Employability Skills

What are employability skills?

Employability Skills are the critical skills you need in the workplace—whether you are self-employed or working for others. Employability Skills include communication, problem solving, positive attitudes and behaviours, adaptability, working with others, and science, technology and mathematics skills. 

How does an employer choose the right person from hundreds of applicants all with the same class of degree? The skills you develop whilst at school/college and the experiences you gain will all help to give you the edge over the next candidate. This means it is essential not just to bury your head in a book all the time while you are at college, but to continue with your interests and work experience, which help to enrich your life and your CV.

What do employers want?

Based on a number of surveys on the skills required by graduates undertaken by Microsoft, Target Jobs, the BBC, Prospects, NACE and AGR and other organisations, here is a summary of the skills which were most often deemed important.

VERBAL COMMUNICATION	1	Able to express your ideas clearly and confidently in speech
TEAMWORK	2	Work confidently within a group
COMMERCIAL AWARENESS	3	Understand the commercial realities affecting the organisation.
ANALYSING & INVESTIGATING	4	Gather information systematically to establish facts & principles. Problem solving.
INITIATIVE/SELF MOTIVATION	5	Able to act on initiative, identify opportunities & proactive in putting forward ideas & solutions
DRIVE	6	Determination to get things done. Make things happen & constantly looking for better ways of doing things.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATION	7	Able to express yourself clearly in writing
PLANNING & ORGANISING	8	Able to plan activities & carry them through effectively
FLEXIBILITY	9	Adapt successfully to changing situations & environments
TIME MANAGEMENT	10	Manage time effectively, prioritising tasks and able to work to deadlines.

So, are you employable?

Why don't you try this online Employability Skills exercise.  Remember that this is an initial self-assessment exercise to help you to develop any skills which you feel are of importance to you in planning your future. Few students are likely, at this stage,to have     developed the majority of these skills to a high level. Don't feel that a low rating in any skill area is an admission of ‘failure’: you may have no wish to use that skill or you may be able to improve upon it with a little practice.

Test your employability skills

Let me know how you got on  and let us discuss what skills you need to improve and how you are going to do that  - post a comment

I have also added a new Useful Web Site called Bring IT On, you should recognise this name - we attended a Bring IT On Presentation in SRC which was great.  Check out their website for loads of great information on IT Careers, Inspirational People and Progression Routes.