Academic and Employability Skills Essay

This essay examines the importance of employability skills for graduates, analyzing the perspectives of both employers and graduates. It highlights the crucial role of skills like communication, teamwork, critical thinking, and self-management in securing employment and achieving career success. The essay also discusses the importance of developing these skills during academic studies and the benefits they offer for both personal and professional growth.

Academic and employability
skills

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Employability skills may be referred to as a particular set of needs that must be possessed
by a graduate in order to get the employment as well as to succeed in its employment tenure.
These skills are not specific to a particular job role rather these skills are in general which apply
to all the jobs regardless of their nature. Employability skills include various kinds of skills such
as communication skills, positive thinking, critical thinking, teamwork and interpersonal skills.
Thus, in the current competitive world, possession of these skills is a must as the employers give
candidates having acquisition of employability skills the top most priority(Bharathi, 2016). This
assignment would include analysis of employment skills that are relevant to be developed in
order to gain the future creditability in employment opportunities. Moreover, perspective of the
employer trying to recruit would also be discussed in detail.
MAIN BODY
In the current competitive world, it is very difficult to get employment because there are
limited number of employment opportunities along with large number of candidates. Hence, in
order to get employed it is very essential to develop employability skills. There are various kinds
of employability skills but the skills that have already been developed and worked upon are
critical thinking and self management. Critical thinking skills play a vital role in case of problem
solving. Through critical thinking even the complex problems could be resolved easily with the
least efforts(Clarke, 2018). This skill in turn contributes a lot towards maintaining peace and
harmony at the workplace which is essential to run the business smoothly.
While on the other hand, self-management skills contributes a lot towards maintaining
the decorum at the workplace. Maintaining decorum would help the company in setting the
example in the industry regarding the efficiency in the management of the company. Hence,
these skills play a vital role in running the business efficiently towards the attainment of business
objectives. But there are lots of other skills, whose possession is a must for getting employment
as well as success such as effective communication, interpersonal skills, positive thinking and
team work.
In this globalised world, though there are lot of business firms with lot of new
employment opportunities in various fields but there is still high unemployment in the entire
world. Even new employment opportunities are not able to eliminate the unemployment which
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clearly indicates that there are large number of graduates seeking for job along with availability
of less number of jobs. Hence, the ball is in the court of employers and this in turn has lead to
increased requirement of possession of employability skills on the part of graduates(Collet and
Hine, 2015). If they fail to develop communication skills, interpersonal skills and team work
then it would become difficult for them to get employment in the future because employers give
high preference to the graduate who have acquired these skills.
Employers search for those graduates who have possession of employability skills
because the graduates who have developed these skills would deliver performance of higher
value as compared to others. The basic reason behind this is that employers' performance is
directly linked with the performance of graduates and if they would perform good, they even the
performance of the employer would be highlighted in a very efficient manner towards the
attainment of objectives of the company. Since every employer desires to grow and succeed in
their employment tenure, they lay strong emphasis on selecting the graduates who have
developed these skills becomes there growth is highly dependent on the performance of the
graduate.
Employability skills are considered very important from the perspective of employer
hiring the graduates because by hiring the graduates holding self-management skills, company
would be able to maintain decorum at the workplace(Jackson, 2016). Maintenance of proper
decorum at the workplace would contribute a lot towards the smooth running of the business.
Apart from that, by hiring graduates possessing critical thinking, employer would be able to
maintain peace and harmony at the workplace. This would help the company in maintaining
healthy and positive environment at the workplace which fosters a sense of belongingness in the
mind of employees. Furthermore, this even helps in building up the morale of employees which
in turn leads to increase in their productivity of the employees to work better towards the
attainment of business objectives.
Employers give preference to graduates who have ability to work in team while hiring
because if a candidate is able to work in team efficiently then it would contribute a lot towards
the attainment of the objectives of the company effectively and efficiently. The basic reason
behind this is that efforts of all the team members would be combined together in a mutual
direction towards the attainment of the team goals. Even if the graduate comprises team working
skills then he/she would not be involved in any conflict that may arise within the team due to
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clashes of opinions. Furthermore, the candidate possessing efficient team working skill would
take responsibility for his/her part of work and would even take decisions on the basis of
consensus rather than arguing with others to accept his/her opinion(McCowan, 2015). Hence, in
order to run the business smoothly and efficiently, it is necessary for employer to give priority to
candidates with employability skills at the time of hiring the candidates for employment.
Apart from the above, employer even takes into consideration the graduates with
employability skills in order to reduce the cost of training and development because if the
employer hires unpolished graduates than the company has to incur huge amount of funds on
their training and development in order to groom them and develop effective communication and
interpersonal skills. Huge amount of cost is incurred for arranging the systematic and regular
training programs as well as the charges paid to the trainer. Moreover, lot of time is consumed
for arranging the training session which could be used to carry out any other productive work. As
it is said that prevention is better than cure, it is better for the employers to hire the graduates
holding these skills in order to prevent future costs of the company.
There are very few candidates who have developed these skills early in there life but
there is a need to create awareness regarding the importance of possession of these skills(Mehta,
2018). Hence, if these candidates are hired by the rivalry firms than the company would lag far
behind them in the race of ruling the market. Thus, if the company wishes to gain competitive
advantage over the rivalry firms than it should ensure that it hires the best candidates from the
available them. These candidates would include those who have possession of communication
skills, team working skills, interpersonal skills, critical thinking, self-management and positive
thinking skills.
All these skills play a vital role in taking the company to achieve new heights of success.
Hence, employer should give due importance to graduates holding these skills at the time of
hiring for their own growth along with the growth of company. Moreover, apart from hiring the
graduates consisting of employability skills; employer must even ensure that these graduates
retain in their company for a long duration of time because if they would shift to the rivalry firms
then it will not only have an adverse impact on the working of the existing business but would
also lead to the rivalry firms in an added advantage(Osmani and et.al., 2015).
Every graduate must make sure that he/she gets hold of employability skills as soon as
possible in there because these skills would not only contribute towards their success in
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professional life but would also enhance their overall personality. Furthermore, these skills are
general in nature rather than specific that is these skills are not related with any particular job
role. Hence, if graduates develop employability skills such as communication, team work, self-
management and critical thinking; then the graduates would not face any difficulty in searching
the job of any nature because these skills are preferred in jobs of every nature. Since in this
globalised world, candidates do not prefer to work under same employer for a long period of
time rather they prefer to shift towards other firms which would provide them better
compensation(Sumanasiri, Yajid and Khatibi, 2015). This is because priorities and preferences
change with the change in time which in turn leads to shift in employment opportunities. Hence,
this has created the need to develop general skills which will be useful in all kinds of job role.
Possession of employability skills is also very important from the perspective of
graduates who are seeking employment. If a graduate has hold over the employability skills the
chances of his/her being selected enhances and vice-versa. Now-a-days there is high competition
between the candidates searching for job because of limited job opportunities along with large
number of candidate. Hence, in order to shine among the bundle of applicants, it becomes
essential for a graduate to have hold of these employability skills. The most difficult phase is to
get the employment in this competitive world because now-a-days employers search for those
candidates who not only have experience and qualification but also those who have
employability skills as well. Hence, it is very important for candidates to possess these skills in
order to capture the future job opportunities because in the absence of these skills, a candidate
would not be able to seek employment.
Furthermore, employability skills are also important for the purpose of growing at the
workplace. If by the efforts or skills of the candidates, the company grows than this in turn
would even lead to the growth of the candidate as well as the growth of the employer. Hence, the
necessity has arisen for the graduates to inculcate these skills in order to succeed in life and to
achieve new heights of success(Tomlinson, 2017). Furthermore, it will help in enhancing their
experience at the workplace because the candidate who has an upper hand over the others would
definitely be admired and motivated by the employer so that they retain in the company for a
longer duration of time.
An individuals' carrier could be built only when he/she would focus on development of
efficient communication and interpersonal skills. Possession of these skills would help the
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candidate in transforming their carrier because it helps the graduate to fight competition. This is
so because there are large number of candidates which gives rise to cut-throat competition in the
market. Hence, in order to enter the workplace or grow at the workplace it is necessary to
inculcate employability skills. There are various modes through which academic and
employability skills could be developed. The most widely used modes for development of
academic and employability skills by an individual are taking proper guidance under the
professionals or through undertaking personality development classes. Hence, candidates should
leave no stone unturned towards acquiring various employability skills for their own benefits as
well as for the benefit of employer(Tran, 2016).
CONCLUSION
From the above study, it has been summarised that possession of employability skills is
not only important for the graduates to gain future employment opportunities but is also very
important from the perspective of employer hiring the graduates. It is important for employers to
give immense emphasis on hiring the graduates with employability skills for their own growth at
the workplace. Even the employer can take the business to new heights by employing such
candidates. Moreover, by hiring graduates with employability skills; employer would be able to
achieve competitive advantage over the rivalry firms and set its business firm as an example for
others. While on the other hand, possession of employability skills is very important from the
perspective of graduates in order to grab an employment opportunity as well as to grow and
succeed at their workplace. Hence, it can be said that employability skills play a vital role for
both employer and the graduates.
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REFERENCES
Books and journal
Bharathi, A.V., 2016. Communication skills–core of employability skills: Issues & concerns.
Clarke, M., 2018. Rethinking graduate employability: The role of capital, individual attributes
and context. Studies in Higher Education. 43(11). pp.1923-1937.
Collet, C. and Hine, D., 2015. Employability skills for knowledge intensive industries:
Employers’ perspectives.
Jackson, D., 2016. Modelling graduate skill transfer from university to the workplace. Journal of
Education and Work. 29(2). pp.199-231.
McCowan, T., 2015. Should universities promote employability?. Theory and Research in
Education. 13(3). pp.267-285.
Mehta, J.D., 2018. Creating Employable Management Graduates. International Journal in
Management & Social Science. 6(10). pp.170-178.
Osmani, M. and et.al., 2015. Identifying the trends and impact of graduate attributes on
employability: a literature review. Tertiary Education and Management. 21(4). pp.367-
379.
Sumanasiri, E.G.T., Yajid, M.S.A. and Khatibi, A., 2015. Review of literature on graduate
employability. Journal of Studies in Education. 5(3). pp.75-88.
Tomlinson, M., 2017. Forms of graduate capital and their relationship to graduate
employability. Education+ Training. 59(4). pp.338-352.
Tran, T.T., 2016. Enhancing graduate employability and the need for university-enterprise
collaboration. Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability. 7(1).
pp.58-71.
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