Employability Skills, Entrepreneurship, and Workplace Communication
Employability skills, entrepreneurship and workplace communication are tested through customer interaction, team handover, costing and professional documentation scenarios.
Core rules
- Communication: listen actively, use plain language, confirm understanding, and avoid unexplained jargon. A shift handover should state location, fault, action taken, test result and next step.
- Customer service: give realistic appointment windows, protect premises, explain the work, and confirm service before leaving. Record consent for drilling or cable routing.
- Teamwork and problem solving: escalate safety or network risks, share accurate information, and use a consistent fault-ticket format.
- Entrepreneurship: know your costs - materials, labour, transport, tools, testing, overheads, GST and margin. A quotation should list scope, quantity, unit rate, exclusions, validity and payment terms.
- Digital and financial literacy: maintain invoices, warranty records, insurance and statutory registrations; use email and WhatsApp professionally and back up test records.
Worked example
A 1 km 12-fibre duct job: cable 1,000 m at ₹30/m = ₹30,000; duct 1,000 m at ₹35/m = ₹35,000; two joints at ₹6,000 = ₹12,000; four technicians for two days at ₹900/day = ₹7,200; OTDR testing ₹5,000. Subtotal = ₹89,200. Overhead 10% = ₹8,920; GST 18% on ₹98,120 ≈ ₹17,662; quoted total ≈ ₹1,15,782. Show every line so the customer can compare.
Traps
- Quoting only cable and labour and forgetting joints, testing, transport and GST.
- Promising a completion time before surveying the route.
- Using technical shorthand with a customer who cannot evaluate it.
- Failing to document a verbal change order.