[german]
5 Rules for Success

3. know your core competence
A core competence is a specific factor which drives  your company and which differentiates your company from   others.It is very important to know your core competencies  on which you can build your strategy.


   Paskalis Triantafyllidis: Obtaining additional qualifications while taking pleasure in studying.

Intensive Course of Study in Business Administration

"I wanted to learn something new," Paskalis Triantafyllidis said, "sometihing which will provide me with additional professional qualifications." For the 38-year old customer consultant working for the Personal Records Office of the City of Zurich that was good enough a motivation to obtain extensive knowledge of Business Administration. In July 2007 he successfully completed the Intensive Course of Study at the Betriebswirtschaftlichen Institut & Seminar Basel qualifying with a Business Studies Diploma (BI).

Up to that point Paskalis Triantafyllidis had had very little to do with the set of tools in Business Administration. From 1985 to 1994 he worked for several architectural offices having completed his training as a structural engineering draughtsman and construction supervisor. He then worked as a customer consultant making his way through the various departments of the City of Zurich authorities. It was there at the Personal Records Office where he had to deal with people from all over the world who wanted to become residents of the biggest city of the Swiss Confederation.

Managing Your Time with Discipline
Accommodating both your job and the Distance Learning Course took a lot of discipline in the field of "time management" according to Triantafyllidis. The study documents were arranged in such a way that a time-consuming and theory-heavy study of literature becomes superfluous. "My times at work were not affected at all." As there are no fixed appointments, such as having to attend lectures on the premises, examinations or any deadline pressure it was easy to set aside the time needed for this Intensive Course of Study, the graduate says in retrospective.

Examination Questions Were Clearly Worded
Among the ten modules which constitute the one-year Intensive Course of Study haben Triantafyllidis was most interested in the subsidiary areas of Marketing, Financing and Economics. To the student taking intermediate and final examinations meant no big hurdle: "The questions were clearly worded and limited to the essence of each subject matter," the student who successfully took the exams said. He graduated with a mark of 5.5 (good to very good).

New Outlook with Business Administration Know-How
Having bagged his new skills meant that new perspectives began to open up for Mr Triantafyllidis. According to his own words his main objective was to "slip into a position" where a certain know-how in Business Administration is sought after. If you don't use it you lose it! Building on the Intensive Course of Study the customer consultant intends to train further in the areas of and Commercial Information technology and Commercial Law. "It was a lovely experience to find that I enjoyed studying even at my age", the 38-year old said with a twinkle in his eye.

Contact:
Paskalis Triantafyllidis, CH-8051 Zürich
paskalis.triantafyllidis@zuerich.ch