Developing Employability Skills...

 

A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.

 :Steve Jobs

Although we have been talking about skills as a part of the collection of qualities that combine to make you an individual, this does not mean that these skills are as fixed as your height, or as difficult to change as the shape of your nose. Personal skills can be acquired, developed and improved.
A shy person may be able to speak fluently and confidently when discussing a subject (e.g. politics; a favourite writer) which they know well and feel strongly about; somebody who considers themselves "hopeless at maths" on the grounds of a low GCSE grade may happily work out their living expenses for each term and evaluate the various loan options available. Your interests may also influence the skills that you choose to develop.
You should now have a short-list of skills that you wish to improve: you may also have noted down some ways in which you might do this. These could include the following:-

Play sport! The Sport Industry Research Centre calculated that the average graduate who played sport while studying earns £5,824 (18%) more than those who didn't. 21% of graduates who played sports had experienced unemployment compared to 27% of those who didn't. Sporting students develop skills such such as team work, communication and leadership.

Through extra-curricular activities e.g.

• Teamwork (in a sports team, organising a society event);
• Lateral Thinking (thinking of ways to raise money during Rag Week);
• Writing (writing for the student newspaper).

Through your home life

e.g. Organisation and Planning (combining running a home and family with your studies if you are a mature student).

Through your course

Course projects, dissertations and extended essays can be particularly valuable here. As well as the skills of independent research, and planning and organising your own work which they bring, sometimes you can choose the topic so that it is relevant to the type of work you wish to enter, giving a strong plus point for your CV.

The sort of people that we’re looking for are the people who will go out and find the opportunities. The opportunities are out there. You’ve got sports societies, the student union, the university squadron, voluntary work, paid employment: it’s out there, it’s just whether people can be bothered to go and do it…I think it’s down to the individual. Royal Navy

• Analytical skills: the ability to debate and argue a case interpreting complex material; picking out inconsistencies in reasoning; analysing data from an experiment.
• Written Communication: expressing yourself clearly, using language with precision; constructing a logical argument; writing reports; proper writing up of experiments and projects.
• Verbal Communication: entering into discussion and debate in seminars; expressing yourself clearly and confidently; thinking quickly.
• Investigating: gathering material for essays; comparing sources of information and selecting from them to support your argument; using databases to search for material; researching for a project.
• Numeracy: interpreting and constructing statistics; analysing data and presenting it in graphical format.
• Planning and Organising: managing the workload of several courses simultaneously; meeting essay deadlines; designing and carrying out surveys; balancing academic work with extra-curricular activities and/or employment.
• Teamwork: group projects, seminars.
• Information Technology: entering data onto a spreadsheet, using the Internet to find information. Designing a web page. Programming.
• Technical Skills: knowledge of specific techniques. e.g. NMR, chromatography, practical lab. skills developed on placements.

Through work shadowing

e.g. Investigating (talking to people about their work); Decision Making (whether or not to pursue this career further).

Through vacation and part-time work

"Academic qualifications are not our only important requirement. We will also expect you to have taken on positions of leadership and responsibility and show real ability to take initiative." MARKS AND SPENCER

While it is possible to get vacation work experience with relevant employers (e.g. accountants, computer companies) financial pressures mean that most students have to take any vac. job they can get. Later on, when they make applications for permanent jobs and employers enquire about their work experience, they find it hard to believe that these jobs can be of relevance to their future career.
Students often say "I haven't done any real vacation work - not anything that would be relevant to a career - just a bit of shop work, bar work, waiting on tables and so on. I couldn't put anything like that on an application form".
But what employers tell us is that they do value this type of work experience and wish that students would make more of it on their application forms!

Here are some of the skills that you might gain from shop, bar or restaurant work:

• Dealing with customers (courtesy, social confidence, tact)
• Handling money (numeracy, integrity)
• Working under pressure
• Organisation & planning (to meet peak demand)

Some popular employers (the Civil Service, solicitors’ firms) recruit early. The best opportunities for taking part in employers' undergraduate vacation training schemes are available in the summer vacation after your second year - but you may need to apply for these opportunities before the Christmas vacation in some instances.
The Careers Service has a vacancy database listing vacation jobs and courses. Also see our Work Experience page

Examples of ways to develop skills.

You could also use these as evidence in an application to show you had these skills.

WRITING skills Writing up a project or dissertation Writing for the student newspaper Writing a report for a course placement Essays, dissertations, project reports Secretary of student society Publicity materials for a charity Letter to raise sponsorship for an event	SPEAKING skills Joining a campus drama group. Public speaking or debating Seminars Working as a receptionist in a vacation job Market research, telesales, bar work Showing 6th formers round campus Course presentations Student radio presenter	ADAPTABILITY Year abroad or independent travel abroad Working part-time while studying Changing courses Combining study with family Shift work or working at short notice
CO-OPERATING skills Working on a group project Rag fund-raising Team sports Working as a clerical assistant in a busy office Group project Duke of Edinburgh's Award Team sports Playing in an orchestra or band	ANALYSING skills Preparing Student Election Statistics Analysing data from an experiment Vacation job as a market research interviewer Voluntary work for a publisher Creative solutions to coursework problems Chess, computing, role playing Overcoming obstacles to achieve an ambition e.g. Raleigh International	INITIATIVE Suggesting changes to a course when a student representative Getting relevant work experience/project work/sponsorship Starting your own business: selling on Ebay Starting a new society Creating a website Coping with a sudden crisis Stretching your loan to go further
PLANNING and ORGANISING skills Organising your revision schedule Planning a trip round Europe with friends Stage manager for a play Campsite representative for Eurocamp Managing a course project Organising sporting events Organising charity events Students' union activities Organising concerts for the elderly	LEADERSHIP skills Leading a group project Chairing a student society Captaining a sports team Being a playscheme helper Guide leader Air training corps Course or hall representative Mentor in school	SELF RELIANCE Duke of Edinburgh's Award Young Enterprise Music band: playing concerts regularly Competitive sport Amateur drama
NEGOTIATING skills Negotiating the rent with your landlord Negotiating the late handing in of essays Staff-student liaison committee Resolving an argument between friends	PERSUADING skills Arguing your case in a seminar Getting club members to turn up for events! Fund-raising for a local charity Telesales job in the vacation	NETWORKING Careers fairs Speculative applications for work
INVESTIGATING skills Researching for coursework in the library Student journalism Finding out about different careers through work shadowing Market research interviewer in a vac. job Building your own computer	LISTENING skills In lectures! Helping the student telephone counselling service Working as a waiter or barmaid	LEARNING NEW SKILLS Learning a new language Taking up a new sport Improving your computing skills First aid Music grades
DECISION-MAKING skills Deciding which modules to take next year College Welfare Representative Buying an expensive item (car or computer) Targeting appropriate customers in a sales job	NUMERACY Working in a pub or bank Budgeting your expenses over the year Interpreting a statistical table for your course Treasurer of committee Fantasy share portfolio e.g. BullBearings	COMMERCIAL AWARENESS Current affairs interest Taking business options on a course Organising events Reading financial pages of a newspaper Fantasy share portfolio e.g. BullBearings