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Employability Skills

Nothing is certain...

The world of work is in a state of continual change: your career today may involve moving between a number of different job functions and employers, and those jobs and employers are themselves likely to change and develop during the time you are employed in them. Employers are therefore seeking employees who are enterprising, resourceful and adaptable and who, as well as their qualifications, possess a range of skills which can be used in a wide variety of settings as well as in their careers. These are known as employability skills.

The main employability skills are...

  • COMMUNICATION & INTERPERSONAL SKILLS including:
    • Written Communication - able to express yourself clearly in writing
    • Verbal Communication - expressing your ideas clearly and confidently in speech
  • FLEXIBILITY - adapting successfully to changing situations and environments
  • PERSUADING - able to convince others, to discuss and reach agreement
  • TEAMWORK - working confidently within a group 
  • LEADERSHIP - able to motivate and direct others
  • PLANNING AND ORGANISING - able to plan activities and carry them through effectively
  • INVESTIGATING, ANALYSING AND PROBLEM SOLVING - gathering information systematically to establish facts and principles
  • NUMERACY - able to carry out arithmetic operations/understand data
  • COMPUTING/DIGITAL SKILLS
  • DEVELOPING PROFESSIONALISM

Thinking ahead

This does not mean that your qualifications are irrelevant to employers - the subject and standard of your qualifications may be essential or useful in helping you enter your chosen career - but it does mean that, in parallel with your studies, you should aim to develop skills that will be of help to you in your future career as such skills are sought by all kinds of employers. The skills you should be developing are the skills that reflect your own personality, interests and abilities - as these are the qualities that will influence your eventual choice of career.

Current Awareness

As part of your job hunt you will need to make sure that you keep up to date with developments and news in your chosen field. Having current knowledge will enhance your credibility and help you ask informed and relevant questions at interviews.

Employers will want to see that you have an understanding of an organisation's history and mission and that you are aware of any current political or economic issues that may affect its work.

Newspapers, news sites, industry and sector publications are of course an essential source of information to keep yourself up-to-date. Association websites are also an important resource as they can help you identify the skills required for a particular profession along with advertising latest vacancies and career opportunities.