Soft Skills Make Graduates More Employable

Soft Skills Make Graduates More Employable

Interview preparation and drafting the perfect CV are not predictors of success in the perfect job match.

UK Research reveals that one in three graduates end up mismatched to jobs after leaving university. The result is that these mismatched graduates have lower earning prospects than their peers who have a better “fit” for the knowledge and skills they acquired during their years of study.

Graduates face an “experience gap” with many employers preferring to employ young people with a few years of work experience. What Graduates might not know is that they have picked up various soft skills over the years at school and college or university that employers are looking for and they don’t know it.

Graduates can make themselves more employable by communicating these soft skills to potential employers in addition to the skills gained through studies or vacation work.

Soft skills must be included in a CV application and supported with examples.  These skills are often essential to succeeding at work and cover skills such as resilience from hard knocks in life, character such as honesty and integrity, the ability to believe that they can achieve, and being able to stick to the task at hand and see it through to completion are just some of the skills needed to ensure employability.

Examples from a sport played, societal involvement and volunteer work are demonstrators of character, commitment and resilience that will be carried into the workplace.  Starting a successful small business while studying shows entrepreneurial thinking, innovation and the ability to take the initiative.

Advice to the graduates of today is that having a degree or diploma is not the key to success. It is marrying this skill with various soft skills gained throughout school and university that makes a graduate employable and sets them on the path of work experience and a prosperous future.

 

Share this article