How to achieve High Efficiency at work ? 4 skills help new graduates work better!

 INTRODUCTION OF THE POST:

It can be said that one of the first challenges in a person's life is entering the professional work environment immediately after graduating from university. Newly graduated finance students are no exception; they must strive hard to meet the demands of the workplace. Those who have worked in professional environments for many years know that multinational organizations are very high-pressure and have a heavy workload. Therefore, this article will discuss and provide strategies based on academic theories to help students achieve higher efficiency in the workplace more smoothly.

1. Technology skills

To perform financial analysis and communicate insights between multicultural teams, technological skills that contribute to high work efficiency include proficiency in using digital platforms such as artificial intelligence (AI) and office platforms like Excel, Word, and PowerPoint. These are fundamental platforms that must be mastered for handling tasks in multicultural financial organizations. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is a long-studied model, and the adoption of technology in the workplace largely depends on this model.

First, this model is a theoretical framework researched by Davis (1989), which explains user acceptance of technology based on two main perceptions: Perceived usefulness and Perceived ease of use. Perceived usefulness is understood as the degree to which an individual believes that using a particular system will significantly improve work performance. The degree to which a system is considered easy to use is defined by the Perceived Ease of Use. According to the TAM model, users' intentions and actual usage behavior are influenced by these two perceptions, shaping their attitudes toward technology (Davis, 1989).

In financial organizations, when students apply the TAM model to their technology skills, it increases their ability to use artificial intelligence tools and functions like Excel. These technologies help them process data faster and with significantly improved accuracy. Furthermore, these technology platforms have very user-friendly interfaces and in-platform tutorials, helping recent graduates apply technology more confidently. Technology tools like Word and PowerPoint also support clearer and easier communication, even in cases of language barriers – a common occurrence in multicultural organizations (Venkatesh & Davis, 2000).

In summary, applying the TAM model will help newly graduated finance students better utilize their technology skills in new work environments, thereby improving workplace performance and meeting organizational expectations in a culturally diverse financial environment.

2. Teamwork skills

It can be said that teamwork is a skill that greatly enhances workplace performance in all work environments. For multicultural financial organizations, exchanging ideas and working together with colleagues from different cultures and languages ​​improves performance because it allows for the broadening of thinking styles, thereby increasing workplace efficiency. This is a crucial and decisive skill because it often involves teamwork between different departments within the organization. Therefore, Tuckman's Team Development Model describes four stages of team development: Formation, Conflict, Norms, and Implementation. This model helps improve teamwork capabilities, thereby significantly improving work performance (Tuckman, 1965).

According to Tuckman's model, expectations are clarified in the first stage (Formation), when recent graduates participate in work teams for the first time. Next comes the Conflict phase, where disagreements arise from individual members' differing communication styles and cultural backgrounds. However, through this phase, members will understand and trust each other better, and work rules will be established. This leads to more effective teamwork, which is the content of the Standards phase. The final phase is Implementation, where members will maximize the benefits of cultural diversity to solve work problems effectively, thereby making the right decisions for the entire group (Tuckman & Jensen, 1977).

In summary, recent graduates should actively participate in teamwork, especially in a financial environment, because the nature of financial work requires accurate analysis, and teamwork skills help them integrate into the work environment more smoothly, and most importantly, improve their performance at work more easily.

3. Good Working Habits

Discipline – Proactiveness – Punctuality

Good working habits refer to a set of positive work-related behaviors that are maintained consistently within an organizational context, including discipline in complying with procedures, proactiveness in task execution, and punctuality in meeting deadlines. In financial institutions, these habits play a critical role in ensuring accuracy, transparency, and reliability in operational activities, where even minor errors may result in significant financial, legal, or reputational consequences (Renn, Preston and Steinbauer, 2024).

According to Habit Formation Theory, behaviors that are repeatedly performed in the same context gradually become automatic, enabling individuals to sustain stable performance without excessive reliance on short-term motivation (Lally et al., 2010). In the financial sector, the formation of habits such as careful data verification, effective time management, and timely task completion helps reduce errors and improve overall work quality. Moreover, supportive working conditions and clearly defined organizational expectations can facilitate the development of positive work habits, thereby enhancing productivity and individual accountability (Kumar and Raghavendran, 2021).

For new graduates, developing good working habits at an early stage supports a smoother transition into professional work environments and helps build trust with supervisors and colleagues. However, overly rigid discipline may reduce flexibility when responding to rapid changes in financial contexts. Therefore, good working habits should be cultivated in a balanced manner that ensures compliance while allowing adaptability and continuous improvement.

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4. Continuous Learning and Feedback Culture

Continuous learning refers to the ongoing process of updating knowledge, skills, and professional competencies to keep pace with changes in technology, regulations, and market conditions. Feedback culture, meanwhile, describes a work environment that encourages constructive two-way feedback between employees and managers to improve performance and support personal development. These two elements are closely interconnected and play a vital role in sustaining work efficiency in highly dynamic financial organizations (Noe, Clarke and Klein, 2014).

Research on workplace learning indicates that continuous learning is positively associated with job performance, employee engagement, and career development. When embedded in a supportive learning environment, employees are better equipped to enhance problem-solving capabilities and adapt to increasingly complex job demands (Manuti, Pastore, Scardigno, Giancaspro and Morciano, 2015). In parallel, a strong feedback culture enables employees to identify strengths and areas for improvement, allowing timely behavioral adjustments and performance enhancement.

Within the financial and banking sectors, empirical evidence suggests that learning-oriented and feedback-supportive cultures have a significant impact on employee performance and engagement, particularly when aligned with long-term organizational development strategies. For new graduates, continuous learning helps bridge the gap between academic knowledge and practical job requirements, while feedback culture accelerates learning from mistakes and fosters professional growth. When combined with good working habits, these factors provide a solid foundation for high work efficiency and sustainable career development in financial institutions.

References

Davis, F. D. (1989). Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology. MIS Quarterly, 13(3), 319–340.

Tuckman, B. W. (1965). Developmental sequence in small groups. Psychological Bulletin, 63(6), 384–399. 

Tuckman, B. W., & Jensen, M. A. C. (1977). Stages of small-group development revisited. Group & Organization Studies, 2(4), 419–427.

Venkatesh, V., & Davis, F. D. (2000). A theoretical extension of the technology acceptance model: Four longitudinal field studies. Management Science, 46(2), 186–204. 

Hasan, M.M. (2023) ‘Learning culture and employee performance in the banking sector’, Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business, 10(2), pp. 123–134.

Kumar, R. and Raghavendran, S. (2021) ‘Work environment and employee productivity: The role of work discipline and work habits’, International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 70(5), pp. 1231–1249.

Lally, P., Van Jaarsveld, C.H.M., Potts, H.W.W. and Wardle, J. (2010) ‘How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world’, European Journal of Social Psychology, 40(6), pp. 998–1009.

Manuti, A., Pastore, S., Scardigno, A.F., Giancaspro, M.L. and Morciano, D. (2015) ‘Formal and informal learning in the workplace: A research review’, International Journal of Training and Development, 19(1), pp. 1–17.

Noe, R.A., Clarke, A.D.M. and Klein, H.J. (2014) ‘Learning in the twenty-first-century workplace’, Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 1, pp. 245–275.

Renn, R.W., Preston, C.C. and Steinbauer, R. (2024) ‘Work habits and job performance: A conceptual framework’, Human Resource Development Review, 23(1), pp. 3–27.