What makes you more employable?
From
JobStreet.com
Two recent overseas
surveys posed questions to employers to find out what they want from their graduate
recruits. The consensus is that employers want intelligent and enthusiastic individuals
who can organise and plan their work and interact with others effectively. Some
of these skills are already honed in the university or college, but others will
need to be developed outside your studies. Your applications will be more convincing
if you can point to a range of situations in which you developed the skills the
employers seek and make yourself more employable. Here then are the highlights
of the surveys.
University of Central England’s Employer Satisfaction
survey
Recruiters were asked to rank 60 skills in order of importance.
The top 12 listed as most important were:
- Willingness to learn
- Commitment
- Dependability/reliability
-
Self-motivation
- Team work
- Communication skills (oral)
- Co-operation
- Communication skills (written)
- Drive/energy
- Self-management
-
Desire to achieve/motivation
- Problem-solving ability
Another research conducted by the Association of Graduate Recruiters gave
the picture of a complete graduate as requiring the following skills, which are
rather similar to the UCE survey: -
Self-awareness.
Able to identify your skills, values, interests and core strengths clearly, and
provide evidence of these abilities. Actively willing to seek feedback from others.
Able to identify areas for personal, academic and professional growth.
-
Self-promotion. Able to define and promote own agenda.
Can identify 'customer needs' (academic/community/employer) and promote own strengths
in a convincing way.
-
Exploring opportunities.
Able to identify, create, investigate and seize opportunities. Possess research
skills to identify possible sources of information, help and support.
-
Action planning. Able to plan an effective course of
action, such as implementing an action plan, organising time effectively and preparing
contingency plans. Able to monitor and evaluate progress against specific objectives.
-
Networking. Aware of the need to develop
networks of contacts. Able to define, develop and maintain a support network for
advice and information.
-
Matching and decision-making.
Understands personal priorities and constraints which includes the need for a
sustainable balance of work and home life. Able to match opportunities to core
skills, knowledge, values, interests etc. Able to make an informed decision based
on the available opportunities.
-
Negotiation.
Able to negotiate from a position of powerlessness. Able to reach 'win/win' agreements.
-
Political awareness. Understands the hidden
tensions and power struggles within organisations. Aware of the location of power
and influence within organisations.
-
Coping
with uncertainty. Able to adapt goals in the light of changing circumstances.
Able to take a myriad of tiny risks.
-
Development
focus. Committed to lifelong learning. Understands preferred method and style
of learning. Reflects on learning from experiences, good and bad. Able to learn
from the mistakes of others.
-
Transfer skills.
Able to apply skills to new contexts - a higher level skill in itself.
-
Self-confidence. Has an underlying confidence in abilities,
based on past successes. Also has a personal sense of self-worth, not dependent
on performance. |
