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How to write a conclusion

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conclusion for employability skills assignment

Your conclusion is very important as it presents the final words of your assignment. It should leave the reader satisfied that you have provided a thorough, well-researched and reasoned response to the assignment question.

Your conclusion should move from the specific to the general (Introductions move from general to specific). You can begin your conclusion by reformulating the thesis statement you wrote in your introduction. This will remind the reader of the purpose of your essay.

Your conclusion should also include some or all of the following elements:

Here is a simple conclusion to illustrate how it works:

Hopkins, D. and Reid, T., 2018. The Academic Skills Handbook: Your Guid e to Success in Writing, Thinking and Communicating at University . Sage.

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Unlocking success: The why and what of employability skills

In today’s dynamic job market, securing employment is more than just having technical know-how. It’s about being a well-rounded professional who can communicate effectively, adapt to changing environments, and innovate. The vital attributes that make one a desirable candidate have a name – Employability Skills .

Research* reveals that:

Individuals who possess these skills enjoy a 7% higher job availability rate.
Individuals with strong employability skills exhibit a 30% increase in overall performance and have greater longevity in their jobs.
89% of an employee’s job success comes from employability skills.
Many urban jobs require only strong employability skills (e.g., sales, retail ops, front desk hospitality)
30-40% of the future jobs (2030) will depend largely on social-emotional skills.
A staggering 89% of early employee failures can be attributed to the absence of essential employability skills.
Individuals with identical technical skills but superior employability skills receive wages that are 26% higher.

At Wadhwani Foundation, we understand the significance of these skills, and are committed to nurturing them in line with our mission to enable over 10 million individuals across the globe to acquire new-age employability skills to help them be job-ready, setting the stage for millions to attain family-sustaining wages.

Towards this, w e conducted a survey with 1100+ companies to understand their perspectives on employability skills and the skill gaps they are challenged with.

Our analysis indicated that:

Most organizations rated employability skills high on the list of things they evaluate while hiring talent.
A majority of companies view these skills as crucial and are willing to pay a premium for candidates who possess them.
Employers placed significant value on softer aspects, beyond domain knowledge.

So, what are these sought-after yet elusive employability skills or competencies?

Here’s a quick view:

Give and Seek Opinions Effectively
Workplace Conversations
Active Listening
Constructing Meaningful Sentences
Describe Experiences
Effective Purposeful Writing
Making a Great First Impression
Non-verbal Communication
Group Discussions
Emotional Intelligence
Self-awareness & Growth Mindset
Time and Stress Management
Teamwork and Networking
Conflict Management
Gaining Acceptance and Negotiating
Critical Thinking
Decision-making
Creative Thinking
Adaptivity
Quality and Result Orientation
Workplace Awareness
Customer-focused Mindset
Customer Lifecycle
Customer Relationship Management
Computer Fundamentals
Microsoft Suite Essentials
Effective Information Search Online
Online Meetings & Communication
Internet Safety
Organizational Data Security
Basic First-Aid
Safety Awareness
Maintaining Health and Environment
Banking Basics
Money Management
Financial Concepts
Types of Enterprises
Business Planning and Marketing
Business Accounting
Who is an Entrepreneur?
Establish Startup Mission and Vision
Leadership and Ownership
Job Search Skills
Developing your Resume
Excelling through Interviews

These 15 competencies reflect a well-rounded skill set that equips an individual with the tools they need for personal growth and career advancement. At Wadhwani Foundation, we used the insights to develop a comprehensive employability skill curriculum touching each of the 15 competencies. By investing in these skills, individuals can navigate the complexities of the modern job market with confidence.

Our courses on skill development have found high value amongst learners, educational partners, and employers alike. These learners themselves play a pivotal role in shaping the competencies further. Here’s what they say:

Six out of every ten Wadhwani course-takers recognize the integral role of employability skills in their hiring and career growth. Their awareness of these skills’ importance highlights their commitment to personal and professional development.
All educational partners, whether within the network or external, unanimously agreed on the importance and integral role of employability skills in the hiring and growth of course-takers. This consensus underlines the widespread recognition of these competencies’ value.
The ultimate test of employability skills lies in the workplace. Our employer partners have reported overwhelmingly positive outcomes. Every partner collaborating with the Wadhwani Foundation has found significant improvements following their employees’ completion of employability skills courses. This direct feedback demonstrates the direct and immediate impact these skills have on professional success.

In conclusion, as the gateway to a prosperous and fulfilling career, employability skills are not merely a choice but a necessity in today’s ever-changing job landscape. Embrace them, nurture them, and let them be your guiding light on the path to unlocking success and securing a bright future in the world of work.

*References: Research by Stanford Research Center and Harvard University, 2015; 2. For the period 1980-2012, research by David Deming, Professor, Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School; 3. LinkedIn 2019 Global Talent Trends Report; 4. Research by global organizational consulting firm Kornferry, 2019; 5. Class of 2030, Microsoft-McKinsey Report, 2019

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Reflecting for employability

A key element of being successful in today’s society is building your employability. Reflection is an essential part of this process.

Reflection is a skill that can serve you well throughout life. It can benefit you while being educated, developing while working, and it can support you with entrepreneurship and building up your general ability to get employed and be adaptable and successful, i.e. your employability.

The video below provides a quick overview. The rest of the page provides more details and actions you can take.

What is employability

Employability is ‘a set of achievements – skills, understandings and personal attributes – that make graduates more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations, which benefits themselves, the workforce, the community and the economy. (Yorke, 2004, page 21).

A common misconception about employability is that it is the same as being employed and getting a job, or that having high levels of employability will guarantee you a job. As is it clear from the definition, employability is more an ongoing state of being capable to exist and build success in job market.

Reflection is essential for building employability

Developing employability often means using reflection to make the most of experiences – these can be from university courses, work (full-time or part-time), interests, volunteering, or caring responsibilities.

Reflection can help you to identify what skills you have utilised and developed through these experiences and build your sense of self-awareness. An important aspect of employability arises when you manage to combine all your experiences, your skills, and self-awareness into a story that is explicit to you and that you can effectively and positively communicate to others.

Reflection will help you to surface otherwise unknown elements of your employability story

One element common to both employability and reflection is the idea of drawing out learning, development, and abilities that would otherwise have remained unrecognised and unknown. Reflection is often identified as the mechanism for making the implicit explicit to ourselves.

For instance, when working you might often have to rely on effective interpersonal communication when engaging with customers/clients, and may have on multiple occasions had to deescalate building conflict. People in those situations sometimes fail to identify ‘conflict management’ as one of their skills, and often do not recognise such experiences as examples of effective interpersonal skills, even when asked in job interviews.

Reflection would in that situation help you to identify your strengths and become aware about how to weave them with specific examples into your employability story.

Ways reflection can help with your employability

Reflection can help you to:

identify the type of experiences and abilities you already have and those you are likely to need to become more employable
identify your strengths and weaknesses and find specific situations where you have deployed them such that you can effectively communicate them to others.
track your improvement of skills you want to develop and need for succeeding in your chosen careers
make informed decisions about what you think success is and looks like to you personally
identify things that you find stressful and how to deal with them – this way building resilience, a key ingredient to effective and long-term employability.

Moreover, the University have developed a series of Graduate Attributes, which have been identified to support your employability. By reflecting on and ensuring that you are developing these key attributes, you are likely to get an edge around employability.

University of Edinburgh’s Graduate Attributes (within the University website)

Written by a postgraduate student studying career guidance, read this blog for more on the value of reflection in supporting your future career and current development.

Robert Burns and the value of reflection

Using the Reflectors’ Toolkit to build employability through reflection

You can use different elements of the Reflectors’ Toolkit to build and strengthen your employability. Key sections are reflecting on experiences, reflecting on goals and objectives, building a reflective habit, and building self-awareness through reflection. Developing these will contribute to your success.

Reflecting on experiences will help you to identify learning and build an understanding and knowledge base of how you act in a range of situations – this will be valuable when communicating about your past experiences in the job market, and give you a range of situations to draw strategies from.
Reflecting on goals and objectives will help you track development of skills as well as of progression towards what you want in life – this will help you both communicate about and develop skills that are required to succeed in different careers.
Building a reflective habit makes you able to quickly identify successes and mistakes and allows you to fix them immediately – a valuable skill in any profession.
Increased self-awareness can ensure that you are navigating the job market in a way which aligns with who you are and who you want to be – especially defining what success looks like for you, becoming aware of your strengths and weakness, your values, and developing an ability to set reflective goals can make you successful.

Specific things to reflect on for employability

It can be extremely helpful to routinely reflect on what skills you have developed over the last week/month/year and how you will be able to evidence these skills with examples.
To identify the skills that are required in the sector you want to end up in and start developing these by setting goals and objectives.
Reflect on how you deal with challenges and how you can improve your approach.
Reflect on the range of experiences you have and find ways to expand this range.
Ensure you reflect and find value in the things you do regularly. Often people forget that the things they find easy/or do frequently actually require a lot of skill.

Ensure that you don’t neglect learning

Some people might think that working part-time jobs in bars/grocery stores or being active with hobbies do not build their employability. The reality is that when a reflective mindset is adopted, you will be able to find value and learning in most situations – and realise that all your experiences help to build your unique employability story.

Development of Employability Skills Essay

Introduction, skill 1: the ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing, skill 2: the ability to plan, prioritize, and organize work, skill 3: good interpersonal skills and ability to mobilize teams.

The main objective of this coursework is to develop relevant skills and abilities to employers in the contemporary workplace. Employers are looking for the best-suited candidates for the available job placements after having portrayed competitiveness both inside and outside the coursework. Besides, the candidates are supposed to have developed interpersonal skills, which are essential for good performance in a workplace. Fortunately, the course has equipped me with different skills through the many group assignments that I have been tackling.

The coursework is designed to help in the development of both interpersonal and career skills to the students. Therefore, I can communicate effectively both verbally and in writing with staff members at all levels as required by prospective employers. Upon enrollment, students are supposed to do a unit on communication skills, which is recommended by all professional bodies that regulate the courses.

The unit has many assignments that are supposed to be done in groups, thus giving students an opportunity to develop their abilities to work in teams. Additionally, students are supposed to do presentations in class, which are relevant for the development of the ability to communicate with people of all lifestyles and especially individuals in different professions. The course also discourages the usage of professional jargons in presentations, thus enhancing the effective communication in a workplace where a person interacts with staff members at different levels. Hence, I can communicate effectively in writing and verbally with staff members at all levels in a workplace.

I can plan, prioritize, and organize work, which are relevant skills for ensuring that pre-determined deadlines are met. The course has been very demanding since there have been numerous units in every semester and many other co-curricular activities. Both the academic and co-curricular activities have strict deadlines, and thus an individual has to do proper time planning and management to ensure that the set deadlines are met.

Moreover, in some cases, an interesting co-curricular activity coincides with an academic coursework. In such cases, I have had to give priority to the coursework since it is more relevant for my career development. I have also been a chairperson in various co-curricular activities whereby I organize activities for every semester with according to the academic calendars and activities. Therefore, I am confident that I have developed relevant skills to plan, prioritize, and organize work, as required by prospective employers.

Additionally, I have good interpersonal skills, which underscore my ability to foster the trust and cooperation of others. Having chaired various associations in the co-curricular activity setting, I have developed good leadership skills since I dealt with students from various faculties and helped in organizing activities to achieve the desired results within the set timeframes. In many instances, students have proposed me as a leader in various groups, which depicts my ability to foster the cooperation of others in groups and teams. The leadership skills were not acquired easily since at times decisions had to be made under uncertain circumstances, and everybody left, thus leaving all responsibilities to the leader, but I hardly failed to achieve the desired results.

The coursework has been of great importance to my growth in different aspects. I have gained the ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing, I can plan, prioritize, and organize work to ensure that deadlines are met, and finally I have good interpersonal skills coupled with the ability to mobilize teams.

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Career Readiness | Curriculum Development | Employability Skills

Employability Skills Lesson Plans for Middle and High School

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April 23rd, 2024 | 7 min. read

Employability Skills Lesson Plans for Middle and High School

Brad Hummel

Coming from a family of educators, Brad knows both the joys and challenges of teaching well. Through his own teaching background, he’s experienced both firsthand. As a writer for iCEV, Brad’s goal is to help teachers empower their students by listening to educators’ concerns and creating content that answers their most pressing questions about career and technical education.

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Since employability skills are an important focus of career and technical education (CTE), many middle and high school teachers are being asked to include employability skills lesson plans as part of their career readiness curriculum.

But what are employability skills? And how can you teach them as part of your lessons?

As a career readiness curriculum developer , we've been asked questions just like this time and time again.

To make putting together your lesson plans easier, this article will provide some of the most important content to include in your employability skills lessons.

But before we get to the resources, let's answer the most important question: what are employability skills?

What Are Employability Skills and Characteristics?

The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) conducted a job outlook survey asking employers to indicate the most important attributes they look for in a candidate.

According to the survey, some of the most important skills employers look for are:

Problem-solving skills
Teamwork and collaboration skills
Communication skills
Flexibility and adaptability
Interpersonal skills

Incidentally, all of these skills can be found on the list of 21st Century skills that today's students need to succeed in their careers.

Now that you know what skills employers are looking for, let's dive into how you can teach each of these skills in your classroom!

7 Topics to Cover in Your Employability Skills Lesson Plans

There are many topics that you can teach as part of your employability skills lessons. However, you might not have time to cover every skill in depth, particularly if you've been asked to cover a wide range of content as part of your career readiness curriculum.

Covering these seven major employability skills will go a long way in ensuring your students are prepared for future work opportunities. Plus, several of these skills involve other qualities that employers consider desirable.

Below, we'll take a look each of these seven employability skills and what they entail so you can include them in your instruction.

1. Lessons on Problem Solving Skills

Problem solving skills require a lot of higher order thinking in relation to decision-making and critical thinking. Students need to be able to use problem skills in order to successfully meet challenges in the classroom, their personal lives, and in future professional settings.

Because these qualities can be complex and sometimes ambiguous, problem solving can be one of the most difficult employability skills to teach. But with the right plan in place, teaching these skills can be straightforward.

Consider teaching your students problem-solving strategies. Is there a particular method they could follow that might make finding a solution easier? Are there steps they can use to simplify problems? Can you prompt learners to consider a new solution they may not have considered before?

Questions such as these can help students develop the cognitive qualities necessary to solve a wide range of problems, making them an asset to potential future employers.

2. Lessons for Teamwork and Collaboration Skills

Teamwork and collaboration skills are necessary in practically every career your students can think of. They even apply to the daily work while in school!

So how can you provide relevant, engaging lessons to help your students hone their teamwork skills?

Simply put, teamwork is best learned when students have the opportunity to practice it on a regular basis. While it's important to include individual assignments, varying your lessons to include ample group projects and activities give learners the chance to collaborate with others to solve problems and internalize class concepts.

You can make the most out of teamwork exercises in your classroom by including a reflection activity that encourages students to reflect on what they've learned and where they can improve their collaborative efforts in the future.

Learning teamwork while in middle and high school helps students become valued collaborators that will be an asset to the teams of professionals they'll be a part of over their careers.

3. Lessons on Communication Skills

With texting and messaging apps, today's students can communicate more easily than ever before. However, that doesn't mean they are using good communication skills that will apply in their careers!

When teaching communication skills, it's important to cover a variety of communication styles, including:

Listening skills
Verbal communication
Written communication
Public speaking
Social media usage

Covering this wide range of communication skills can make all the difference in ensuring your students are able to work with others in a variety of contexts. When they practice these skills in school, they'll already be great communicators by the time they graduate!

4. Leadership Lesson Plans

Leadership involves someone's ability to influence and guide others towards a common goal.

Finding leadership resources for employers and professionals is easy. But it can be tough to sort through all these materials to find relevant lessons and activities for your students.

That's why we recommend teaching the core qualities that make a good leader , including:

Problem solving
Goal setting
Responsibility

In addition to these skills, consider teaching your students about the importance of character and integrity. Demonstrating high standards of personal conduct is what sets truly great leaders apart, so learning this early in life will help students be trusted leaders not only in their careers, but the communities they live and serve in.

5. Resources to Teach Initiative

Initiative, also called intrinsic motivation, relates to an individual starting projects, creating plans, and executing strategies on their own.

Some of the best tips to help teach initiative to your students are:

Tie your lessons to the end goal
Incorporate group work
Let students work independently
Find ways to help students stay productive
Encourage students to discover connections

When you teach initiative in middle or high school , your students are able to become independent workers and thinkers who are self-starters when it comes to generating new ideas, working toward a solution, and remaining productive until their work is finished.

Whether they go on to higher education or choose to enter the workforce after high school, a personal sense of initiative will go a long way to ensuring they're able to achieve their goals.

6. Lessons on Flexibility

Flexibility is a person's ability to adapt to change and understand differences in view that can impact decisions.

Flexibility often involves letting go of control and moving forward with decisions you may not always agree with. That makes it a tough employability skill to teach in middle and high school!

However, if you create connections between flexibility and other skills such as collaboration, you may find it easier to teach.

Covering flexibility is critical because many careers require workers to continually adapt to new situations, unforeseen challenges, and ongoing obstacles. Learning flexibility as a student can help an individual feel prepared for unexpected circumstances and have a better idea how to adapt and change to meet fresh challenges.

7. Interpersonal Skills Lessons and Activities

Interpersonal skills are crucial to the ongoing success of professionals in any field. Since almost every career involves effectively working with others, it's crucial for students to develop qualities indicative of strong interpersonal communications.

Establishing empathy, developing professionalism, and cultivating good customer service are all viewed by employers as desirable interpersonal skills.

All of these skills are increasingly relevant in a world in which much communication and collaboration takes place in digital settings. The need to demonstrate sound interpersonal skills in online environments, especially through social media and instant communications, have made these skills one of the most important to teach your students.

However, by teaching professionalism and appropriate digital behavior as part of your regular instruction, you'll be on your way to helping students better navigate interpersonal relationships and be ready for work as professionals.

Start Teaching Employability Skills Today

In this article, you've learned about employability skills and why they're so important to teach middle and high school students. You've also learned about seven particularly important employability skills that potential employers often consider to be the most important when making hiring decisions.

Now that you've learned more about each of these skills, it's time to think about incorporating them into your instruction. But between everything else you need to teach your students, how can you effectively cover all of this information in your lessons and still have time to cover other important content in your subject area?

For many teachers, the answer lies in adopting a comprehensive curriculum system like iCEV. With iCEV, teachers are able to cover each of these employability skills as part of a cohesive CTE learning experience designed to prepare students for future career success.

With pre-made lesson plans, engaging activities and projects, and automatically graded assessments, instructors are able to meet student needs with a curriculum aligned to their standards.

We are now almost fully booked for Summer 2024 and expect to close registration in the next few days.

13 September 2021

Employability skills: the definitive guide (2021).

Lawrence Calman-Grimsdale

Definition and Examples
Soft Skills
Improving Your Soft Skills
Hard Skills
Improving Your Hard Skills
Showcasing your Employability Skills
Applying for Jobs

In this guide, you will discover:

What employability skills are
Why they are important
How to improve them at school
How to showcase them in your UCAS application, CV and much more...

Let's dive in.

What are employability skills? Definition and examples

Employability skills (also known as foundational skills, job-readiness skills or job skills) are the transferable skills needed by an individual to make them employable.

Throughout your career, prospective employers and universities will look for evidence that you have these all-important skills.

They are especially vital when you don’t have much ‘on the job’ experience to illustrate your ability to perform the role.

There are two types of employability skills:

' Soft ' or non-technical skills, e.g. teamwork, communication and time management
' Hard ' or technical skills e.g. writing, computer and analytical skills

Here's a list of career definitions if you need to brush up.

According to global employers , the top five most important employability skills are:

Problem solving
Communication
Adaptability
Interpersonal skills

In the UK, the biggest shortfalls lie in adaptability, organisation and communication.

Now, let’s explore why employability skills are so important to potential employers.

Why are they important?

Employability skills are essential to securing your dream job.

They go beyond qualifications and experience; they directly reflect how employable you are.

In an increasingly competitive market, strong employability skills will take your application to the next level. They, along with academic achievement and relevant experience, create the foundation of a great job or university application.

What are soft skills?

Soft skills are non-technical employability skills. They are indicative of personality and how an individual engages with those around them.

Soft skills are essential in almost every industry.

According to a LinkedIn survey , 92% of hiring managers said soft skills are more important than technical skills.

An employee might be brilliant at the technical skills required to perform a role. But if they cannot communicate, manage their time effectively or adapt to change, their success in the workplace will be limited.

Soft skills are more like personality traits or behaviours; they are hard to teach and must be learned over time.

If you aren’t thinking about these skills yet, it’s time to start! Employers will want to see how you developed and built on these skills at school.

Unsure how? This guide will tell you everything you need to know.

Let's look at the top five soft skills employers want.

1. Problem Solving

Problem-solving is just what it sounds like: the ability to solve problems. This is a particularly useful transferable skill that also demonstrates a group of subskills:

Research: the ability to define and gather information on the problem
Creativity: the ability to generate potential solutions
Decision-making: the ability to choose the most effective solution
Implementation: the ability to enact that solution
Analytical: the ability to measure the effectiveness of the changes you’ve made

Beyond the steps above, problem solvers can typically think on their feet, adapt and take initiative. They are good with ideas and can act fast when needed.

In fact, problem solving is the number one skill employers look for , which makes sense, as it's transferable across all industries. Unexpected problems always arise and companies look for employees who can tackle them head-on.

2. Teamwork

Essentially, teamwork is one's ability to work well in a team. But it's much more than that.

It encompasses many different skills:

Supporting the members of your team
Making others feel welcome and valued
Knowing your own strengths and weaknesses
Working towards a common goal

Being a team player demonstrates communication skills, empathy, collaboration, adaptability... the list goes on.

Without efficient collaboration, performance drops. That’s why it's the key to a successful company.

"If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself."

- Henry Ford

3. Communication Skills

Communication is the act of transferring information.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Communication skills also include:

Active listening
Verbal communication
Body language
Open-mindedness

These skills will prove immeasurably important in any career and there are numerous situations in which you will find them useful. For example:

In an interview, when communicating with the interviewer your suitability for a role
To solve a problem, when you must first communicate what's wrong to your manager

Good communication helps you to understand your colleagues (and vice versa). This creates a better working environment, motivates others and supports innovation.

If you want to improve your communication skills, check out our cutting-edge marketing programmes , where you can learn from industry experts how to communicate with a range of different audiences.

4. Adaptability

Adaptability is your capacity to adjust to new conditions - something Covid-19 has tested for everyone. It goes hand in hand with problem solving, as both involve unforeseen circumstances.

Adaptability also demonstrates:

Receptiveness
Decision-making
The ability to work under pressure
Time management
The ability to meet deadlines

Flexibility in the workplace is becoming more and more important. If a team cannot adapt, a big setback could undo everything. With a team that can, there is almost no setback that cannot be overcome.

Dr Max McKeown, author of Adaptability: The Art of Winning in an Age of Uncertainty said "All failure is failure to adapt, all success is successful adaptation."

All failure is failure to adapt, all success is successful adaptation.

5. Interpersonal Skills

Interpersonal skills encompass your ability to interact with others. They make the workplace run smoothly.

Some examples are:

Conflict management
Negotiation
Positive attitude

These are especially important for managers, as they need to be able to express recognition, resolve disputes and listen well to their employees.

Those with strong interpersonal skills tend to build better working relationships, as they naturally strive to understand their colleagues and what motivates them.

Do you have an innate ability to interact well with others? Why not take it to the next level with one of our Politics Programmes ?

92% of hiring managers said soft skills are more important than technical skills.

Extracurricular activities are a fantastic way to improve your soft skills at school and enhance your employability.

Societies or clubs

Playing an active role in any society or club is a great way to expand your skill base.

The focus can be anything - sport, science, music, even LARPing ! What matters is participating, organising, maybe even managing something with your friends and peers.

This will help you to develop your: https://investin.org/blogs/news/choosing-a-levels

Organisation
Self-motivation
Determination

If you aren't enrolled in any clubs or societies, have a look at your school website or speak to your teacher. If you are, have a think about what skills you have developed there - it will definitely come in useful when you’re applying for jobs or universities.

These also look great in the hobbies and interests section of your CV !

Tutoring can be more than just a job.

It can supercharge your university or job applications by proving a thorough understanding of your chosen subject, as well as:

The ability to communicate with a range of people
Coaching and mentoring skills
Responsibility

If you aren't tutoring at the moment, it's worth considering. It can be low-commitment (as little as an hour a week) and can really strengthen your skillset.

Volunteering

Volunteering is another skill booster to consider whilst at school.

There are so many volunteering opportunities, from charity work at a local food bank, hospital or homeless shelter to teaching football at a local school.

Working for free in your spare time reflects all sorts of desirable traits, including:

Collaboration
Reliability

As with tutoring, volunteering can be low-commitment. Why not explore some of the volunteering opportunities in your area?

Career Coaching

Career coaching is professional mentoring to help you achieve your career goals.

A large part of that relates to employability skills.

Unsure which career is right for you? Career coaching can help you decide based on your soft skills, interests and preferences.

If you do know which career you would like to pursue, career coaching can help you take the first step towards securing your dream job.

Either way, career coaching improves your employability. That’s why every InvestIN programme includes tailored career coaching from industry experts who will:

Train you on how to secure a competitive role in your desired industry
Provide you with an action plan for how to get there, starting now

And give you expert advice on:

A-level /IB/college class choices
University and degree choices
Extracurricular activities
Work experience
Application and interview techniques

This is just one of the ways InvestIN programmes can help you land your dream job.

What are hard skills?

Hard skills are technical employability skills - the kind you can take a test on. They are specific, measurable and typically learned in formal education or training.

For entry-level positions, employers don’t tend to expect candidates to have hard skills from the outset. If they do, it will always be specified in the job description.

Some hard skills, like writing and numeracy, are transferable, but most are industry or job-specific (e.g. coding or translating).

Hard skills are needed for the specific tasks and responsibilities of a given job. They, along with soft skills and experience, make up your employability.

Basic hard skills are always in high demand.

In a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, 30% of HR professionals said they had encountered shortages in computer and writing skills.

For entry-level jobs, hard skills aren’t always as relevant as their ‘soft’ counterparts, but they quickly become more important as you progress through your career. Eventually, your key hard skills will become your area of expertise.

In certain industries, such as technology and engineering, hard skills make up most of the required skills for a given job.

Let's look at the five hard skills employers want the most.

1. Computer Skills

Due to technological advances, computer skills are more vital than ever.

That’s why LinkedIn ranks them as the number one hard skill employers look for. These include skills such as:

Microsoft Office
Social media
Graphic design
Data visualisation
Front end programming
Machine learning

As you can see, these skills range from highly transferable (e.g. MS Office) to highly specialised (e.g. machine learning).

Looking to supercharge your computer skills? Take a look at our Tech Programmes , where you will gain authentic, hands-on experience in everything from AI to app development.

2. Data Analysis

Data analysis encompasses the ability to examine large data sets, draw useful conclusions and present them clearly.

This skill is in very high demand; there is data almost everywhere, and companies are looking for those who can analyse it.

Beyond this, data analysis showcases other abilities, such as:

Prioritisation
Optimisation

If data analytics sounds like you, check out our brand new Data Science Programmes . They're packed full of immersive experiences led by top professionals, including:

Employing data to salvage a business
Investigating the ‘black box’ problem in AI
Using big data to crack down on scams and much more!

3. Project Management

Project management means handling the end-to-end process of any given objective at work, including criteria, requirements and deadlines.

Even if you don't want to become a Project Manager , employers look for those who have project management skills.

Managing a project well requires a range of hard and soft skills including:

Problem-solving
Dealing with risk
Critical thinking

These are incredibly valuable to employers as they reflect objective-driven thinking.

Those with excellent project management skills can work independently, ensure tasks are completed on time and within budget, solve problems easily and adapt to new situations.

Looking to develop your project management skills? Check out our Entrepreneur Programmes .

Learn to build a business from the ground up and receive expert career coaching, interview tips, networking opportunities and much more.

The ability to write with good grammar, spelling and punctuation is essential in almost every job.

Written communication also encompasses the following skills:

Blog writing
Social media copy

It is also extremely useful outside of work.

For example, a well-written CV or personal statement can make the difference between an offer and a rejection. In fact, 77% of hiring managers said typos were the most common CV mistake.

Do you have a way with words? Get ahead with our Writing Programmes . Learn from industry experts how to build a bestseller and break into the industry.

5. Graphic Design

Graphic design skills aren't just for the creative industries.

Many employers look for candidates who have a good eye for design, especially in fields like marketing and operations.

Plenty of smaller companies design their own website and may need input from the whole team. Plus, any presentation will be far more persuasive with some slick design.

Some popular design tools include:

The Adobe Creative Suite, including Adobe Illustrator , Photoshop and InDesign

Are you considering a career in art or design? Learn from leading artists and designers how to create a successful career in art.

If the hard skill you want to improve relates to a subject you are studying, lessons can be a great starting point.

Skills such as writing, IT and numeracy are best taught in school, so your development starts there. If you want to progress even further, consider doing an Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) to hone your writing skills, finding a mentor to brush up on your maths, or practising on your computer in your spare time.

Courses

Taking a course outside of school doesn’t just develop your hard skills.

It also shows initiative and self-motivation, both traits looked for by universities and employers alike.

Online courses are on the rise, too. You can now access expert teaching from the comfort of your own home thanks to sites like SkillShare and Coursera .

Regardless of the format, if you have some free time in the school holidays, taking a course is worth considering. Especially if you want to have plenty to talk about in your UCAS personal statement and CV (more on those later).

Immersive Career Experiences

InvestIN programmes have been specifically designed to give you the tools necessary to succeed in your dream career.

We provide experiences in some of the world’s most competitive and desirable industries including medicine , law , engineering , psychology , investment banking , architecture , dentistry and many more.

Gain the knowledge and confidence you need with our immersive programmes.

How do i showcase my employability skills.

We’ve seen what employability skills are, why they’re important and how to improve them.

Now let’s look at how you demonstrate them to universities and employers.

UCAS Personal Statement

Since you only have 4,000 characters, the UCAS personal statement is all about quality over quantity.

Start by thinking about what transferable skills you have developed at school, then pick one or two of the best. If possible, include examples that show initiative, leadership or teamwork, as these will help to set you apart.

It's essential to consider which skills are most relevant to the degree you are applying to. The course description should give some examples.

Each time you include a skill in your personal statement, make sure you give evidence to back it up.

Here are some soft skill examples:

"I’ve always been passionate about learning new skills and solving problems. Working towards my gold Duke of Edinburgh award has taught me a lot about leadership, long-term commitment and teamwork, and has motivated me to pursue many different new interests, such as volunteering.”

Speaking of Duke of Edinburgh, did you know InvestIN is now an Approved Activity Provider ? That means our summer programmes can count as your Gold Award residential!

"In order to give back to the community, I have been volunteering at the British Heart Foundation for the last 18 months. As well as demonstrating my reliability, I have also developed my interpersonal and communication skills. This, alongside completing my grade 7 cello, reflects my ability to manage my time efficiently under pressure."

"Studying drama and delving into the context of different plays has allowed me to develop my research skills; fine art has encouraged me to be more creative and think outside the box; English language has enhanced my communication skills, both written and verbal."

“On the InvestIN Young Investment Banker Summer Experience , I furthered my communication skills in a range of industry simulations, including pitching to real investors. I also learned to address large groups and work under pressure, both of which I had struggled with previously.”

Here are some hard skill examples:

"Studying physics and biology at A level has enabled me to interpret data and successfully draw conclusions from it. In writing up experiments, I have learned how to communicate these conclusions effectively and dissect them further when needed."

"In order to supplement my design toolkit, I have taught myself Google SketchUp in my spare time. This has enabled me to develop my 3D design skills, culminating in my electric car charging station project."

"While managing the budget for my local rugby club, I took an intermediate Excel course online. As a result, I can now confidently use VLookups and pivot tables. I have utilised these new skills to create monthly budget reports for management."

“On the InvestIN Young Doctor Summer Experience , I gained hands-on experience alongside doctors in a real hospital including drawing blood, performing a ward round and taking a patient’s history. This experience further cemented my passion for medicine and showed me that I am ready to study it at university level.”

Is keeping track of all of this a bit daunting? Check out our Summer Success Journal ! It's packed full of expert tips, structured guidance, enrichment examples, exercises, key resources and much more.

Applying for jobs

Writing your cv.

When it comes to writing your CV, it's all about structure.

It’s a huge opportunity to showcase your skills - but you need to organise them correctly.

The employment history section is a great place to showcase your employability skills. You should include any work you have done, including:

Full-time work
Part-time work
Internships

For each, highlight the following in short sentences or bullet points:

What your role was
What you were responsible for
Employability skills you demonstrated or learned
Problems you overcame
Achievements

Here are some examples:

Customer Assistant, Tesco

June 2020 - April 2021

Resolved customer queries quickly and efficiently, gaining valuable communication skills
Ensured customer satisfaction in a team that consistently met revenue targets
Assisted with stock rotation, successfully completing required tasks under pressure
Adapted to the role quickly, completing training in half the expected time

Work experience at UCL, Engineering dept.

2 weeks in June 2020

Assisted the optical telecommunications team with their current work
Learned experiment methodology and spoke to each member of the team about their role and background
Recorded results and input them into MatLab, then helped to clean the data and plot graphs to draw conclusions from
Gained hands-on experience working with optic fibre and wrote a report on its current uses, benefits and drawbacks

During an interview, there should be lots of time for you to showcase your employability skills. Typically, these come in the form of competency-based questions. For example:

Tell me about a time when...
Give an example of when you...
How did you deal with...

These can be tricky to answer, and you may find yourself rambling. The STAR method will help: situation, task, action, result.

Think of an experience you had that relates to the question. We’d recommend preparing some examples ahead of the interview. Some of the most common behavioural questions are:

Describe a problem you had at work and how you handled it
Give me an example of when you demonstrated leadership
Tell me about a time when you succeeded/failed

It’s a good idea to make sure you have some situations ready to go. If you haven't got much work experience, don't worry. These situations could be from school or an extra-curricular activity.

“While on our Duke of Edinburgh gold expedition…”
“I was on the committee planning our school leavers’ ball…”
“At the care home where I volunteer…”

Describe the task at hand.

It’s easy to rush into the ‘action’ part here. So make sure you take the time to give the interviewer a clear picture.

Why was the task important? Is it something you did independently or was it a team effort? How much pressure was there?

This should be the bulk of your answer.

Explain in detail your approach to the task, including why you took this approach and how well it worked.

Highlight which skills you exhibited, for example:

“I made a schedule to ensure we managed our time efficiently...”

“I adapted to the change of management quickly by…”

“To avoid confusion, I organised the data into charts and presented it to the team...”

Finish by summarising the result of your action.

Did it solve the problem? How did you monitor its success? Did you take measures to ensure the problem wouldn’t happen again?

“To avoid this happening again, I created a template for everyone to use…”
“I informed the programme about the problem and the solution I had implemented…”
“I observed our website traffic in the subsequent weeks to ensure our traffic didn’t decrease…"

Looking for more STAR examples? The University of London has great answers for each employability skill .

Assessment Centres

An assessment centre (or assessment day) is where candidates compete for highly competitive jobs by completing a range of activities.

Typically, you will participate in some of the following:

Group exercises
Scenario role-play exercises
Case study-based analysis exercises
Psychometric personality questionnaires
Psychometric ability tests
Competency-based interviews

In these exercises, you will be assessed on your employability skills.

For example:

In a group activity, you could be assessed on your communication, interpersonal and problem-solving skills and teamwork
In psychometric ability tests, you could be assessed on your numerical, logical and language skills
In competency-based interviews, you will be asked to give examples demonstrating your employability skills

To really excel in an assessment centre, you will need to practice. Try running through some scenarios with your friends or take some psychometric ability tests online.

Now it’s your turn…

Time to get started on your journey to employability.

Which skills are you going to work on first? Maybe you’ll start a club at school, take an online course or something completely different. However you do it, gaining these skills won’t happen overnight, so don’t feel rushed.

Check out our Career Definitions to brush up on workplace and industry terms.

Discover your future today.

Are you ready to take the next step on the path to your dream career?

Related articles, how to become a computer scientist: guide for students, how to become an entrepreneur: a guide for students, work experience for 16 year olds: ultimate guide, investin’s charity competition: celebrating you, stay up to date with all the latest news.

Macquarie's L&T Community Blog

Surely they can write ? Tackling literacy decline one scoop at a time

Using ice-cream as bait, teaching staff in Psychology delivered practical in-class exercises to improve the essay writing skills of first-year students.

Eva Tzschaschel and Spencer Arbige from the School of Psychological Sciences (Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences) teach PSYU1102 and PSYX1102 (Introduction to Psychology 2) – a large unit of almost 2000 1st year students. In this post, Eva and Spencer share how they incorporated four twenty-minute writing skills workshops into tutorials and how this positively impacted student performance in an essay assessment.

Ever been marking an essay and found yourself wanting to scream as you stare down yet another poorly constructed sentence that meanders on forever? We’ve been there too. That’s why we developed a solution to help turn those screams (hopefully for ice cream) into dreams of better writing.

Surely, they can write?

The mismatch between expectations and reality.

We noticed a disconnect between students, teachers, and future employers, as all these groups hold wildly different expectations for university-level writing.

Study shows writing skills in decline

Despite these positive expectations, Thomas (2019) highlighted that NAPLAN writing scores declined rapidly from 2011 to 2018, especially within high school cohorts. As these trends occurred despite increased performances in reading and numeracy skills, Thomas cited ineffective writing instructions from educators as one potential explanation for these decreases.

A practical approach: make it digestible – like ice-cream

To combat this, instead of just describing what good academic writing should look like, we dedicated bitesized chunks of time at the start of each tutorial – to make it digestible (like ice cream or the occasional vegetable for the health conscious out there) – to practical academic writing tasks (e.g., editing sentences for clarity).

We naturally divided these activities into segments so that each task related to that week’s targeted section of the essay, such as the introduction, body and conclusion. For example, we included the editing activity described above within one of the body paragraph lessons.

The writing skills workshops in tutorials also aligned with the recommended study timeline in the unit i.e. Weeks 1-4 Essay preparation, Weeks 4-6 Essay writing, Weeks 7-8 Essay revision and submission.

During these practical workshops, tutors introduced each week’s theme before students downloaded a worksheet from iLearn and split off to complete the day’s practical task, which involved either small group exercises, partner work, or individual assignments. Following a larger group discussion, tutors then provided answers to any outstanding questions about the worksheets. They also addressed any unique essay-related queries.

View worksheets: * Introduction worksheet * Writing clearly worksheet * Definitions worksheet * Conclusion worksheet

As the unit has three separate streams, namely on-campus tutorials, online Zoom tutorials, and asynchronous Open University (OUA) tutorials, we modified the delivery of the OUA content accordingly. For this cohort, in addition to the aforementioned worksheets, we also developed interactive content on iLearn to simulate partner work and immediate tutor feedback.

A noticeable improvement in essay performance

While the cohort was not better overall than the previous year (as evidenced by no change in performance on the lecture quizzes), students performed significantly better in the written assignment compared to the year before. The numbers are convincing – a 5% improvement in student essay performance marks compared to the previous year. This indicates our program was successful!

Student and staff feedback

Although most students enjoyed the new format of bite-size chunks in preparation for the assignment, some wanted everything in one go. Others still didn’t like the ice-cream topic (have they no sense of humour?). However, that could be because they just wanted to work on the actual assignment topic (instead of having to transfer their newly acquired knowledge to the actual essay topic).

What we’ll change for next time

Take students’ feedback on board and make the instructions easier to follow
Offer an overview document for students who prefer everything in one spot
Perhaps think of a different topic example for the exercises (instead of ice-cream)
Provide better training for the tutors to further enhance the delivery of the program
Ensure students understand that the topic for the practice exercises is irrelevant – they just need to transfer what they learn to the actual assignment topic.

Eva Tzschaschel is an A/Lecturer and Co-Course Director for the Bachelor of Psychology (OUA) program at the School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences. Eva is passionate about teaching psychology and focuses on imparting transferrable skills such as clear communication and critical thinking to her students. Eva is also a member of the Macquarie University Lifespan Health and Wellbeing Research Centre. Her research interests primarily lie in health and perception research.

Spencer Arbige is a third year PhD candidate in the School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences. His research explores novel, online applications of hypnosis. Spencer has previously tutored for the introductory psychology and neuroscience units offered by the department and taught abroad in Sierra Leone through the Peace Corps. Given his extensive journalism background, he hopes to become involved in other similar research collaborations, with the aim of improving psychology writing and education.

Banner image: Adobe stock image Other images supplied by Eva Tzschaschel Post edited by Kylie Coaldrake

Posted in: Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences , Supporting Learning , Teaching Practice