Academic and Employability Skills

This article discusses the importance of academic and employability skills in professional life and how to develop them. It includes a reflection on personal skills, the definition and significance of these skills, and the identification of skills through in-class activities. The article also explores the lack of certain skills and provides insights on how to improve them.

Academic and
Employability Skills

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................2
REFLECTION ON MY OWN ACADEMIC AND EMPLOYABLITY SKILLS WITH THE
HELP OF IN-CLASS EXERCISE AND PUBLIC LITERATURE................................................2
WHAT ARE ACADMIC AND EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS?............................................2
WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF THESE SKILLS?........................................................3
IDENTIFYING THE SKILLS THAT I HAVE USING IN-CLASS ACTIVITES...............5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
REFLECTIVE REPORT ON THE LEARNING IN THIS MODULE WHICH HELPED ME IN
DEVELOPING MY EMPLOYABLITY SKILLS USING THE IN-CLASS FEEDBACKS
FROM DIFFERENT ACTIVITES..................................................................................................6
WHAT ARE THE SKILLS LACKING IN ME REFERENCE TO IN CLASS ACTIVITY
FEEDBACKS?.......................................................................................................................6
HOW TO IMPROVE THE SKILLS WITH THE HELP OF A PERSONAL
DEVELOPMENT PLAN (PDP)?..........................................................................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFRENCES.................................................................................................................................13
1

INTRODUCTION
Employability skills are generally defined as those skills which are needed by individuals to
make their employability possible. These are those transferable skills which help professionals to
have a good technical understanding and subject knowledge for which employers often look for
and outline number of skills they require and prefer in their employee. Employability skills are
very essential for people and professional in order to to develop and move further in their career
and professional life so that they attend their objectives and reach to the highest level of their
careers by exploring and exploiting all forcible opportunities present in front of them. The
assignment below is a reflective report on academic and employability skills which is gained by
an individual with the help of different models and in class exercises. These employability skills
will allow them to increase the chances of employability in future when students enter their
professional lives. Along with that by moving forward in the report another reflection is done
where those skills are identify in which the individual is lacking and with the help of feedback
received the efforts are made in order to learn better and achieve those skills.
TASK 1
REFLECTION ON MY OWN ACADEMIC AND EMPLOYABLITY
SKILLS WITH THE HELP OF IN-CLASS EXERCISE AND PUBLIC
LITERATURE
WHAT ARE ACADMIC AND EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS?
Academic skills and employability skills are two different set of abilities which are needed by an
individual different stages of their lives. It is said that academic skills develop a base for an
individual to acquire employability skills and help them to evolve, learn and acquire better skills
which helps them in their personal and professional scenarios. Academic skills are basically the
core abilities which are learnt and developed by people in their academic and educational
centres. Academic skills are academic writing, presentation skills and some complex skills such
as critical thinking and reflective practice. Academic skills are all about and more relevant
towards helping a student to become more effective learner and develop research and study skills
that help them in excelling inter universities and educational institutes. Academic skills are more
about emphasising on studying and reasoning rather than practical and technical skills.
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Employability stills are defined as those transferable skills which are needed by individuals to
make them employable and move further in their careers. Employability skills are related to good
technical understanding and subject knowledge which are expected by an employer from their
employees. Basically employability skills are refers to those complex skills which are related to
practical application and analytical or critical thinking. Employability skills and their application
depends upon the knowledge of a person their abilities their attitude and how individual can use
these abilities as their assets while presenting and performing their roles in front of their
employees.
Employability needs reliability responsible workers you are capable enough to resolve issues in
the workplace and also holds some social skills and attitudes to work together in a team with
other people associated with the company. As a student for me employability skills are very
essential to develop in order to stand on the expectations and preferences of employers which
will motivate them to hire me and train me in job specific stills which are lacking and needed for
me to be employable. Therefore according to me employability skills are those basic abilities and
capabilities of an individual which are necessary for them to get a job retain on it and perform
with their best potentials on their respective job role. According to me employability skills can
also be defined as attitudes and action that enable meet get along with my fellow teammates and
superiors for making appropriate and Critical decisions in my respective job role for resolving
any problems occurring while on the job. Employability skills are generic in nature rather than
job specific that means they are generally available and developed by all individuals who are
looking for stepping into their professional lives and which makes them employable. But as
known that employability skills are transferable skills and when employers seek and
understanding of different abilities in an individual and find them appropriate for the job role
they make use of training and development programs for developing more specific skills related
to the job in order to enhance the knowledge of the person about what is exactly expected out of
them and how they need to put their efforts in the respective job so that they can provide
potential results to the employer.
WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF THESE SKILLS?
Academic are very essential and important for all different types of individuals in order to excel
in their professional life and also to improve their day to day life. Academic and employability
skills are best source for me to have higher order thinking abilities and develop better personal
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qualities. Employability and academic skills are typically broken into or bifurcated into three
skill sets that are basic academic skills, higher order thinking abilities and personal qualities. In
the basic academic skills capabilities such as reading writing oral communication and listening
are included amongst which according to in class activities it has been identified that my
communication skills are not effective enough due to which my reading and writing skills are
also getting affected. Along with it as my writing skills are affected due to my communication
skills I have made a lot of grammatical mistakes in my assignments and in class activities.
Therefore academic and employability skills are very important for me as my goal is to move
upward in my life and grab my opportunities to find a new job and complete my certificate
course.
The certificate course which I am pursuing is very important for me to move further in my career
and in my professional life. Academic and employability skills will allow me to improve my
capabilities and potentials and help me to enhance my skills in those areas in which I am lacking.
The higher order thinking skills comprises of learning, reasoning thinking creatively decision
making and problem solving abilities. these are most commonly known as employability skills
which are a little complex and required by and individual for being employable. I am applying
for the job of a manager at a restaurant it is important for me to develop employability skills
which is comprises of organising teamwork, problem solving motivating investigating and more
importantly communicating with all the staff and my subordinates for effectively managing the
restaurant. Employability skills of problem solving and creative thinking which decision making
are very important for me to develop so that I can grab this opportunity at this new restaurant for
becoming their manager and effectively run the operations of the restaurant providing my best
performance to the entity and satisfying the needs of my job role.
The academic skills will be gained by me while completing my course with my institute where
I’ll be working on improving my communication skills increase my concentration and
performance in class and educational sessions. Employability and academic skills will help me e
to become more Independent and also open my learning areas and allow me to learn better things
in life. The academic and employability skills will be gathered by different people according to
themselves and their personal abilities of learning and procuring different skills. The academic
and employability skills which I will be developing with the help of my traditional course allows
me to grab more professional opportunities and gain expertise in multiple areas. employers
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nowadays typically search for those individuals or employees who have multiple skills and
number of qualities. Employees are required to hold appropriate personal transferable skills
motivations specific abilities and ID the attitude and willingness to learn in order to do well in
their job roles and most importantly taking the organisation towards success. Employability
skills will differ from organisation to organisation but there are some specific characteristics that
are seen very important and common for all different types of companies. My communication
skills are not best and according to the job role which I am pursuing it is one of the most
important skill which is required by me. I have to overlook on the staff and manage them in most
efficient manner motivate them and also give presentations in front of them for making them
understand the processes of the restaurant and is any changes taking place in the organisation.
My course which I am pursuing involves different activities which helps me to to improve and
develop better communication skills such as making oral presentation as part of in class activities
getting involved in local clubs with people and also working in customer Service department
face to face on the phone. These are few activities which are conducted in my course which will
help and assist me to improve my communication skills that will also help me to enhance my
reading and writing abilities.
IDENTIFYING THE SKILLS THAT I HAVE USING IN-CLASS ACTIVITES.
In my class there are several activities which is conducted and out of those one activity named as
SWOT analysis is also conducted. This is and in class activity which is conducted by our
professors and it allowed me to analyse my strengths and weaknesses and also look over
different opportunities available in front of me as my professional and career options. SWOT
analysis is an acronym of strength weaknesses opportunities and threats. This is a framework
which is given by researchers and mostly used by organisations to understand and analyse their
internal strengths and weaknesses and seek knowledge about the external opportunities and
threats associated with them in the external environment. But SWOT analysis also helpful for
individuals in order to analyse their internal strengths and weaknesses and accordingly look over
there professional opportunities and Threats.
I have conducted my SWOT analysis through which I was able to understand and seek
knowledge about my strength that is I like to create ideas and seek more knowledge about things
that means I am curious learner and always interested in learning new things. Along with it I
have also identified that I am also a very creative person who can develop creative ideas and
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thoughts on particular topics in order to present them in better manner in front of others this
opens an opportunity in front of me for moving further in my career as presentation is one of the
most essential employability skill which is needed to be developed by me. Moreover, another
skill which I have and which is very potential for my career is that I am self motivated and a
teamwork. I always work in a team effectively that means I know how to manage a team and
how to manage my work and my respective duties while working in a particular team. I am also
self motivated which allows me to learn better things and perform my job role in the most
effective manner by bringing better outcomes and results from my performances.
The swot analysis of myself which I conducted also highlighted that one of my ability is that I
always keep experimenting in order to gain new experiences and be interested in higher
education programs training sessions and development. This quality and strength of my attitude
allows me to develop better negotiation skills which is beneficial for me in order to secure my
current job in the restaurant as a manager for which I have applied. Better negotiation skills will
allow me to conduct my management activities in better manner and it will allow me to manage
my staff and subordinates more effectively. I can appropriately communicate and negotiate with
them so that the work with best capabilities and effective use of human resource can be done. My
performances an efforts will be improving the potentiality and work level of my subordinates and
this will ultimately improve the overall productivity and performance level of the restaurant that
will increase their revenue and profit units.
TASK 2
REFLECTIVE REPORT ON THE LEARNING IN THIS MODULE WHICH
HELPED ME IN DEVELOPING MY EMPLOYABLITY SKILLS
USING THE IN-CLASS FEEDBACKS FROM DIFFERENT
ACTIVITES
WHAT ARE THE SKILLS LACKING IN ME REFERENCE TO IN CLASS ACTIVITY
FEEDBACKS?
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There are number of in class activities conducted for development and improvement of number
of skills in students and in practitioner’s. According to do one activity which is conducted in
class named as a SWOT analysis enable me to understand and know many skills in which I
supersede and Jos very good power but there are other capabilities also in which I lack. SWOT
analysis which are conducted for myself enable me to enhance my knowledge about the strengths
and weaknesses I hold along with all the opportunities and threats are present in front of me
while moving forward in my career. The SWOT analysis framework highlighted my weaknesses
also through which I got to identify and determine my those areas and abilities in which I lack
and where I need to develop a better skills and have to improve.
The biggest weakness of myself according to the swot analysis is that my English is not very
good which is becoming a hurdle for me in my learning process. English is a very common
language which is used in various countries and mostly in different workplaces as it is is
considered as common platform for people to communicate. My English is not good and this is
my biggest weakness as it is impacting my communication skills my reading skills and my
writing skills. While communicating and interacting with others the other person is
communicating in English it is very difficult for me to understand the language and what the
other people are saying. Also why I write my assignments which are given by my tutors as the in
class activities of my course I am facing problems writing my article for other work as I make
many grammatical mistakes which sometimes changes the meaning of the sentence and affects
my writing abilities. At the time of reading 1 important effort or element in communication is
reading also it is said that the more you read the better you will communicate and as I lakh in
English and my understanding of the language is very poor it is affecting my communication
abilities as I am unable to read and understand what is written in English.
In my class there are different presentations and novels are used by my tutors for teaching us and
making us understand different concepts but due to my lacking communication skills and
understanding of English it becomes very difficult for me to understand what my tutor is trying
to teach in the class. This affects my employability skill and academic skill as I cannot perform
well in my in class activities for in my mid term exams which will directly affect my course and
my grades will automatically decrease my opportunities and chances in future for grabbing
appropriate job for myself by which I can pay my expenses and also contribute towards my
family.
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Therefore from the in class activities and feedbacks I have identified that I lack in
communication skills and understanding English language which is affecting on my reading and
writing skills also. In the next section I am developing a a personal development plan which will
enable me to improve my English and communication skill so that I can enhance my reading and
writing skills which will assist me to perform better in my educational course and father in my
career.
HOW TO IMPROVE THE SKILLS WITH THE HELP OF A PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
PLAN (PDP)?
Personal development plan is considered as a process which is useful in developing an
action plan relies on values, awareness, reflection, set suitable goals and plan for the personal
development regarding the self improvement. Basically, it is useful in reflection in order to
determine those skills in which an individual lack and need proper improvement for the career
development. It is also termed as individual development plan as it consider a probable statement
of single person’s strengths and acumen considering the education, knowledge, skills and
training and on that basis a plan is developed. It describes the career positioning, determination
of various opportunities and risks and also carries alternative plan for it. It leads to develop self
confidence as it is the most critical factor to improve the overall personality of an individual and
plays significant role for accomplishing desired goals and objectives. It depicts those skills that
are under-achievable in the career of an individual and they does not realise those areas of
personal development as it helps in achieving mastery in any field. In terms of this, there are
various steps to create personal development plan that as discussed as below:
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Learn the human potential landscape: This step describe the transpersonal psychology,
development psychology, neuroscience and integral theory to converging the answer. In relation
with this, to create a map for the overall development it is important to categorise the things
which need develop in terms of its classes like:
 Lines of intelligence also termed as streams of development.
 Development of skills.
 Management of lifestyle.
 Suitable behaviour that takes place in behaviour.
 Personality development.
Dream and create own vision: In terms of this, consider the information about the potential
and create own vision to develop the skills by analysing the greater sensitivity in surroundings.
For this, created vision is based on what a person want or what are the hopes to gain approval
from others.
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Select focus area: In relation with this, individual need to determine its compelling vision for
future self, selecting prominent areas for the development to focus on prominent challenges
within the limited or specific period of time and countless options.
Discover practices: Once an individual select the key areas of improvement for the personal
development, then next is to determine the practices for the overall development and various
methods that are suggested by peers and managers who guide them for the development and
enhancement of skills.
Establish personal development goals: According to it, individual is required to have and
develop their own goals and objectives considering their own targets they can more prominently
able to improve their skills. In relation with this, they always consider feedbacks and suggestions
of other people for more development.
Monitor the whole progress: In context of this, feedbacks are the one that facilitates the learning
process. It is monitored by manager and the person who guide and instruct the whole
development procedure because they have more experience to provide the right practices and
effective feedback for the development of individual and give them satisfaction for their
enhancement.
The personal development plan which I have documented for myself enable me to develop and
improve those skills and areas in which I am lacking and where I need more learning. According
to my PDP plan the first and foremost skill which I need to develop is my communication skill in
which I lack and it is also affecting my reading and writing skills. The second priority and the
area in which I need improvement is my course which I have dream learning and conducting
from past recent months. For improving my communication skills I need to know no and develop
and understanding about what I am speaking which enable me to improve my writing skills and
that will automatically effect on my I reading and communicative skills. The resources which are
helpful for me getting more knowledge and ideas to increase my communication skill is
conducting no interactions with people and communicating more with different people listening
to their perspectives and hearing them out. The success criteria for my achievement of better
communication skill will be my scores in my course which I am pursuing. In this course there are
numerous activities which are conducted in class and that are helpful for me to improve my
skills. Numerous presentations and oral interviews are conducted by tutors as in class activities
and part of the curriculum of this module and my course. Therefore this course is very helpful for
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me to develop potential academic and employability skills that will help me to improve my
communication and writing skills. Therefore personal development plan is very e helpful and
potentially tool which enable me to develop my employability skills which are required by
employers and those makes me employable providing me better career opportunity in future and
in the longer period of my professional life.
Another area and segment in which ab is lacking which was identified with the help of SWOT
analysis is my understanding of English language. In class activities and feedbacks given by my
tutors headlights that my English is very bad and I make a lot of grammatical mistakes while
writing for my exams and my assignments. in order to improve my communication skills it is
also important for me to enhance my understanding of English language and develop better
reading and writing skills. For doing so I can make use of different novels which are suggested to
me by my brothers in order to to get proper understanding of different words of English which
will help me in improving my I understanding of the language and enable me to understand
properly what my tutor is trying to teach in the class. The better understand what my tutors are
trying to say and the better I will interpret my sentences and my words my assignments help me
to enhance my ability to convert my ideas into a proper report and present in front of my
employer so that they can understand what I am writing with no grammatical mistakes and
properly evaluate my creative plans which will help me to acquire better position in in my
professional life and also move further in my career.
CONCLUSION
The report above is reflection about an individual discussing about employability and academic
skills. Academic and employability skills are most essential and important abilities which are
essential for an individual to develop in order to be employable and grab better career
opportunities in foreseeable future. Employability skills are known as those transferable skills
which are commonly required by all different Employers in there employees. Employability
skills are also modified according to the employers and their requirements of the business for
which day conduct training and development sessions for the individual in order to make them
suitable for the job role. The academic and employability skills are different in nature but
academic skills develop a base for employability skills that is an individual can attain academic
skills and with the help of it enhance their employability skills in better and productive manner.
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The employability and academic skills enables an individual to acquire more and more abilities
and capabilities which enhance their knowledge and additives that is helpful for them in their
professional life and also improve their personal life. The individual lacks many different skills
which are very important for them while they move in business world for procuring effective
jobs for themselves and the skills makes them employable which is why it is important that the
people and individuals learn and develop more skills in those areas in which they are lacking.
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