Introduction to employability skills
What is employability?
Employability has been defined as “the capability for gaining and maintaining employment.”
What are employability skills?
• Employability skills are the skills you have developed inside and outside of school that you can transfer to the workplace
• Knowledge and abilities relating to a particular job
• The ability to identify suitable job opportunities and self presentation for applications and interviews. You can’t rely on your academics alone to automatically open doors for you after school
• Many students already have the employability skills companies are looking for – but they don’t realise it!
Employability skills are also known as:
• Key behaviours
• Competencies
• Soft skills
• Transferrable skills
• Personal skills
• Generic skills
• Basic skills
Coaching Time Management Motivation
Commercial Awareness Driven Team Player
Leader Good Communicator Honesty
Good sportsmanship Positive personal image
Problem-Solving Flexibility Literacy
Reliable Numeracy Committed
Resilient Disciplined Patience Loyalty
Ambitious Respectful Self-Aware
Goal-Orientated Prioritising Wants to learn
Networks and Builds Relationships Guides Others
What are the top skills that employers want?
• Written communication
• Verbal communication
• Flexibility
• Commercial awareness
• Teamwork
• Planning and organising
• Investigating and analysing
• Drive
• Numeracy
• Self awareness
• Computing
• Professionalism
SWOT - Activity
• A SWOT analysis is useful for identifying areas for development
• You can analyse your strengths and weaknesses as well as the opportunities and threats that you face
• This helps you focus on your strengths, minimize your weaknesses, and take the greatest possible advantage of opportunities available to you
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SWOT Analysis
September 2011
StrengthsI communicate well within in a team.
I am completely committed to my studies.
WeaknessesPresenting makes me feel very nervous.
I focus too much on the detail and sometimes this effects how I manage
my time.
I’m doing a presentation as part of an assignment. This will help to start to build my confidence public speaking.
Apply for a part time job. This will help develop my customer service skills.
OpportunitiesStronger candidates applying for the job
Threats
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The outcome you want from the SWOT analysis:
September 2011
Strengths
What strengths you should consider making stronger to further enhance your ability to pursue your goals
Weaknesses
What weaknesses you need to improve on, or manage, so that they don’t
impede your goal setting
What opportunities are best for you to pursue
What internal strengths you can use to enhance your pursuit of these opportunities
Opportunities
What threats you need to eliminate/ minimise
What internal strengths you can use to overcome these threats
Threats
Sports clubs / Team Sports / Societies
• Positions of responsibility, motivation, relationships
• Think of teams you play in or clubs you are in involved with. You may have developed skills such as:
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Time management / organisation
• Leadership
Work Experience
• Work experience, even part time work at a restaurant, as a customer assistant as a shop, in a call centre or at a hairdressers would have helped you develop a number of skills employers look for:
• Communication
• Problem solving
• Teamwork
• Time management
• Planning and organising
Ask yourself some questions…
• What skills are required for the position?
• Do I have these skills?
• How have I developed the skills that are required?
• What do I need to do in the future to develop these skills?
• If I’m interested in the profession I want to join , what do I know about the profession commercially?
Is this the career for you? Then start to research how you might apply…
What employers look for?
• Can you do the job?
• Are you motivated?
• Do you fit with the organisation?
What to do when at school
• Get actively involved in school life
• Develop personal skills
• Build up your work experience
• Find out about the careers open to you
• Research careers that interest you
• Prepare and keep your CV up-to-date
• Practice filling out application forms
Summary - Top Tips
• Find out about the careers open to you and the skills you need
• Assess your own employability skill level
• Start to develop personal skills – get involved!
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