What do graduate recruiters really want, and how can you show them you’ve got it? Over the past 10 weeks we’ve looked in depth at the top skills and competencies that will get you a graduate job, from teamwork to enterprise skills. These key abilities and aptitudes will enable you to succeed in your chosen career and deliver results in the workplace.
Here’s a recap of the top 10. We’ve explained how each skill is interpreted by a sample of popular graduate employers, how the competency is likely to be assessed as you go through the graduate recruitment process and how you can develop it while you are a university student. You may well find you’ve developed all of these skills without even realising it. If not, we’ve given you some ideas relating to each competency that could help you make yourself more employable.
1. Teamwork
This has been identified by business lobbying organisation the CBI as one of the fundamental employability skills. A good team worker will encourage and inspire other team members to perform better, while being prepared to compromise and ignore their own ego.
If you are invited to take part in a group exercise at an assessment centre, it’s likely that graduate recruiters will be watching closely to see how well you work with others. Hannah Harrison, graduate recruitment manager for the Financial Services Authority, explains: ‘It’s not necessarily the person that’s shouting the loudest who impresses me, it’s whoever is really listening and ensuring that everyone has a say.’
2. Problem solving
Problem solving calls for analytical skills, creativity and logical thinking. One example of a problem solving exercise is the RAF leaderless exercise, where you must move objects through various barriers with no member of the team acting as a designated leader.
You can use the IDEAL model (Identify, Define, Examine, Act, Look) to approach problems, and the STAR model (Situation, Task, Actions, Results) to explain to assessors why you dealt with a problem in a certain way. Good examples of problem solving include satisfying a difficult customer, or turning round the finances of a struggling student society.
3. IT skills
Employers expect current graduates to have IT skills as a matter of course. Most desk jobs will only need you to know how to use Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook), but for more computer-oriented roles you may be required to know and be able to use one or even several programming languages.
Showing the right attitude is important here, as one of the most important aspects of computer and IT skills is a willingness to try new things when you don’t know them. Laura McQuillen of Red Gate Software says, ‘We’re looking for bright, switched-on people with a passion for technology, and the ability to be flexible in certain situations - people who can show that they’re capable and have an aptitude to learn new things quickly. You’ll need to be pretty smart!’
4. Communication
A recent survey by the National Union of Students (NUS) and the CBI suggested that nearly a fifth of graduate recruiters were not satisfied with graduates’ basic use of English. Your application needs to be well written, easy to understand and tailored to the recruiter in question. Make sure you proofread properly too; one mistake can spell doom for your application.
If you want to develop communication skills try applying for one of the telephone jobs available around campus. This could involve cold-calling alumni for donations, or taking phone calls from vulnerable students.
5. Leadership and team management
Team management is more about being able to get the best out your workforce, while leadership is more about being a good example. Some graduate employers will expect candidates to have leadership potential. Careers which may lead to early responsibility include retail or the armed forces.
National Grid’s Julie Moore says, ‘Being organised, aware of time constraints and remaining courteous and respectful in stressful situations are important leadership qualities. Candidates should take responsibility for planning how to progress with a task and deciding what to do.’
6. Time management
Time management skills enable you to handle a heavy workload without losing control. This involves prioritising, organisation, planning, adapting to changing circumstances, and using your problem solving skills to overcome setbacks and achieve your goals. Employers may assess your time management skills by setting you an in-tray or e-tray exercise.
Chris Howes, graduate marketing manager for Mars, says: ‘The ability to cope with change is crucial. To work within the fast-moving consumer goods industry you need to be comfortable with a fast paced environment: it can change rapidly, requiring you to make decisions and alter direction quickly.’
7. Creativity
It’s not just the creative industries – publishing, the media and so on – that value imagination. Graduate employers across the board, from engineering to finance to IT, like hiring creative employees because these are the people who come up with ideas to develop the company and suggest new ways of doing things. Melissa Hopper, graduate recruitment manager at Mott MacDonald, says, ‘We want people who can come up with new ideas, new processes and new designs.’
However, there’s a difference between showing a creative approach in a professional context (which employers will welcome) and wacky attempts to grab attention and make your application stand out (which are likely to misfire). Make sure you know what your employer is looking for. While ‘creative applications’ such as CV T-shirts, or advertisements aimed at CEOs have grabbed a lot of headlines, they certainly don’t have a 100% success rate.
8. Emotional intelligence
Empathy and emotional intelligence enable you to understand what might be going through someone else’s head, without them having to explain it to you. Rather than asking you for evidence, assessors will observe your reactions and attitudes to different situations and how adept you are at dealing with them.
Gregg Carnaffan, graduate development manager at HSBC Bank, says: ‘If you’re going to be successful you need emotional intelligence. This is an awareness of how your actions affect other people, and how your behaviour is influencing them. Also the ability to pick up, verbally and non-verbally, the mood of other people, and more or less predict how they’re feeling before they come and tell you.’
9. Customer care
This is all about helping a customer to make a decision that is right for them, and making sure they feel well treated by the company. These skills are necessary in every customer-facing position, but are equally relevant in other, less obvious roles. For example, in the police force investigating officers will need customer care skills when talking to witnesses. They are also highly valued in consulting, retail and retail banking.
10. Enterprise skills
Enterprise skills involve using your initiative, being proactive, and being a ‘self-starter’, so that you can spot and make the most of commercial opportunities. Gemma Adams, vice-president of recruitment for Mitsubishi UFJ Securities International (MUSI), asks: ‘Are you a member of a society where you’ve done something innovative? Give us an example – don’t just give us the standard, “I’m really keen on the markets”, because anyone can say that. We really need to see a bit of evidence.’
Plenty of universities run entrepreneurial societies and getting involved in one, particularly as a council member, is a good way to learn how to build enterprise skills. If your university doesn’t have a society for entrepreneurs, setting one up could be a brilliant way to learn enterprise skills. In fact, establishing any society could help you.
Source: Targetjobs.co.uk, Wednesday 2nd May 2012
No comments:
Post a Comment