What Skills do Employers Want?

Apart from a good degree in your chosen subject area, employers are looking for personal attributes and skills that are transferrable to both specialist and non-specialist jobs.

What are transferable skills?

Transferable skills are those which are pertinent to employment more widely, such as communication, presentation, teamworking, numeracy, analytical, problem-solving and ICT skills. You can refer to the 'learning outcomes' section of your programme specification document to find out which of these skills you may develop over the course of your degree. They may, for example, include the following:

• Independently gather, sift, synthesise and organise material from various sources (including library, electronic and online resources), and critically evaluate its significance (Information retrieval).
• Make oral presentations, using appropriate media for a target audience (Presentation)
• Appreciate issues of selection, accuracy, uncertainty and approximation with numbers (Numeracy)

 Likewise, if you look at the aims and intended learning outcomes of your course units, you will see that the majority of them have a set of skills listed that you can develop through that course unit.  If you are looking for evidence that you have, for example, worked in a team, engaged in networking, delivered a presentation or developed analytical skills, the course unit outlines will tell you where you should have done that.

Personal attributes

In addition to transferable skills, your degree programme may help you to develop personal attributes that are critial to your future employability, for instance:

• Maintain indepence of thought and be self-reliant (self-confidence)
• Capacity for self-discipline, motivation and diligence (independence)
• Respond positively to changing circumstances (adaptability)

Employers are also increasingly interested in skills you may have developed outside of education therefore you should also think about what other things you have done (eg. work experience, hobbies, travel).   During your time at University you will be presented with many opportunites to develop yourself as an individual with a range of interests, experiences and knowledge (eg. volunteering, mentoring, vacation work, the Manchester Leadership programme) - follow the links on the left for more information.

Career Management Skills

Employers also want graduates who can demonstrate that they can identify and develop ways of improving their employability and can take ownership for and manage their own career progression.  Many graduate recruiters will expect their employers to engage in personal development planning.

Personal Development Planning (PDP)

With increasing numbers of well-qualified graduates looking for employment each year, it is crucial that you are able to identify the skills that you have to offer (academic, work-related, personal and transferable) and that you can provide evidence of where you have acquired and/or applied them.  It is here that Personal Development Planning (PDP) comes in.  Your PDP can help you to keep track of what you have learned and what skills you have developed but it can also help you to identify what skills and attributes you need to develop in order to achieve your ambitions.