Academic and Employability Skills for Graduate Employment: A Report

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Academic and Employability
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Literature review..............................................................................................................................2
Reflection.........................................................................................................................................5
Findings...........................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9

Introduction
The present report has focused the need of academic skills in a student or individual who aspire
to get employment in the near future. Academic skills are the foundation on the basis of which
knowledge, learning and talent can be improved in an individual. Academic skills are not only
relevant with the skills required in schools, or colleges, but it also include those skills that are
essential to groom up the professional carrier of individual. Different types of skills are discussed
in the report which includes, communication, decisions making, problem solving, etc. that every
employer desires to have in its workforces.
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Literature review
As per Fallows and Steven (2013), academic skills involve those skills which are required in the
students or learners to enable them to study and learn efficiently. These skills are essential for
acquiring knowledge, information and good grades and hence for getting success in the school,
colleges or universities and also for useful learning throughout life. There are many academic
skills that students or learners must possess for getting success in the school, colleges, and
universities as well as for getting various employment opportunities throughout life. There are
some academic skills that students much posses such as writing skills, reading skills, note-taking,
independent learning, research, presentation skills, etc., that help students or learners in higher
studies as well as in employment period. According to Stephensonand Yorke (2013), academic
skills are closely associated with employability skills that help students to acquire knowledge
and information for getting employment opportunities and develop a recognised professional
career. There are numbers of skills that students must need to possess for getting successful in
their academic career as well as the employment period.
Communication skills
Mikkelson et al., (2015) opined that in the current competitive world, the students or individuals
must need to have good communications skills for getting success in the academic career and in
employment. If the students have good communication skills, it helps them to present their
views, opinions and ideas in the front of teachers as well as classmates. It is also essential for the
students or individuals to have good communication and presenting skills to get good job
opportunities and employment in the reputed industry or organisation. As a future employee,
good communication skills will help the individual to communicate with their colleagues,
juniors, seniors as well as people outside the workplace or organisation. Technological
advancement has introduced various digital communication tools or medium and proper
knowledge, and information about these tools and mediums help employees to ensure effective
communication with others.
Adaptive thinking skills
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In the modern and digital world, it is essential for students or learners to be adaptive in nature for
getting successful in academic career and employment period. In the modern time, the social,
professional as well as environmental situations are changing with the passage of time so as a
student or employees, there must need to be adaptive that will improve personal as well as
professional life. As an employee, adaptive skills help in continuously adapt changing
environment in the organisation or workplace to perform well and ensure the professional growth
and development.
Critical thinking and problem-solving skills
In the opinion of Carnevale and Smith (2013), the problem-solving skills help the students in
higher education for resolving various critical situations and get good grades in colleges and
universities. These skills also help the students to develop themselves as a good employee in the
organisation by resolving various critical situations at the workplace and hence ensure the
professional growth and development.
Collaboration and coordination skills
Due to emerging competition in both academic field and employment filed, students or
individuals must need to be collaborative or coordinative in nature to get success in personal as
well as a professional career. Students must need to adopt the collaboration culture to get various
employment opportunities and to become a good employee. As an employee, students must need
to collaborate with other people in the workplace or outside the workplace for completing their
assigned task and hence getting success at the workplace.
Presentation skills
According to El Mansour et al., (2016) students or learners must possess good presentation skills
for effectively presenting their views, ideas and thinking in the front of people during higher
education. Due to increase in competition in the academic sector, students must have different,
unique and effective presentation skills that can help them in presenting their subject
presentation in front of teachers effectively to get good marks or grades and hence get success in
the higher education. Students in higher education must develop good presentation skills to get
employment opportunities in reputed organisation or industry.
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Time management skills
Time does not wait for any person, and hence, time is a significant and important constraining
factor for those who do not plan their job. Employers generally aspire to recruit that individual
that considers time as a precious element of their life. Time management skills include an
understanding of the importance of work and accordingly prioritising it to ensure an effective
outcome of the plan. Also, it supports full and effective ways to utilise the resources and hence
the issue of wastage can be eliminated. Only those individuals can go ahead in the life who take
full advantage of time management and keep focused on their targets.
Decision-making skills
In the opinion of Kleckner and Marshall, (2014), employment, making decisions are the crucial
element as taking any wrong action may cause heavy losses to the employer. Hence, it is
essential to have strong decision-making skills so that the firm can develop faith in its workforce.
A strong decision requires cautious mind, clear about facts, sound reasoning, and reasonable
belief on gut feelings. Employers appoint those individuals who have the courage to be devoid of
emotional feelings, conflicts of interest, and make fair decisions.
Creativity and Innovation
It is considered as an important professional skill for the modern employment era. Both
creativity and innovation enhance the potential of an individual by developing its positive
aspects. In the competitive era, organisational success is mainly based on the innovative
characteristics in the workforce. Hence, every employer desires to integrate creativity,
innovation, and human efforts with the organisational goals and objectives so that it can improve
its market share and competitive position. Therefore, individuals have to be creative and
innovative in their work to get the desired job as early as possible.
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Reflection
I have completed my graduation in human resource management, and therefore, now I am
finding out an employment opportunity that can help me to improve my present knowledge and
learning power. I have various academic skills that can support me to get a high positioned job in
the coming future. I have good communication skills with the help of which I am effective in
presenting my thoughts, opinions, and views in front of others (Moore and Morton, 2017).
Communication skills develop confidence in me to speak professionally in front of employers,
and other executives. I have the techniques of analysing situations in different angles so that
associated problem can be easily solved. This supports me to think about different issues
critically and to get the possible result for the positive future outcome.
I have good skills in presenting my views and opinions among the people that I learned in my
graduation period. I participated in various group discussions and events that helped me to learn
presentation skills. Also, interacting with the team in events and discussions has helped me to
develop collaboration skills. I am creative in my work as I always try to explore new ideas,
concepts, and methods to accomplish the tasks. As a human resource manager in any
organisation, creativity and innovation are essential to inspire others and to get a fruitful
outcome. Hence, I always try to develop my creativity level in myself to get high opportunities in
my professional career.
However, I have low concentration power that sometimes acts as a hindrance to my interaction
process. For good management career, I need to be adaptive in nature so that any changes in
professional life can be easily acceptable (Kyllonen, 2013). I need to attend educational
programs, meetings, and conferences to gain learning and conceptualisation from professional
magnate. In my graduation period, I sometimes was unable to prioritise my work that leads to a
delay in completion of the task. However, gradually, I have learnt to understand the importance
of time management skills, and therefore, now I always ensure that I complete my work before
time. The decisions making skills were not much strong in me when I was in the graduation
period. However, I started to take participation in various events and lead the time in university
that helps me to get out of the fear of making decisions.
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Findings
The report has found out the significance of academic skills for the students, learners, or
employment seekers. It is identified in the report that how academic skills support the growth
and development of the professional career of an individual. The significance of academic skills
can be seen in the successful completion of tasks and work in schools, universities, and in the
entire learning period that ultimately supports the potential enhancement to grab large job
opportunities. Communication skills are the core element to get a good job in any organisation.
Communication skills are tested in interviews and various recruitment processes that assure the
employer that a potential candidate has the capability to convince and influence others (Bettinger
et al., 2013). Communication skills can also be integrated with the technological knowledge
regarding communication channels so that easily views and opinions can be presented in front of
others. Presentation skills and collaborative skills are also associated with the communication
skills as good interactive personality helps to present the ideas in an effective manner and
support the collaboration and coordination among team members.
The flexibility in adapting new concepts, learning, and changes within the workplace help the
individual to move its organisation to a higher level. Also, this requires professional thinking and
problem-solving skills that an individual must possess to grab future career opportunities.
Creativity and innovation play a key role in getting higher package jobs as creative employees
are the aspiration of every employer.
In this report, a reflection is presented in which my academic skills are evaluated. My strong
communication skills can help me to present myself as a confident and dedicated person in front
of the employer. In addition, my positive attitude, critical thinking ability can help me to solve
various problems and issues in my professional career path. My creativity and interacting power
are strong; however, my lacking areas need to be improved so that I can grab good employment
opportunities for a better career. From the findings of the report, it is essential for me to attend
educational events, seminars, and other learning sources to groom up my personality. I need to
do meditation, and yoga to get a calm and positive environment that helps me to make strong
decisions (Jackson, 2016). I need to be punctual in my personal life so that time management
skills can be improved in professional life too.
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The report has found out that without or lack of academic skills, no individual can attain its goal
of success. Hence, academic skills are required to be aligned with the goals of professional
career so that fruitful outcome can be obtained.
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Conclusion
Academic skills are essential part of professional as well as graduate life of individuals. These
skills are necessary requirements for getting high employment opportunities. Effective skills
bring large number of employment opportunities with good package and lack of any academic
skills may impact the job opportunities of the learner or student. Various academic skills are
concluded in the report, like, decision making skills, critical thinking skills, creativity, and
innovation, collaborative skills, etc. The report has concluded the reflective part in which the
reflection of a graduate in the human resource management in concluded.
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References
Books & journals
 Bettinger, E.P., Boatman, A. and Long, B.T., 2013. Student supports: Developmental
education and other academic programs. The Future of Children, pp.93-115.
 Carnevale, A.P. and Smith, N., 2013. Workplace basics: The skills employees need and
employers want.
 El Mansour, B. and Dean, J.C., 2016. Employability skills as perceived by employers and
university faculty in the fields of human resource development (HRD) for entry level
graduate jobs. Journal of Human Resource and Sustainability Studies, 4(01), p.39.
 Fallows, S. and Steven, C., 2013. Integrating key skills in higher education:
Employability, transferable skills and learning for life. Routledge.
 Jackson, D., 2016. Re-conceptualising graduate employability: the importance of pre-
professional identity. Higher Education Research & Development, 35(5), pp.925-939.
 Kleckner, M.J. and Marshall, C.R., 2014. Critical communication skills: Developing
course competencies to meet workforce needs. The Journal of Research in Business
Education, 56(2), p.59.
 Kyllonen, P.C., 2013. Soft skills for the workplace. Change: The Magazine of Higher
Learning, 45(6), pp.16-23.
 Mikkelson, A.C., York, J.A. and Arritola, J., 2015. Communication competence,
leadership behaviors, and employee outcomes in supervisor-employee
relationships. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, 78(3), pp.336-354.
 Moore, T. and Morton, J., 2017. The myth of job readiness? Written communication,
employability, and the ‘skills gap’in higher education. Studies in Higher
Education, 42(3), pp.591-609.
 Stephenson, J. and Yorke, M., 2013. Capability and quality in higher education.
Routledge.
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