What career skills do I need?

The importance of career skills

You need to give yourself the best possible chance of success to enable you to get what you want from your future – this will involve showing that you have 'other' skills as well as your technical knowledge and education.

Competition for your ideal job or university place may be tough and having evidence of these skills will help you to stand out from the crowd. Most organisations want to know if you have the potential to develop and the ability to deliver in their environment, so they will use employability skills as part of their selection process.

Jobs and places can be won and lost on these skills, so make sure you take them as seriously as being assessed on your education or technical knowledge.

Demonstrating your career skills

Organisations require evidence of employability skills – whether you want a job, a university/college place, an internship or apprenticeship, people will want to know what you have done and what skills you have.

If you have evidence of the skills organisations are looking for this gives them an idea of how you might fit into their organisation and that you understand how to manage yourself in different situations and work with others. It also shows that you have used your time effectively and probably like to achieve. Most organisations will state which skills they require, look on their websites or call and ask them before you complete an application or go for an interview so that you can prepare.

Having completed the Record Your Skills template (PDF, 90Kb), use this with the Record Your Skills template (PDF, 186Kb) to talk about your experiences and practise your evidence and your story.