What is employability?

Below is a list of employability skills valued by employers. At the beginning of the academic year rate yourself on how well you have developed these skills. Rate yourself out of 5, with 1 being ‘very well’ and 5 representing ‘needs development’.

Review your degree programme and highlight any degree-specific employability skills.

If you have scored 3 or below, develop an action plan to further develop these skills (see the next worksheet).

Action plan

Your degree

Employability is embedded in your degree programme. Make a list below of the units for each term and identify the employability skills you are developing. Review the assessment methods, current industry/sector information, guest speakers, etc.

Review the feedback on your assignments and reflect upon your self-management when completing the tasks. What did you do well and what areas need further development? Consider, for example, how you managed your time, interacted with others, how well you researched the topic, etc.

Now use the table below to identify the top three areas to focus on in the following term.

Use the STAR matrix to develop these examples into possible answers for application forms.

Situation: outline the situation

Task: define the task

Action: action you took

Result: the outcome?

The continuous use of this framework will enable you not only to review your development of employability skills but also your ability to relate examples drawn from your degree to skills valued by employers.

Freshers’ fair checklist

A freshers’ fair is usually held at the start of the academic year to provide new students with the opportunity to find out about the students’ union, clubs and societies and other extracurricular activities.

Who is the president of the students’ union? Make a note of name and contact details

Make a list of all the societies at the university that are of interest

Make a note of their contact details and the date of the next meeting

What other extracurricular activities are available at the university?

Make a list of other activities you might want to join and note their contact details

If you are interested in starting your own society, email the president of the students’ union to find out how

Is there a society related to your specific discipline? If yes, join. If not, this is a perfect opportunity to start a new society.

Voluntary work and you

Assess your availability and identify possible volunteering opportunities. Create a timetable that highlights your lecture and study times, your part-time job, society meeting times and the days and time you would be willing to volunteer. Remember you can volunteer in your holidays and so it does not need to conflict with your schedule at university.

Websites to search for volunteering opportunities:

www.do-it.org

www.timeoutdoors.com

www.volunteering.org.uk

Your university careers service

The graduate market and your industry/sector

1. Ask your course director or careers service for the statistics on destinations of leavers from your course.
   • Which employers have recruited from your course in previous years?
   • For what roles are students from your course typically recruited?
   • Did students in previous years undertake internships and placements? If so where and for whom?
2. Review ‘The Graduate Market in 2016’ by High Fliers Research. What are the graduate recruitment statistics for your sector?
3. Ask your course director if it would be possible to speak with the alumni of your course to gain from their experiences following graduation.
4. Identify sector-specific magazines or journals to keep you abreast of changes in the sector.
5. Find the professional body that represents your sector. Note its name, contact details, student subscription fee and any networking events. Then sign up for its e-bulletin.

Start your own business

1. What business support is offered at your university?
   • – Name
   • – Contact details
   • – Enterprise training
   • – Grants and funding
2. Is there a student enterprise society?
   • – Name
   • – Contact details
   • – Meeting times
3. Does your university operate a small business incubator unit? What support does the unit offer to current students?
   • – Contact name
   • – Contact details
   • – Location
4. Is the university involved in any enterprise competitions?
   • – Name
   • – Details of the competition
   • – Entry requirements
   • – Closing date

Part-time job review

Whether you are stacking shelves or frying burgers, you are developing your employability skills. This exercise will help you to translate your part-time skills development into skills valued by a graduate employer.

Job title:

Outline the key functions of your role:

How does your function contribute to the overall success of the company?

If your role disappeared tomorrow, what impact would this have on customer experience?

How do you think your skills could be considered in a wider context in relation to:

• customer service
• leadership
• project management
• organisational skills
• team-working
• problem-solving
• communication

Use the STAR matrix to review and demonstrate some of the skills outlined above.

Getting to know you

Conduct a personal review of yourself and distribute it to at least five others who know you in differing capacities: lecturer, colleague, fellow student, etc. Your personal review will provide an insight into your strengths and areas for development.

1 = very good to 5 = needs development

Employability workshops available on campus

You should attend free workshops at your university, often run by the careers service. Throughout your degree and as you progress in the development of your employability skills, you will need to revisit previously attended workshops and your needs and wants will change.

The process of applying for an internship, placement or graduate role are very competitive and these workshops can help you review what you have to offer a potential employer.

Your individual brand

What does your brand say about you? Write a short statement (no more than 100 words) that captures your unique selling point: what makes you stand out?

This statement should capture the skills developed on your degree and through your extracurricular activities. You should also capture your ‘I’, your individual contribution to tasks – what you bring to the table as a team member, leader and project manager.

Continually revisit this statement, incorporating your new skills. Compare your statement from year one to your statement in your final year.