Higher Education Study Skills Project: Workplace Essential Skills

This project, titled "Study Skills for Higher Education," delves into the essential skills students need to develop during their academic journey to prepare them for the workplace. The project emphasizes the importance of a diversified skill set for career growth and highlights several key skills. These include critical thinking and problem-solving, which involve analyzing situations and formulating effective plans; collaboration and leadership, stressing teamwork and influence; agility and adaptability, focusing on efficiency and resilience; communication skills, covering both verbal and written forms; technological skills, essential in today's tech-driven world; soft skills, encompassing personality traits and values; research skills, vital for finding solutions and formulating strategies; and analytical skills, crucial for data interpretation and drawing conclusions. The project underscores the significance of these skills for students' future success and their relevance in contemporary business organizations.

Study Skills for Higher
Education

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Project 2...........................................................................................................................................3
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Main body........................................................................................................................................3
Skills developed by the students that are essential in the workplace...........................................3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8

Project 2
Introduction
Skills are the qualitative measures that reflects the extent of knowledge and talent of a
person. Skill set of a person depicts their interest in the field if it is observed thoroughly. Higher
success can be achieved with the diversified skill set which makes person proficient in the field
(Rodrigues and et.al., 2021). Characteristics of a candidate and the abilities to perform the job
role is depicted by the curriculum vitae which contains the list of skills. Thus, the following
essay will be highlighting the major skills that are needed in the professional life. Employers
seek candidates with such skills that can help in performing the job role effectively.
Main body
Skills developed by the students that are essential in the workplace
There are many skills that are needed to be developed by the students during their
academic session which can enhance their chances of securing a better future. Career growth of a
person depends on the skills as they depict their capability and knowledge to perform different
task. Hiring professionals in an organization seeks the candidates who are highly qualified and
pertain diversified skills along with some practical experience. There are many common skills
which can be focused by the student irrespective of their field or educational background
(Wladimir and et.al., 2019). Some of these skills are highlighted below with its importance in
workplace.
Critical thinking and problem solving skills
Critical thinking is the skill that depicts the ability to evaluate and analyse the facts or
situation to get beneficial outcomes from it. It can be considered as a type of emotional
intelligence. Ability to analyse the situation and the given factors helps a person to formulate
plans according to the requirements. Critical thinking skills broadens the perspective of a person
from which they can evaluate different scenarios. Critical think consist of six elements that are
open-mindedness, respecting evidence, consideration of different perspectives and point of
views, ability to move to different position, skepticism and clarity. These are the elements which
can be considered as the process or guidelines for critical thinking. For the usefulness of critical
thinking ability it is necessary to learn problem solving skills. The ability to formulate plans to
go through different situation and achieve the determined goals is known as problem solving

skills. With this the students can learn how to tackle the barriers coming in the way of succession
(García-Sánchez and et.al., 2018). These skills are very important in a workplace as there are
many barriers that arise in the day to day activities.
Collaboration and leading by influence
Collaboration is the process where individuals work with an aligned coordination with
other members of group. Achievement of group success becomes a task if there is no effective
collaboration among the members. Therefore, it is essential for the students to learn the ways of
collaborative working with individuals pertaining different personality. Prefer ability of the
candidates pertaining such skills becomes higher among the list of job seekers because an
organization depends immensely on the collaborative working of the team. A collaborative
working environment is aimed by the business as it enhances the quality of work. Leadership
qualities is another necessary aspect that goes with the collaboration in an organization. A leader
is the person who paves a way that directs the group efforts towards. There are many dimensions
to the leadership where a person has to manage and organize the available resource with proper
strategies. A group leader tends to have a significant influence on the group member through
which they lead their team effectively. Leadership skills are developed within the life of a person
which is reflected from their respective personalities (Pedraza Sánchez and Araiza Vázquez,
2020). However, this skill can be learnt during the academics by leading the group of students
for a project or other purpose.
Agility and adaptability
Agility refers to the skills that depicts the ability of a person to cut through unnecessary
work and focus on the important one (Longenecker and Mallin, 2019). Quickness or fast actions
through focus on necessary activities can be termed as agile skills. Through this skill a person
maintain to finish assignments on the specific deadlines with an appreciable quality. This quality
learnt in the university can help the person in their personal and professional life in which the
organization of activities is done accordingly to achieve the best outcomes. Quick decision-
making is the another element of agile skills where the person takes immediate actions in
different situation to reduce the intensity of effects. Adaptability to the different situation
enhances the ability of survival of a person. Changing the personal dynamics according to the
situations to get through it and somehow manage to achieve the determined goals. The skills to
adapt to any condition makes a person flexible from their mental perspective and strengthens the

gaps. Employees possessing the agility and adaptability skills enables the flexibility of the firm
to go through difficult situations and maintain sustainability (Whisenant and Bradshaw-Ward,
2021). These skills can help the students to cooperate with different personalities and situation in
the workplace.
Communication skills
Methods and ways in which the information is transferred to one another is known as
communication. There are two forms of communication that are very useful in the workplace.
Oral communication is the verbal interaction among the people where the information can be
heard. Skill of verbal communication helps a person to transfer the message clearly which is
certainly understood by the listener. On the other hand, written communication refers to the
transcribed form where the information is transferred in written format. Students in their
academic session can acknowledge the skills to communicate the message properly both in
written and verbal form. Formal and informal styles of communication can help the students to
increase their chances of getting hired by the employer. These skills are of sheer importance in
the workplace as there are many events where the employee has to transfer various information
to the seniors and subordinates. Lack of these skills can lead to miscommunication and the
person may face consequences for the same (Bottomley and Willie Burgess, 2018). Interacting
with professors, seniors, batch-mates and juniors a student can enhance the ways of verbal and
written communication.
Technological skills
There is an immense growth and enhancement in the technology which effects have
influenced the business organizations to a higher extent. Companies are focusing towards the
transformation of technology in their business to enhance the operation and achieve the most
probable level of quality. Therefore, the preference for hiring the candidate has diverted towards
the ones which possess such technological skills who can help in achieving the technological
transformation. These skills can be learnt by the students to secure their future by targetting their
desired job roles. Technological skills need an extra focus as it involves more complex
functioning. Also, the technology is changing day by day so the students need to cooperate with
the change by keeping themselves upgraded with such changes. Frequent learning of such skills
can increase the chances of getting acquired by the employer as the business also seeks the
upgraded and highly skilled workers (Floris and et.al., 2020). Technological support helps

business achieve more profits by simplifying the work and the cost of operations also reduces
from it.
Soft skills
These are the personality traits that defines the character of a person and the values
pertained in them. Soft skills can be the basic values that defines humanity and socially accepted
standards (Rodrigues and et.al., 2021). However, there are some of the soft skills that truly
depends upon the business context such team player etc. these are the deeply rooted believes of a
person that is developed from their childhood. Different factors influence the character of a
person by making an impact on the ir thinking and beliefs. However, a person can build their
character by themselves with focusing on improvement of the habits which effects their soft
skills. Educational institutes have a major role in developing the character of a student and
driving their future. In the early stage of life a person passes their most of the time at academic
institutes whose environment and values have significant impact on their personality. Employees
who have more and more delegates attributes and soft skills have a significant influence on the
colleagues. These skills are reflected in their ways of working and interacting with seniors and
subordinates (Philip and Gavrilova Aguilar, 2022). Candidates applying for the position of front
office where customer engagement takes place are majorly needed with the soft skills as the
customer's experience is regarded with these.
Research skills
The ability of an individual to find the solutions to the problems occurring in the
company. Finding the relevant data that is useful for solving the problems is the main element of
researching. Researching skills includes identification of the rationale behind any situation or
problem occurring due various factors and harming the business process. Tackling methods of
different barriers in the way of success is determined with the help of researched data or gaps.
Researchers are being hired by companies to find information which can be useful in the
formulation of strategies that ensured its viability. Ability of the organization to research depicts
their ability to formulate effective strategies as the strategical process require the data on the
factors that threatens it success. These skills can be developed in the university where the
assignment needs information form reliable sources to maintain the authenticity of work.
Increasing trend of data analytics has increased the demands for the candidates with good

researching skills (Longenecker and Mallin, 2019). This data goes through various process where
it is being refined to get beneficial and useful outcomes from it.
Analysing information
Analytical skills refers top the ability of a person to collect, organize and interpret the
data to extract useful conclusions from it. There are various sources from which the data is
collected which has to be reliable so that the authenticity and practicality of the outcomes can be
maintained. Organization of data includes aligning the researched information in such a way that
it can present favourable outcomes. The data is organized and combined in regard to the
relativity with the expected outcomes. Organized data gets on the interpretation stage where it
goes through the strategical process and the results are derived. This results are then transcribed
in the word format and used in the strategical formation. This analytical process has highlighted
the rationale for the higher importance of these skills in the workplace. Demand for the
employees with such skills is increasing as there is very less availability (Andreu and et.al.,
2020). Students can learn analytical skills which can help in securing the future.
Conclusion
The above report has concluded eight skills that are required for securing the future of
students which can be developed in the university. These skills are highly demanded in the
contemporary business organizations as they provide a firm support to the activities taking place
in the company. Higher availability of the candidates has given higher bargaining power to the
employer through which they demand more and more diversification in the skill set of
candidates. Critical thinking and problem solving skills are discussed as the ability to fulfil the
gaps. Collaboration and leading by influence are the skills that directs towards effective
teamwork and leadership qualities. Agility and adaptability is discussed as the ability of a person
to survive in tough conditions. Communication skills has been highlighted as the effective ways
of transferring information with a smooth flow to reduce the confusion and conflicts.
Technological skills are discussed as one of the most important skill that is highly required these
days because of the transformation in the technological industries. Soft skills are the ones that
depicts the nature of a person and reflects their characteristics. Researching and analytical skills
are stated as the process of collection and interpretation of data to get the probable overview of
the scenario.

References
Books and journals
Andreu, F.S. and et.al., 2020. Building Leadership Skills through High-Impact
Experiences. Journal of Leadership Education. 19(4).
Bottomley, K. and Willie Burgess, S., 2018. Changing generations in today's workforce:
Leadership skills for Millennials. Employment relations today. 44(4). pp.5-9.
Floris, M. and et.al., 2020. Senior project leadership skills and career stallers: Analysis of
perception differences and implications for careers. Project Management Journal. 51(2).
pp.214-234.
García-Sánchez, E. and et.al., 2018. Analysis of the influence of the environment, stakeholder
integration capability, absorptive capacity, and technological skills on organizational
performance through corporate entrepreneurship. International Entrepreneurship and
Management Journal. 14(2). pp.345-377.
Longenecker, C.O. and Mallin, M.L., 2019. Key leadership skills of great sales
leaders. Development and Learning in Organizations: An International Journal.
Pedraza Sánchez, E.Y. and Araiza Vázquez, M.D.J., 2020. Application of a model of structural
equations for the measurement of technological skills. Academo (Asunción). 7(1).
pp.33-44.
Philip, J. and Gavrilova Aguilar, M., 2022. Student perceptions of leadership skills necessary for
digital transformation. Journal of Education for Business. 97(2). pp.86-98.
Rodrigues, A.L. and et.al., 2021. Technological skills in higher education—Different needs and
different uses. Education Sciences. 11(7). p.326.
Whisenant, L. and Bradshaw-Ward, D., 2021. TECHNOLOGICAL PROFICIENCY: DO NON-
TRADITIONAL STUDENTS HAVE THE TECHNOLOGICAL SKILLS TO BE
SUCCESSFUL IN COLLEGE?. In EDULEARN21 Proceedings (pp. 10517-10523).
IATED.
Wladimir, P. and et.al., 2019, July. Communication and Technological Skills to Improve
University Teaching Performance. In International Conference on ‘Knowledge Society:
Technology, Sustainability and Educational Innovation’ (pp. 385-392). Springer, Cham.