Are you employable?
To answer this question you must review what you are offering employers. To be employable you must have skills and attributes that match the jobs you seek. Most importantly you must be able to ‘sell’ these to employers.
- Do a skills audit where you write down your top 5-8 skills.
- Ask yourself which ones you really want to use in your job and which you are best at.
- Measure these against job advertisements, position descriptions and key selection criteria for your chosen jobs.
- If you identify any skill deficits or a lack of relevant experience, your challenge is show what you are doing about it. Become involved in activities that will allow you to demonstrate the skills and qualities employers seek.
Employability skills for the future
In the context of globalisation, ongoing change and the need for knowledge workers you need to develop skills which not only gain you employment, but also enable you to progress within and contribute successfully to the enterprise. To be employable in the future world of work you will require:
- excellent communication skills (written and verbal). These are highly valued in every workplace, often above the technical skills needed to do the work
- innovation, flexibility and client focus
- a capacity and willingness to learn new things
- emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills as well as technical skills, including helpful personal attributes-make sure you add value to your degree
- values and ethics consistent with the company’s mission
- technological know-how
- adaptability to change
- a global perspective
- career direction- show you understand which skills and knowledge are most important to you, to the job of interest and to your career
- motivation and self-reliance
- time management skills-show you have successfully managed to achieve strong academic results whilst juggling work experience and extra-curricular activities
Read What employers want and Add value to your degree to enhance employment prospects on this site for more ideas.
