Skills employers are looking for

Employability skills, generic skills, soft skills and transferable skills all refer to the abilities that employers look for when choosing their next employee.

These skills reliably appear across all discipline areas. Graduates who understand the importance of employability skills and can provide evidence of these in job applications are highly competitive.

Career Connect’s top ten employability skills

• Analytical thinking – use logic to seek and assess information to address issues or problems
• Communication – effectively contribute to a productive and harmonious workplace
• Digital literacy – adopt and adapt to new digital technologies
• Enterprise – generate original or alternative thinking to develop new ideas and concepts
• Leadership – take responsibility for self and others, and support a team to focus on goals
• Organisation – plan, prioritise and manage resources to achieve goals and objectives
• Problem solving – identify problems, evaluate options, and implement solutions
• Resilience – open to change and variety, with the ability to thrive despite challenges
• Self-management – keep emotions in check, even in difficult or challenging situations
• Teamwork – cooperate with others in a team and adapt to different working styles