Reflection on the Academic and Employability Skills Module

This report is a detailed reflection on a student's experience within an employability skills module. The student explores the importance of employability skills, such as communication, presentation, critical thinking, time management, and teamwork, and how these skills contribute to professional development and career success. The report outlines the skills acquired, including effective presentation skills, critical thinking, and time management, and reflects on the value of seminars, discussions, and teamwork. It also discusses existing skills, initial anxieties, and difficulties encountered, such as time constraints and the pace of instruction, along with strategies for overcoming challenges and suggestions for improvement, concluding that employability skills are crucial for overall individual development. The report emphasizes the practical application of these skills in real-world scenarios, highlighting the importance of continuous learning and networking for future professional success.

Academic and
Employability Skills

Contents
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY.............................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Employability skills can be referred to as the transferable skills that are needed by an
individual in order to be employable (Berger and Wild, 2017). The employability of an
individual depends on their knowledge, attitude as well as skills. It can be said that employability
skills are important for an individual because they allow the individual to work productively and
give in their best efforts towards their respective jobs. Excellent communication skills,
presentation skills, critical thinking, time management as well as organization skills are some
examples of employability skills. Possessing these skills makes an individual employable for a
job of their choice. This is because employers today seek candidates who possess effective
employability skills. The respective report is a reflection about the experience on this module,
the skills acquired as well as the difficulties encountered during the module.
MAIN BODY
26th May, 2021 – My experience of undertaking this module
Undertaking this module has been a very learning experience for me because I got an
opportunity to enhance my existing knowledge about the importance of employability skills as
well as acquire skills that will help me in getting my desired job in the future. I believe that
employability skills are useful for any individual and can help an individual in learning about
their strengths as well as weaknesses (Campbell and et.al., 2019). By undertaking this module, I
learned that communication skills is an important skill that can help an individual in enhancing
the way they interact with others within as well as outside the organization. Employability skills
are important because they help in making the individuals competitive as well as more flexible. I
have developed different skills such as effective presentation skills as well as time management
skills. This is because these are among the most desired skills among the employers. Presentation
skills help in creating innovative as well as creative ideas and present the same in an effective
manner.
I have developed an understanding about the importance of employability skills and how
can they contribute to the overall development of the individual. The skills that I have developed
have been beneficial for me and helped me in becoming more productive as well as competitive
as an individual. The market is highly competitive with people who possess various skills as well

as in-depth knowledge about the latest trends within the industry. while undertaking this module,
we were expected to attend different workshops as well as seminars regarding the value as well
as importance of employability skills and how do they contribute towards the overall
development of an individual. I have participated in some of the discussions myself and I can say
that this has helped me in developing my confidence as well as enhance my critical thinking
skills.
27th May, 2021 – Seminars and Discussions
The top employability skills that I have learned by undertaking this module are critical
thinking skills, teamwork and collaboration, professionalism, leadership, integrity and work ethic
(Cotronei-Baird, 2020). I believe that all the skills that I have acquired while undertaking this
module, I will implement the same in practical situations. I got a chance to develop time
management skills because as a part of the module, we were assigned different tasks that we had
to complete within a provided timeframe. Therefore, I used to prioritize the tasks based on their
importance and then work on the same. I will try to take every opportunity to implement the
skills as well as knowledge that I have developed during the same. I have learned that
presentation skills are the skilled that are needed in delivering engaging presentations to the
audience. And therefore, this has helped me in developing the knowledge about structuring a
presentation, designing the slides as well as other necessary skills that are necessary for
delivering effective presentations. Seminars as well as discussions can serve to be important
aspect for developing communication as well as active listening skills (Keevy, 2020). These are
considered to be important and can help an individual in becoming more engaged as well as
committed towards their jobs. therefore, I can briefly say that by attending seminars as well as
discussions, I have been able to develop much more effective communication skills that will be
helpful for me in getting my desired job in the future and also building lasting connections with
others.
28th May, 2021 – Graduate Attributes, Job Satisfaction and Teamwork
Other employability skills that I have learned about during this module are graduate
attributes, job satisfaction as well as teamwork. The module has helped me in developing an
understanding about the concept of job satisfaction as well as its importance in job. Employees at
any company should be satisfied with their jobs because then only, they will be able to give in

their best efforts and work in a productive manner. on the other hand, teamwork is a very
important skill that I have acquired while undertaking this module. I got a chance to work with
different people as part of a team and learned new things from each of them while doing so.
Teamwork is considered to be an essential skill among employers across various industries. And
thus, I think that this will be helpful for me in the future. I have learned that whenever one gets a
chance to work as part of a team, they should make the most out of it. This can help them in
working in an effective manner.
29th May, 2021 – Discussion on existing skills
I can say that there are certain employability skills that I already possess such as
organization skills, problem solving, planning skills as well as self-management skills. But
during the module, I got a chance to brush up on my existing skills (Perera, Fernandes and
Paniker, 2018). Such as, I am not able to organize the tasks at hand in a much more professional
manner and ensure that each task is completed in an effective manner without any compromise
on the quality of any of them. During the module, when we were given different assignments,
each student was expected to have a weekly meeting with the tutor in order to discuss about the
progress of the assignment. Since I have good organization skills, I was always able to discuss
about the progress of my assignment in an effective manner.
30th May, 2021 – Experiences and feelings about the sessions
Initially, before the module began, I felt very anxious as I did not have a lot of knowledge
about employability skills and their importance for an individual. But during the first session, the
tutor introduced us about the topic and its significance in the industry. This was when I got to
know about the concept as well as developed interest in it. I used to look forward to the sessions
each day because I was able to learn about the different things as well. I was able to develop new
skills as well as implement the same into real life situations. Therefore, I can say that throughout
the sessions, my experience was very learning as well as informative. Not only this, it will also
help me in enhancing my overall skills as well as get my desired job.
31st May, 2021 - Difficulties encountered in the study and their cause
While I got an opportunity to learn a lot of things during the module, there were also
certain difficulties that I encountered during the study (Pham, Tomlinson and Thompson, 2019).

The time available for us to complete the module as well as the assigned tasks was very limited.
Besides this, there were some topics that the tutor taught very quickly, so I was not able to
understand completely and hence, I think that I will have to work on the same. The main cause
for this difficulty was that there was limited time available and the tutor had to cover all the
activities under the task within that time. Another difficulty that I encountered during the module
was that there were some tasks that were difficult and I could not attempt them. This can be
because I could not attend two sessions of the module. From this, I have learned that one should
maintain regularity as well as punctuality because these can help in improving the overall
performance and also, in developing new skills as well.
1st June, 2021 – Overcoming the difficulties and the strategies found helpful
Although I came across various difficulties during the study, I still managed to overcome
them by developing as well as implementing effective strategies (Rani, 2021). One can
experience the ones feelings however you mayn’t live with them all the time, and you mayn’t let
them run your lifestyles. In order to triumph over existence’s struggles, you’ll need to make a
plan. Figure out what it's miles which you need to do in order to prevail at overcoming the
demanding situations you’re going through. Something I usually say to my audiences is that
requesting help isn’t failing, but failing to invite for assist whilst you want it is. Don’t be afraid
to reach out for guide, you’ll locate people who are inclined to be there. Finding time to learn
about studies-based totally approaches and to redesign guides is one of the best demanding
situations to implementation. Science and engineering college members paintings a mean of
fifty-five to 60 hours in line with week. Although they may be interested in research findings
about powerful teaching and learning, most can not manage to pay for to spend an unspecified
quantity of work time identifying how to practice these findings to their very own practices.
These sorts of assistants can assist with quite a number the daily obligations in scholar-targeted
publications: getting ready materials, offering steerage to college students as they paintings in
groups, reviewing students’ reflective writing assignments, or coping with a route wiki, to listing
just a few opportunities (Römgens, Scoupe and Beausaert, 2020). Often the actual problem is not
so much a lack of time to revise your teaching, but priorities for allocating time. Once that they
had gotten a flavor of the opportunities, some instructors interviewed for this book made a factor
to set aside time to enlarge their initial efforts at research-based reform. Some have used

sabbatical time or summers for this purpose. Priorities for the usage of one’s time also are
formed through departmental and institutional incentives, so encouragement from those tiers can
assist instructors sense they have got the latitude to shift a component in their time toward
enhancing teaching and studying. Scholars and practitioners with enjoy in research-based totally
direction redecorate factor out that students are not properly served through a curriculum
wherein they may be exposed to many subjects however gain mastery of none. What simply
topics is how an awful lot content students in reality learn, now not how much content material a
teacher affords in a lecture.
2nd June, 2021 – Suggestions for improvement
There are certain suggestions that I would like to implement in my day-to-day learning
schedules such as I will try to communicate with more people and enhance my network. Not
only this, I will also ensure that I attend various seminars so that I get a chance to develop new
skills as well as enhance the existing ones (Stock, Lynam and Cachia, 2018). Therefore, I will be
able to work in a productive manner and ensure that the tasks assigned to me are completed well
within time without any compromise on the quality. Therefore, I will be able to put in more
efforts and get the tasks done in an effective manner.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that employability skills are important for the
overall development of an individual. There are different employability skills that modern-day
employers expect the candidates to possess. Communication skills, presentation skills,
teamwork, time management skills as well as organization skills are some examples of
employability skills that can contribute to the overall growth of the individual to a great extent.
But there can also be various limitations that can affect the learning of the individuals such as
resistance towards learning, not being able to identify the strengths as well as weaknesses etc.
Therefore, it is important to implement various strategies in order to overcome the same.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Berger, D. and Wild, C., 2017. Enhancing student performance and employability through the
use of authentic assessment techniques in extra and co-curricular activities (ECCAs). The
Law Teacher, 51(4), pp.428-439.
Campbell, M. and et.al., 2019. Reimagining student employability: A case study of policy and
practice transformation. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 41(5),
pp.500-517.
Cotronei-Baird, V.S., 2020. Academic hindrances in the integration of employability skills
development in teaching and assessment practice. Higher Education, 79(2), pp.203-223.
Keevy, M., 2020. Core subjects in accounting academic programmes: Development of pervasive
skills. South African Journal of Accounting Research, 34(2), pp.140-160.
Perera, M.A., Fernandes, T. and Paniker, P., 2018. Career readiness: A survey on effectiveness
of learning employability skills at university level. International Journal of Engineering
Technologies and Management Research, 5(11), pp.86-106.
Pham, T., Tomlinson, M. and Thompson, C., 2019. Forms of capital and agency as mediations in
negotiating employability of international graduate migrants. Globalisation, Societies
and Education, 17(3), pp.394-405.
Rani, K.R., 2021. Role of PMKVY in Promoting Employability Skills in Haryana State.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS, BUSINESS AND HUMAN
BEHAVIOUR, 2(1), pp.1-16.
Römgens, I., Scoupe, R. and Beausaert, S., 2020. Unraveling the concept of employability,
bringing together research on employability in higher education and the workplace.
Studies in Higher Education, 45(12), pp.2588-2603.
Stock, R., Lynam, S. and Cachia, M., 2018. Academic success: the role of mental toughness in
predicting and creating success. Higher Education Pedagogies, 3(1), pp.429-433.