1. Employability Skills for
Lynne Cagle
University of North Texas

2. Questions What does “employability skills” mean?
What are employability skills?
How can I teach employability skills in my classroom?

3. Definition Employability skills are TRANSFERABLE CORE SKILL GROUPS
that represent essential FUNCTIONAL AND ENABLING KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ATTITUDES required by the 21st century workplace.
They are necessary for career success at ALL LEVELS OF EMPLOYMENT AND EDUCATION.
Overtoom, 2000

4. National Studies
American Society for Training and Development (Carnevale, Gainer, and Meltzer 1990)
Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS 1991)
The Employability Skills Profile: What Are Employers Looking For? (The Conference Board of Canada, 2000)

5. Skill Groups Across Job Families
Basic Competency Skills
Reading
Writing
Composition
Communication Skills
Speaking
Listening
Carnevale, Gainer, and Meltzer, 1990

6. Skill Groups Across Job Families
Adaptability Skills
Problem solving
Thinking creatively
Developmental Skills
Self-esteem
Motivation and goal-setting
Career planning
Carnevale, Gainer, and Meltzer, 1990

7. Skill Groups Across Job Families
Group Effectiveness Skills
Interpersonal skills
Teamwork
Negotiation
Influencing Skills
Understanding organizational culture
Sharing leadership
Carnevale, Gainer, and Meltzer, 1990

8. Employers want employees who:
Value the importance of life-long learning
Communicate well (listen carefully and understand, speak and write effectively)
Think clearly, assess critically, act logically, and make decisions
Have mathematical abilities and can solve problems
The Conference Board of Canada, 2000

9. Employers want employees who:
Use technology, instruments, tools and information systems
Can access and apply specialized knowledge from other fields
Feel good about themselves and who know how to manage their lives well and with integrity
The Conference Board of Canada, 2000

10. Employers want employees who:
Have positive attitudes and behave in positive ways
Have personal ethics and display initiative and persistence
Take responsibility and are accountable
Set goals and priorities and who manage their own time
The Conference Board of Canada, 2000

11. Employers want employees who:
Are adaptable, able to think creatively, and who work successfully in a team
Automatically include others in their decision-making process
Show respect for the opinions and concerns of co-workers
The Conference Board of Canada, 2000

12. Teaching Employability Skills
Currently two identified methods
Method 1: Developing/Teaching stand-alone lessons
Developing a complete lesson around an identified skill (i.e. Resume Writing, Communication Skills, Interviewing Techniques)
Method 2: Infusing Employability Skills into existing lessons
Highlighting the importance of the skill as it relates to a current lesson and to general work requirements

13. “To be employed is to be at risk, to be employable is to be secure.”
Peter Hawkins