Skills for Success in Higher Education and Improving CV Content

This essay discusses the essential skills students need to succeed in higher education and the workplace, including time management, leadership, teamwork, critical thinking, motivation, and computer skills. It emphasizes the importance of these skills for academic success and career development. Furthermore, the essay provides six recommendations for improving CV content, such as crafting a compelling cover letter, tailoring the CV to meet job requirements, highlighting skills and knowledge, including a personal statement, proofreading for grammar errors, and choosing hobbies and interests relevant to the career. The essay highlights how these improvements can help students stand out to employers and increase their chances of securing desired job opportunities.

Skills for Higher
Education

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................3
Identify six skills that students require to be successful at university and discuss why they are
also important in the workplace.............................................................................................3
Provide six recommendations that could help students improve the content of their CVs....5
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Higher education is at phase of a life where an individual has ability to learn as much as
possible which helps in future career development. It provides the gateway to various
opportunities in future as it is like a door which opens miscellaneous pathways through which
the standard of living can be increased by studying higher. Academic skills are essential when a
student is engaged in its higher education as it encourages it to become the efficient learner. The
skills boost the morale of every student and increases its self-esteem and competence. The good
skill set helps in improving the ability to learn as well as retain the knowledge (Romero and del
Mar Salinas-Jiménez, 2018). This essay shall deal with skills which are required in higher
education and recommendation to make improvement in the CV of an individual.
MAIN BODY
Identify six skills that students require to be successful at university and discuss why they are
also important in the workplace.
Developing the skills helps a student to figure out new ways of solving problems and
thinking. It recognizes an impact of their action and also teaches them to take some
responsibilities. Some of the skills which are required by students in university and workplace in
order to become successful are illustrated below-
Time management: It is one of the most requisite skills which is required to be present in
a student as it makes it more disciplined and punctual. It helps in prioritizing the work, task and
activity so that the targets are achieved well on time. When a person manages the time, it opens
more scope of opportunities for it. At university level, a student is able to complete its work in
less time as it is more focused towards it and does not waste any time on distraction. While at
workplace, it helps in streamlining the decision making so that 'paralysis by analysis' is
prevented. It helps in planning the blocks of time for particular task by setting deadlines so that
intermediate task are accomplished. For instance, with the help of this skill, an individual can
make good decisions as there is no pressure of deadline (Pinto and Ramalheira, 2017).
Leadership: A good leader is the able which has ability to bring out the best from its
team members and also motivate it to work altogether so that shared goal is achieved. A leader is
well organized and also keeps the track of team so that it can be focused in order to prevent any
delays. This skill helps in setting the clear vision and makes the communication effective with

subordinate and colleagues. This skill will helps a student at university to learn the art of
maintaining and building the relationship with the team and also defines the identities in order to
achieve the task efficiently. Similarly, developing this skill also helps during employment phase
wherein an individual can grab more opportunity by motivating its team so that their
predetermined shared goals are accomplished.
Team work: This skill helps in getting the things done in faster and efficient manner.
Whenever the entire work is divided into whole team, there is the development of sense of
comradery which helps in moving forward towards the targets. It builds the confidence and
morale of all as communication has become more easier while working in team. It helps in
dealing with people who have varied personalities and abilities so that the best can brought from
them. At workplace, it is important to have communication with others but working with other
people can be difficult but team work is the incredible lesson every time and one of the best way
to collect and gather basic skills of life while learning from others which can make a better
individual for any position in corporate world. At university level, this skill helps in creating
healthy working relationships which can bring better outcome of the project as unique strength is
drawn from each member (Araújo and Pestana, 2017).
Critical thinking: It is one of the core academic skill which teaches the students to reflect
or question on its own information and knowledge which is presented to them. This skill is
mainly important for the students when they work on any assignment or perform any research. It
is the process which is intellectually disciplined of skilfully and actively conceptualizing,
analysing, evaluating, applying and synthesizing the information which is gathered by
experience, observation, reasoning, reflecting or communicating as the guide to action and belief.
At workplace, this skill helps in diagnosing the problem by identifying solutions. It also helps in
preventing the conflict at the workplace. Whereas at university, this skill helps in becoming more
independent and self-reliant instead of becoming more dependent on teachers and classroom
learnings for guidance or instruction. Hence, this skill helps in enhancing the efficiency and
effectiveness of a student so that it can climb the ladder of success.
Motivation: A student must have the ability to motivate others as it is one of the
significant factor which enhances the performance of a person. In order to figure out the ways in
which motivation can be increased is very crucial as it allows to develop competency and change
the behaviour of others so it can set its targets, be creative, plan things and boost the engagement.

It is the inspiration which helps in making use of skill and knowledge for growth and
development. During university phase, this skill can help a student to bring out its best efficiency
by making use of its other skill and abilities while at workplace, this skill is considered as of
foremost importance as it drives commitment and energy so that the productivity is enhanced so
that an individual is successful in achieving its goals.
Computer skills: Now that the world has reached digitalization and become technology
savvy, it is important for the student to learn computer skill and knowledge so that it can work
without manual support in a faster, quicker and efficient manner. Literacy in computers is
important in workplace as it stave off the problems in short span of time and makes the working
easy, thereby enhancing performance and productivity. While at university level, this skills helps
in achieving the success as it makes utilization of presenting and processing the information in
an easy manner. Having this skill in every profession can help in finding and solving the
problems as it helps in making the understanding of the basic technologies. Hence, due to
demand of computers I today's era, this skill will help in job opportunities and career growth
(Ammentorp and Madden, 2018).
Provide six recommendations that could help students improve the content of their CVs.
In today's world, it is very difficult to score the dream job with the stellar grade so it is
important to put some extra efforts in order to stand out from crowd. Some of the
recommendations for making improvement in CV are discussed below-
Great cover letter: It is the written document which is submitted with the job application
that outlines the credentials of the applicant. It is aimed to capture the attention of the employer
in few lines as helps in expressing the interest in job. It must have the specific information such
as contact section, introduction to hiring manager, salutation, information of qualification for job
and signature. These information increases the interest of employer in resume as the student
describe directly how it is fit for company and the job. It mainly works as introducing the
candidate as well as its resume that provides overview of the qualifications and experience of the
applicant. Likewise, the cover letter increases the chances of candidate to get the job as its CV is
enhanced and become attractive (Mertz and Neiles, 2020).
Tailor CV in order to meet job requirements: Tailoring CV is very vital as it helps in
standing out to the recruiter. This not only shows the interest of candidate in job but also enables
to represent the experience and skill of applicant which can prove the suitability to job role. It is

essential for candidate to go through job description and find what the organization is looking for
and then tailor the CV with those requirements. Then pick the phrases and keywords from job
description and include them in the CV. Moreover the student must also include its experience
which is fit for the role and put the relevant one on the top so that the employer can immediately
get attention towards it. This will help in making the CV fit for the job role, thereby increasing
chances of the student to get the job.
Highlight skills and knowledge: The CV of an individual must be have the set of skills
and knowledge which a person possess so that it can be easier to target the job. These help in
attracting the attention of the employer. There must be a separate section of the key skills which
must be relating to work in the section of professional experience. The best and relevant skills
must be weaved in the CV profile so that the candidate can justify its selection for the job role.
For enumerating knowledge, the candidate must use the template and highlight its learning and
knowledge in it in the separate column so that they can reflect the job position. The student can
make use of the words like 'extensive knowledge', expert level of understanding', etc. in order to
indicate the expert level of skill of the person which it possess (Nasr and German, 2019).
Include personal statement: The good personal statement may be effective extremely if
it is right. It must be kept short and have ability to highlight the level of experience, professional
and personal qualities, strongest skills and other aspects which makes an individual fit for job. It
is the concise summary or paragraph which has details of the candidate which is also called as
opening statement. The student must have the knowledge to make the personal statement as it is
stepping into the ladder of career where it does not have enough experience or knowledge of to
warrant the personal statement. So the student must have the personal statement included in its
CV in order stand apart from crowd and gain its probability to impress the recruiter in order to
become fit for the jobs.
Proofread for checking grammar error: It is the most requisite aspect for making
improvisation in the CV. The student must proofread its entire CV after its preparation so it can
correct its grammatical errors. Having grammar errors in job can result in damaging the chances
of the student to land for the job interview. When a CV is provided to other person, it provides
the extra pair of eyes to it in order to look for the problems which the writer cannot figure out. So
it is very important to proof the content of CV in order to place positive impression in the mind
of recruiter. In case, any mistake is found after sending the CV, the student may place a email

stating to apologize for the mistake of having grammatical error in in it and attach the updated
copy of it in order to impress the recruiter (Rosenberg, 2019).
Choose hobbies and interest relevant to career: The column of interests and hobbies is
important one as it shows the personal interest of the candidate apart from its professional
information. In order to look professionally relevant, it is essential to list the hobbies and interest
which act as an advantage for the candidate when it applies for the job. In order to make
improvement in CV, the student must show its interest or the devotion towards job for which it is
applying so that the attention of recruiter is taken. As some of the recruiters are the absolute
advocates, they believe that hobbies and interest are important part of the well-rounded
application. So these hobbies and interest must be relevant to the job role in order to take interest
of recruiter (Viola and et. al., 2017).

CONCLUSION
It is concluded from this essay that academic skills are pivotal for the student as it helps
in enhancing its productivity and performance in its academics as well as career. There are many
skills which must be present in a student in order to be successful which includes critical
thinking, time management, team work, leadership, motivation and computer skills. These must
be present in order to make a student prepared for its future career so that more opportunities are
on its way for career development. Further it is added that there must be improvement in the CV
of the student so that it attract the recruiter. This involves including personal statement and
hobbies, proofreading contents of CV, attaching cover letter. Highlighting skills and knowledge
and many others. Hence, it can be summarized that these recommendations can help in
improving the CV, thereby increasing chances of selection or land in the interview process.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ammentorp, L. and Madden, L., 2018, January. Learning from others: Developing preservice
teachers’ workplace skills. In The Educational Forum (Vol. 82, No. 1, pp. 85-96).
Routledge.
Araújo, J. and Pestana, G., 2017. A framework for social well-being and skills management at
the workplace. International Journal of Information Management. 37(6). pp.718-725.
Mertz, P.S. and Neiles, K.Y., 2020. Scaffolding Career Skills into the Undergraduate Curriculum
Utilizing a Backward Design Approach. In Integrating Professional Skills into
Undergraduate Chemistry Curricula (pp. 43-55). American Chemical Society.
Nasr, S. and German, O.V., 2019, June. Assessment of Graduate Students' Resumes Using Short
Text Searching Method. In 2019 IEEE Second International Conference on Artificial
Intelligence and Knowledge Engineering (AIKE) (pp. 306-308). IEEE.
Pinto, L.H. and Ramalheira, D.C., 2017. Perceived employability of business graduates: The
effect of academic performance and extracurricular activities. Journal of vocational
behavior. 99. pp.165-178.
Romero, L.M. and del Mar Salinas-Jiménez, M., 2018. Skills use in the workplace and its effects
on wages and on job satisfaction: An application to the Spanish case. Personnel Review.
Rosenberg, L., 2019. A practical guide for implementing a holistic admissions review. Journal
of Nursing Education. 58(11). pp.669-673.
Viola, J.J., and et. al. 2017. Answers to All Your Questions about Careers in Community
Psychology. Diverse Careers in Community Psychology, p.1.