a healthy lifestyle during this period to keep your health in top shape throughout your program. One of the perks of studying abroad (depending on where you are) is that healthy food is more accessible and possibly cheaper vs your home country. We agree that junk food is also EXTREMELY cheap especially if you are in the UK 🙂 but we shall focus on only healthy food, Amen? It is also a bit more commonplace to go on runs or walks – a blessing we are so grateful to still have in this Covid world, although the cold can be discouraging… but where there is a will, there is a way!
We hope you would engage any of the above suggestions as you go through the journey of an international degree. Sometimes, it is the little progress we’re able to make that makes all the difference.
Till next time.
Best,
Shola Oladipupo and Joys Alabi
Image source: keap.com