Academic and Employability Skills

This report discusses the importance of academic and employability skills in enhancing career prospects and getting employed in big companies. It includes a reflection on the skills acquired during B.Com (Hons.) studies at University College London.

Academic and
Employability Skills

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Reflection....................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Employability skills are the set of behaviours and attributes of the candidates which
creates their worth in front of the employer based on which they are employed to the designated
post so that they can use their skills and talents and make the business of the company highly
profitable. These skills are transferable and can be learned by the students during their studies in
their universities (Cameron And et. al., 2016). These skills are generic in nature which means
they are not job-specific like professional or technical skills. Identifying these skills help the
candidates in making their use so that their performance gets enhanced which helps them in
contributing highly towards the progress of the company in which they apply. Leadership skills,
communication, planning, organising etc. are the various types of skills which help in enhancing
the employability skills of the employees. In this report a reflection is given on how the learning
in B.Com (Hons.) has helped the student in developing their employability skills so that they can
either go for higher education or can apply in big companies.
MAIN BODY
Reflection
While completing my B.Com. (Hons.) from the University College London which was
founded in 1826 and was the first university to allow students from any religion and sex to get
equal educational opportunities, I was able to develop various kinds of skills and talents. Apart
from the academic education the university helped in developing my overall personality which
will help me in growing and developing in both my personal and professional life. While
pursuing the course of B.Com (Hons.) at the university I was able to learn about various aspects
of marketing and finance which can help me in becoming successful in my career and also get
good marks at the university. The university offers various types of courses in different fields
which can help the students in developing and growing in their fields of interest. I chose
Bachelor of Commerce (Hons.) as I thought that this subject would help me in enhancing my
marketing skills so that I can apply either in big companies or in other universities for upper
education. This subject has transformed my ability as a purchaser of goods and services offered
by various companies and has also helped me in analysing the consumer buying behaviour and
the ways in which they can be influenced in making purchases. This ability will help me in
getting to a post of marketing manager or marketing consultant in any of the big firms which will

help me in growing in my career prospects. Also the various talents and skills I acquired during
my studies at the college will help me in getting admission in deemed university so that I can
further pursue for higher education. Apart from studying what was taught in the college I also
gained a lot of knowledge from watching TED talks which interested me and also helped me in
analysing how the customers can be emotionally influenced and attracted so that they can be
pursued in making purchases of products and services which helps in increasing the company
profits. I was thus able to build and develop a lot of versatile skills and talents which enhanced
my employability skills making it easy for me to get job in the companies I wish to apply hence
making my future life secure.
The employability skills include many general skills like communication, team work,
problem solving, planning and managing etc. which helps in increasing the capabilities of the
employee so that they can be more worthy in front of the employers (Jackling and Natoli, 2015).
During my studies at the university I was able to develop my communication skills which has
helped me in listening and understanding the view points of others in a better manner. Also this
skills can help me in negotiating in a better manner which will help in influencing customers in
making purchases and increasing the profit of the company. Further this module has also helped
in making my speaking skills good through which I can share information with other team
members in a better manner so that coordination and cooperation can be established among all
the members. This helps in achieving the company goals and objectives on time and within the
stipulated budget. This skill can also increased my analytical skills which are useful in analysing
and interpreting the information that is received from various sources and which can only be
successfully done if the communication skills of the listener are good. This skill can also help in
getting admission in an esteemed university for higher education so that I can gain more
knowledge about the subjects like marketing and finance. The management of finances that I
have learned through this course can not only help in managing the company financial statements
but will also help me in investing my income in such projects or schemes which will help me in
earning income from extra sources.
Apart from getting skilled in communication I also gained the skills of teamwork which
has increased my employability in good organisations. At the university we worked in many
projects in teams and there I was able to exercise my leadership skills which helped me in
making long-lasting and positive relations with other team members. Also the team work skills

helped us in coordinating our work in a timely manner so that the complete project can be
compiled and the desired result can be achieved. The University College London thus helped me
in building good teamwork skills during my course study of B.Com (Hons.). This is an important
skill which the employers usually look for while recruiting employees in the company. This
forms an important part of characteristic of an employee as it helps them in working with
different types of people belonging to different ages, gender, race, religion etc. so that a cross-
cultural environment can be build and all the workers can work in harmony. Although I
sometimes faced problems in adjusting with the people in the groups due top language barriers
and also differences in their beliefs and thoughts, I was able to coordinate with them as I have
great patience level which helps me in cooperating with people. I used to get frustrated
sometimes due to difference in the ways in which team members wanted to complete the projects
but after consulting to my mentors and tutors I was able to deal with this problem. This was done
by formulating strategies so that team roles can be allotted among all the team members which
helped in avoiding confusion and conflicts among them.
During studying the module I also acquired the knowledge about solving various
problems which can help in improving the results that are achieved on the completion of a
particular task. This helped in making me creative and innovative in my thinking process so that
I could find various solutions to a given problem. This helps in increasing my employability
skills as innovation is an important factor which help the companies in becoming highly
competitive in the market. This also enhances their sustainability and helps them in earning
profits successfully over a long term. The problem solving skills has also helped in making my
analytical skills strong and also I have become better at calculations and solving various finance
related problems. This can help me in making appropriate budgets for the company and can also
help me in managing finances of the company by formulation of financial statements which can
attract investors to the company so that the company can continue to grow and expand its
business in the market. I also acquired various other important skills which enhanced my
employability like I became better at planning and organising which are important for the growth
of the company. Planning skills has helped me in synchronising all the work in a manner based
on time interval in which they are to be completed and also the sequence in which each task is to
be executed. This skill can help in better allocation of resources among all the tasks so that they
can be accomplished in the desired manner. I however faced certain problems like use of models

like Gantt chart, WBS etc. which helps in better planning and completing the project so that the
results can be achieved as is desired by the company. I dealt with the problem by reading more
books and also taking online lessons so that my planning and managing skills can get enhanced
and I can become more eligible to be employed in big organisations. This skill is also beneficial
as the information which is gathered can be analysed and organised in an appropriate manner so
that meaningful information can be derived which will help in formulation of strategies so that
profits of the company can be increased.
Thus while pursuing the course at the university I was able to learn and enhance various
skills which can help in enhancing my employability. This reflection can help me in analysing
my past experiences in a better manner so that improvements can be made in future which can
help in dealing with the future problems in an efficient manner. While writing this reflection I
have used Gibb's Reflective cycle which was developed by Graham Gibbs in 1988 so that a
structure can be given to learning based on experiences. This model is helpful in reflecting on the
learning which is acquired by a person during their academic and professional life. This model is
helpful in encouraging people to think systematically about the experiences which they have
gained while performing a specific task or activity. The cycle starts with a description on what
happened, when and where did it happen, people involved etc. then it continues in a clockwise
direction from feelings, evaluation, analysis and conclusion so that an overall reflection can be
made on the learning process while carrying out certain activity or task. This model has helped
me in analysing the overall experience which I gained while studying B.Com. (Hons.) at
University College London. This reflection has helped me in analysing the various learning
outcomes of studying this subject in the university which can help me in enhancing my
employability skills so tat I can apply in good companies for recruitments so that my career can
be well built and sustained. This reflection has helped me in going through the complete learning
process in detail and all the mistakes that I had made in the past along with the ways in which I
solved them. This reflection also gives a record about my progress while studying at the
university.
The reflection can help me in going through the mistakes which I made in the past so that
I can improve my performance in the future thereby enhancing my employability skills. The
academic learning and the projects which I took up while my course has helped in gaining both
theoretical and practical knowledge on how theories can be applied in practical life situations in

order to solve problems. This can also help me in reviewing in detail the way in which my past
mistakes can be improved in future so that I can apply for higher education in other deemed
universities. Also this will help in making me more eligible to be employed in big organisations
where talented and skilled employees are required so that the profitability of the company can be
increased.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that while learning courses at universities, the
students apart from gaining academic knowledge which can help them in scoring higher grades
also help in enhancing their skills and talents so that their employability increases. These skills
can help in getting jobs in big companies so that they can grow and develop both personally and
professionally. Employability skills are very important for getting employed in good companies
as these help in achieving the key goals of company on time and within the ascertained budget.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Cameron, C.E. And et. al., 2016. How are motor skills linked to children's school performance
and academic achievement?. Child Development Perspectives .10(2). pp.93-98.
Jackling, B. and Natoli, R., 2015. Employability skills of international accounting graduates:
Internship providers’ perspectives. Education+ Training .57(7). pp.757-773.
Kalfa, S. and Taksa, L., 2015. Cultural capital in business higher education: reconsidering the
graduate attributes movement and the focus on employability. Studies in Higher
Education .40(4). pp.580-595.
Lim, Y.M. And et. al., 2016. Employability skills, personal qualities, and early employment
problems of entry-level auditors: Perspectives from employers, lecturers, auditors, and
students. Journal of Education for Business .91(4). pp.185-192.
Rao, M.S., 2015. Step by step to soft-skills training: How to enhance employability skills in
students. Human Resource Management International Digest .23(6). pp.34-36.
Suleman, F., 2018. The employability skills of higher education graduates: insights into
conceptual frameworks and methodological options. Higher Education .76(2). pp.263-
278.
Trought, F., 2017. Brilliant employability skills: How to stand out from the crowd in the
graduate job market. Pearson UK.
Tsitskari, E. and et. al., 2017. Employers’ expectations of the employability skills needed in the
sport and recreation environment. Journal of hospitality, leisure, sport & tourism
education .20. pp.1-9.