Employability, the qualities and skills that make us suitable for paid work, often brings to mind a specific body of knowledge, technical skills or qualifications that are appropriate for a particular position. However, there is an increasing demand from global businesses for their employees to demonstrate effective core skills.
Core skills are often referred to as soft skills, and include social skills (such as the ability to collaborate and communicate effectively with other people), higher level thinking skills (such as thinking critically and solving problems), and more personal, emotional skills (such as personal development and self-awareness).
The Cambridge Employability Skills Framework is based on extensive research into employer needs, and groups employability skills into eight key areas of competency that need to be developed, in addition to learning English.
These eight Competenciesi are:
- Collaboration and Teamwork
- Communication
- Innovation and Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking and Decision Making
- Leadership and Global Citizenship
- Personal Development and Management
- Emotional Intelligence
- Digital Literacy
Businesses around the world are finding that their future success depends on having a workforce that has these kinds of social, cognitive and emotional skills. The National Soft Skills Association found that 85% of job success comes from having well-developed soft skills, and a large-scale study into the future of jobs and jobs training identified soft skills as the most important skills needed to succeed in the workplace of the future (Rainie & Anderson, 2017).
Employability is about far more than just getting a job. It is also about having transferable core skills and appropriate attitudes that enable you to do your job well, and be successful throughout your career. So how can we support you, whether in Higher Education (HE) and at work in developing your employability skills?
Helping you to understand employability
Become familiar with the concept of employability and transferable skills, and think about what type of skills make a person more employable. If you are at work, you will already have some experience of and insight into what these skills entail. You may need more support if you are still a student. The Cambridge Employability Skills Framework provides a comprehensive map of employability competencies and the skills and behaviours that make up each competency. After lessons, think about how specific tasks and activities might support you in developing particular employability skills, and use the framework as a basis for reflecting which skills you have been developing and how you might make further progress.
Employability Journals
Once you are familiar with the Employability Skills Framework, create an employability journal, recording examples of when you have demonstrated specific employability skills. These examples might be from classroom tasks, or outside class - at work or in other clubs and organisations. Use the STAR (Situation; Task; Action; Result) approach to structure your observations:
| Situation |
Task |
Action |
Result |
What was the context?
Describe the situation. |
What was your goal?
Describe the task.
What employability skills were needed to fulfil the task? |
What did you do?
Describe the specific actions you took.
How did your actions demonstrate specific employability skills? |
What was the outcome?
Describe the result of your actions.
Were you happy with the result, or is there something you might you do differently next time? |
You can keep your employability journals in written, audio or video form - or a combination of the three, and can upload journal entries to a digital portfolio, such as Padlet or Bulb. As well as helping you to become more conscious of how you are developing employability skills and which areas you need to work on further, keeping a record of how you demonstrate specific skills will also help you prepare for future job interviews. Candidates in job interviews are often asked to give examples of when they have worked well as part of a team, demonstrated leadership qualities, or dealt with a challenging situation, for example.
Supporting you in gaining a deeper understanding of employability skills and how to develop them not only helps HE students to prepare for their future careers, but also increases the chances of success and job satisfaction for people already in work.
References
Rainie, L. and Anderson, J. (2017) The future of jobs and jobs training. Pew Research Center. Internet and technology. Retrieved from: http://www.pewinternet.org/2017/05/03/the-future-of-jobs-and-jobs-training/
iThe Cambridge Employability Framework is linked to the Cambridge Life Competencies Framework. It builds on the same structure of competencies, and applies it to the needs of employers as identified in our research. For more information on Cambridge Life Competencies, and their use in education, visit www.cambridge.org/clcf