UK's Fast Stream and POS & EUR

On more than a few occasions, I bother students by talking about how a successful professional needs to: see well, analyze well, write well, communicate well, organize well, and meet well.

Recently, the UK government began a program called Fast Stream to bring talented persons into the civil service. This is from the website:

What are we looking for?
There is no such thing as a typical Fast Streamer. Successful candidates come from a diverse range of backgrounds, and may have any kind of degree. There are, however, some key competencies that we look for in all our Fast Streamers.

You’ll have to take the lead on decision-making based on evidence, and handle the pressure and responsibility that comes with it. This means being proactive and thinking on your feet. Sitting on the fence is not an option.

You’ll be working with some of the brightest and most talented people in the country. It’s important that you all get the best out of each other, building trust, developing relationships and respecting each person’s perspective.

The ability to make an impact is essential. We look for people who are lucid, persuasive, confident and articulate. Whether it’s a high-level meeting, a large presentation or a conversation with a disgruntled customer, you must be able to express yourself and defend your position clearly and succinctly.

Being able to think flexibly, innovatively and resourcefully is also important, particularly as you may be asked to consider doing something new, or to investigate how things can be done more efficiently and cost-effectively.

Not everything you do will be headline news: it’s important to focus as much on the smaller details as on the big-picture issues.

Take a look at that list again. One’s degree can be important, but what sets someone apart in the professional world will not be a specific degree or a specific major. Instead, it will be additional qualities.

What does this mean for you here in the POS or EUR programs at AUBG? Well, it means that going to class and just putting forth the minimum needed to get through a course and then through the major will eventually get you a degree. However, your degree is not your final goal unless you plan on retiring at 21.

Your degree, by itself, will mean very little for your real future if you don’t have these other qualities. But they don’t develop themselves. To build a body, one has to work out; to develop these qualities one has to exercise them. But it takes a mind shift in order to begin developing them.

When writing a paper for a class, for example, think about it as more than a requirement to get a grade for that class. Instead, consider that paper as an exercise to hone the writing skills that will give you a professional advantage in the future. Doing a slack job or writing the paper at the last minute is missing an opportunity to develop—like doing only five minutes of cardio exercise or using a one-quarter kilo dumbbell. You can say officially that you’ve worked out, but you know truly that you haven’t.

The classroom will help develop some of these qualities, but extracurricular activities that require you to meet, organize, participate, and communicate are additional ways to develop. Think of them as cross training for your professional life. BP