Employability Understanding the attributes of employees that are valued by employers.

Employability Attributes There are several types of attributes that employers will look for: Specific Skills Skill Level Personal Qualities

Specific Skills These are job related skills. Specific skills are the skills that an employee must have in order to do a particular job. Specific skills may be ‘time served’ or gained from experience, or they may require qualifications to certify the skill competence.

Examples of specific skills might include: JobRequired Skills TranslatorSpeak both Spanish and German Languages. Programmer Java Programming Skills / SQL Network AdministratorRecent Experience with a large network or CISCO qualification. TeacherSubject qualifications and teaching qualifications. Farm LabourerTractor Licence.

Specific Skills It might not always be necessary to have the required specific skills to gain employment, However... It may be necessary to gain them to KEEP the employment.

Specific Skills There are also skills that may not have a title or qualification associated with them. These might include: General experience in this line of work, Knowing set procedures or systems, Following codes of conduct, Adhering to health and safety guidelines, Keeping to company policy.

Skill Level Sometimes a particular skill is not required - but an employer might wish for the employees to have a minimum education or skill ‘level’ Examples: - Must have 5 GCSE’s grade C or above. - H.E. qualification as minimum. - Managerial experience.

Skill Level Reasons why an employer might request a level of skill rather than a particular skill: –Some employers prefer to train in-house –The required skills may not be readily available

Personal Qualities Personal Qualities – these may include taken from experience: ‘Worked within a team for 6 years, becoming successful team leader completing several projects in a timely manner.’ or on recommendation: ‘Joe Bloggs has never been late for work, is always smartly dressed and has a wonderful customer rapport’

Personal Qualities Might include: Planning and Organisational skills Time Management Working within a team Verbal and written communication skills Numerical skills (especially if working with money!) Creativity

Personal Qualities Planning and Organisational skills. In larger companies it would be impossible for the main director to take control or take charge of all the business plans and organisation. Managerial staff will need to have evidence or show potential to be able to plan and organise effectively themselves.

Personal Qualities Time Management Time management is important both of the staff member (punctual ) and also of the work that they are required to do. Was the report completed in time? work to hour rules, enough work carried out in the allocated time?

Personal Qualities Working within a team Many businesses require people to work in groups rather than individually. It is important for the smooth running of the group and also company morale, that employees that are required to work in groups – do so harmoniously and productively.

Personal Qualities Verbal communication skills Many jobs involve direct contact with customers, and so require polite and coherent verbal skills. General manners and thinking before you speak will take you a long way!

Personal Qualities Written communication skills Some jobs will require extensive reports to be written, others just the odd , whatever the communication, Reports, data/statistics, s, minutes of meeting or even just a memo - tis importainte four theese to bee neeet, speled corectedly, + in d rite fur mat. Esspessially wen appleyeing 4 d gob

Personal Qualities Numerical skills This might be important if working with money for obvious reasons, Important if measurements or figures are key to a product Or may just be for particular analytical skills

Personal Qualities Creativity - This last quality is very open and could mean a number of things. In a graphic design company, it may be looking for some new character or logo. In a production team may be some creative new product or element to gain more market share. In an IT department some new system to ease current workload.

Activity In groups of two or three, use the internet to find some job advertisement sites, e.g. newspaper websites. Create a list of applicant requirements and state whether they are specific skills or personal qualities. What can a person do to gain any of the skills or personal qualities that they require. This is to be completed as a document and handed in with group members’ names on at the end of this afternoon’s lesson. If done properly this task should take you the remainder of today’s lessons. Find jobs in all of the following job types; A lecturer / Teacher (Are the job requirements/skills/personal qualities the same???) A Nurse A Builder A Data Clerk A Web Designer A Network Administrator A Police Officer A Cook A Computer Programmer A Truck Driver