It’s easy to assume that corporate success can only be achieved by people with university qualifications and strong academic performances. But Kelly Van Nelson, Managing Director of Adecco Australia, is proof that this isn’t true, and that resilience can play a much bigger and more effective role in generating career success.
Kelly believes that, while a commitment to continual upskilling and reskilling is critical to future-proofing your career, there are many different ways to obtain new skills, and businesses with an open mind to hiring and promoting people with different education backgrounds will reap rewards that directly impact their bottom line.
I am one of the few board level leaders in the Fortune 500 I work for without a degree education, although this is now shifting, with more leaders coming up through the ranks with non-traditional education backgrounds. I have never seen the absence of degree as a setback. Instead, I listened and learned from others, embraced confidence, leveraged other development opportunities that were available, and offset lack of youth education with professional certifications in Prince2, Change Management Practitioner, Six Sigma, and extensive leadership training gained at I3 in Switzerland. Supplementing work relevant training with on the job experience has been a great pathway for me and gave me an inner steely resilience along the way, powering me to succeed. Willpower is my superpower and trumps education every time.
In an era of globalization, diversity in all business environments needs to span gender, race, ethnicity, religious and political beliefs, socioeconomic backgrounds, sexual orientation, disabilities, and also education. Diverse leaders with different educational backgrounds can positively contribute to fostering empathy across this full spectrum of people from all walks of life and can more deeply assist with driving transformation through innovation and uniquely creative thinking, thus contributing to a more inclusive society and increasing profitability of the business.
Business leaders want to know an employee is trustworthy, reliable, brings discipline to whatever they are applying themselves to, and is willing to learn. Verifying and assessing educational background against the requirements of a role is one way of doing this and gives employers some assurance of the years an employee has spent dedicated to learning and development. Ultimately though, assessing education credentials alone is not enough to guarantee a great hire. Employers are hiring for one specific purpose which is to accomplish a specific job. An employee has to bring the required competencies to the table, especially soft skills and the right culture to fit with the business. They need to demonstrate to an employer they are talent worth developing and investing in for the long term.
The key to career growth and future-proofing employability in these rapidly evolving environments remains in upskilling, and reskilling. This can be done through both formal education channels and informal training methods. About the expert Kelly Van Nelson is on the Adecco Group executive board and is Managing Director of Adecco Australia, the world’s largest provider of HR, staffing, and workforce management solutions. She is a Change Management Practitioner, Six Sigma Yellow Belt, and Prince2 Certified. Kelly is also an advocate for Women in Leadership, gender equity, and workplace inclusiveness initiatives, regularly appearing in the press, on radio and television. She was recently announced winner of the AusMumpreneur Big Idea Changing the World Award for her work as a prominent anti-bullying activist in schools, universities, and the workplace. She was awarded the Roar Success Gold Award for Most Powerful Influencer for the impact her literary work has made on raising social issue awareness. She is the number one bestselling author of Graffiti Lane, a contemporary poetry collection that won the Roar Success Best Book Award and was gifted to Oscar winners and multiple Hollywood A-list celebrities. Punch and Judy, her second poetry collection, puts the spotlight on domestic violence and she has had numerous short stories, poems, and non-fiction articles published internationally. Kelly is also mum of two. In short, she is a juggler.
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Adecco redeployment coverage today across multiple newspapers (Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, Courier-Mail, The Advertiser, Gold Coast Bulletin, Cairns Post, The Mercury, Geelong Advertiser, NT News, Weekly Times Now, Townsville Bulletin). Proud to be part of such an amazing team who are embracing new ways of working and innovating with technology to assist high volumes of job seekers across the country in securing a new role - www.adecco.com.au.
This is my celebrity year. After all the Oscars madness, now it's Kardashian time. Happy birthday Kourtney Kardashian. Hope you like your copy of Graffiti Lane which winged it's way to you in your birthday Hollywood Swag - enjoy reading xxx
Great to talk to the Herald Sun News on current job opportunities across North Melbourne. It has been a challenging period across the employment market as a result of COVID19, but it’s good to balance this by shedding positive light on the areas where job demands are performing well. Adecco have a strong portfolio in Victoria as well as a broader national footprint with opportunities around the country. Our team of experienced professionals are working remotely from home with online recruitment technology to rapidly process high volumes of applications and conduct interviewing and screening. We are supporting organisations around the globe to redeploy workers into areas experiencing growth surges and are here to help. If you have found yourself looking for work and need career assistance with finding your next role, please reach out to Adecco Australia at www.adecco.com.au.
Australian Financial Review put the spotlight on the surge of candidates seeking work as a result of the impact of COVID-19, along with the job growth industries providing new opportunities for redeployment. Great to feature in the article as Adecco Australia continue to scale in many areas nationally, providing work for thousands of Australians every day. Agility and flexibility is key as employers rapidly change their working environment and adopt different ways of working to best navigate the current landscape. All of our recruitment consultants are operating from home, using technology screening methods to review applications, interview, and place into work. If you are looking for work, please visit our website www.adecco.com.au.
We might all be in isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, but nice to find out tonight Lady Gaga is in lockdown with a birthday copy of Graffiti Lane to read
It is an incredibly difficult time for many Australian's right now who have found themselves out of work as a result of economic volatility from COVID-19. Now is the time for recruiters to help with redeployment into the growth industries experiencing a surge from such rapid change. Grateful to be invited onto the Weekend Today Show this morning to talk to Channel 9 presenters Lara Vella and Tom Steinfort about the job opportunities we are seeing in demand right now at Adecco Australia.
International Women’s Day is all about equality, but this is an everyday discussion. Thank you Adecco for leading the conversation and featuring me in your global 10 leaders series supporting #eachforequal
In celebration of International Women’s Day and in the spirit of “each for equal”, we asked 10 leaders to share their advice for the leaders of tomorrow. Here is what they said! |
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