Key Employability Competencies and self

Awareness Maram Shouman

Agenda • Why it is important

• What is employability?

• What are employability skills?

• The Key Role ???

• Employability skills

• SWOT - Activity

Why it is important • Disabled people represent one fifth of the working

age population, but are far more likely to be out of work and to lack skills than the population as a whole. Improving skills and employment for disabled people matters, not just for equality, but also for national prosperity and delivering world leading skills and employment. Indeed, these are interlinked challenges: skills are increasingly key to improving employment

Cont.• This is unfair in a society that aims for

opportunity for all and improved social justice. Skills are increasingly a key driver of employment and so helping disabled people to improve their skills must be at the heart of a strategy to ensure disabled people can succeed in the labor market. But the continuing disadvantage of disabled people constrains national prosperity too; is simply not making the most of the talents of all of its people.

What is employability?Employability has been defined as “the capability for gaining and maintaining employment.”

What are employability skills?• Employability skills are the skills you have

developed inside and outside of school that you can transfer to the workplace

• Knowledge and abilities relating to a particular job

• The ability to identify suitable job opportunities and self presentation for applications and interviews. You can’t rely on your academics alone to automatically open doors for you after school

• Many students already have the employability skills companies are looking for – but they don’t realise it!

The Key Role??? • Disabled students may need specific support to

identify and maximize their strengths and skills, focusing on what they are good at and developing alternative strategies to acquire employability skill sets that are problematic

Employability skills؟؟؟؟

Employability skills are also known

as:• Key behaviours

• Competencies

• Soft skills

• Transferrable skills

• Personal skills

• Generic skills

• Basic skills

Coaching Time Management Motivation

Commercial Awareness Driven Team Player

Leader Good Communicator Honesty

Good sportsmanshipPositive personal image

Problem-SolvingFlexibilityLiteracy

Reliable Numeracy Committed

Resilient Disciplined Patience Loyalty

Ambitious Respectful Self-Aware

Goal-Orientated PrioritisingWants to learn

Networks and Builds Relationships Guides Others

What are the top skills that

employers want?• Written

communication

• Verbal communication

• Flexibility

• Commercial awareness

• Teamwork

• Planning and organising

• Investigating and analysing

• Drive

• Numeracy

• Self awareness

• Computing

• Professionalism

Verbal Communication

Communication • listening and understanding• speaking clearly and directly• writing to the needs of the audience• negotiating responsively• reading independently• understanding the needs of internal and external

Students• establishing and using networks• sharing information

Solution • A student with a social communication disorder such

as Asperger’s Syndrome may find team working or role play skills impossible or difficult to develop: the student may need to work on other skills that are more achievable and which reflect realistic career aspirations.

• A student with short term memory difficulties (e.g. a dyslexic student) needing to develop skills to enable them to remember the points they want to make in an interview and to keep track and formulate their answers when faced with complex or multi part questions.

Teamwork

Teamwork• working across different ages irrespective of

gender, race, religion or political persuasion• working as an individual and as a member of a

team• knowing how to define a role as part of the team• applying teamwork to a range of situations • identifying the strengths of team members• coaching and mentoring skills, including giving

feedback

Solution • Example:

• A deaf student will need to develop skills to work effectively with an interpreter to maximize their contributions in meetings or to deliver presentations.

Analyzing and investigating

Analyzing and Investigating

• Analytical skills are the ability to visualize, gather information, articulate, analyze, solve complex problems, and make decisions Analytical skills are essential in the workplace to ensure necessary problem solving occurs to keep productivity and other areas of the workforce functioning smoothly

Negotiation and persuasion

Negotiation and persuasion

• NEGOTIATING involves being able to discuss and reach a mutually satisfactory agreement. 

• Persuasion involves being able to convince others to take appropriate action.

Negotiation and persuasion

• This is about being able to put forward your way, but also being able to understand where the other person is coming from so that you can both get what you want or need and feel positive about it.

Solution? • For example: • a. A dyslexic student may have gained well-

developed time management and organization skills through specialist study skills tuition.

• b. Disabled students may have acquired negotiation and problem solving skills explaining their need for adjustments to academic staff.

 Problem solving

Problem-solving• developing creative, innovative and practical

solutions• solving problems in teams• applying problem-solving strategies across a

range of areas• testing assumptions, taking into account the

context of data and circumstances• resolving customer concerns in relation to

complex project issues

Leadership

Leadership

• You may not be a manager straight away, but graduates need to show potential to motivate teams and other colleagues that may work for them. It's about assigning and delegating tasks well, setting deadlines and leading by good example.

Solution • Some disabled students may need additional

practice and support to develop the skills necessary to undertake assessment tests and interviews.

• For example: • a. A student with mobility difficulties may have

learned people management skills from working with a support assistant.

Flexibility 

• Deals with your ability to manage multiple assignments and tasks, set priorities, and adapt to changing conditions and work assignments.

Flexibility

SWOT - Activity• A SWOT analysis is useful for identifying areas

for development

• You can analyse your strengths and weaknesses as well as the opportunities and threats that you face

• This helps you focus on your strengths, minimize your weaknesses, and take the greatest possible advantage of opportunities available to you

SWOT Analysis

34

SWOT Analysis

September 2011

StrengthsI communicate well within in a team.

I am completely committed to my studies.

WeaknessesPresenting makes me feel very nervous.

I focus too much on the detail and sometimes this effects how I manage my time.

I’m doing a presentation as part of an assignment. This will help to start to build my confidence public speaking.

Apply for a part time job. This will help develop my customer service skills.

OpportunitiesStronger candidates applying for the job

Threats

35

The outcome you want from the SWOT analysis :

September 2011

Strengths

What strengths you should consider making stronger to further enhance your ability to pursue your goals

Weaknesses

What weaknesses you need to improve on, or manage, so that they don’t

impede your goal setting

What opportunities are best for you to pursue

What internal strengths you can use to enhance your pursuit of these opportunities

Opportunities

What threats you need to eliminate/ minimise

What internal strengths you can use to overcome these threats

Threats