The skills you will need to succeed

Can success deliver a big house, a flashy car, a beautiful partner and a yacht in the Caribbean? No, money can bring these things, but as a famous mop-top once said "money can't buy me love", or to be more precise, it can't bring you happiness. Success on the other hand is all about being happy in your life in and out of work. If you are happy in your job and your personal life, then you can class yourself as successful.

Success is putting your mind to an ambition and achieving it, whether it is to be Prime Minister, a good parent, or to score a goal in your Sunday league game. Success is something personal to each individual.

If someone looks at another person, for example a sprint runner, and says, "He/she is successful" then yes by that person's standards they may be. But to the runner, their ambition may be to get a gold medal at the Olympics, and until they have achieved that they are not as successful as they would like. So success is to achieve happiness by fulfilling your goals - therefore relative.

For most people to be happy they need to work in a pleasant friendly environment get on well with colleagues, to be intellectually stimulated, challenged and rewarded.

You should not accept a job with a company if you think that it cannot offer you these things.

For your part, you have to have the right stuff, in terms of both skills and personality. These will help you find a job in the first place and will set you in good stead throughout your career regardless of the industry sector.