ACADEMICS > EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS
Recent years have seen a range of terms used to label the group of skills graduate employers require students to evidence when entering the recruitment process. Traditionally known as transferable skills, generally these are now referred to as employability and career management skills. These may be defined as:
"A set of achievements - skills, understanding and personal characteristics which help graduates to become employable and successful in a chosen career" (Sirca et al, 2006. Australia) or:
"A set of attributes, skills and knowledge that all labour market participants should possess to ensure they have the capability of being effective in the workplace- to the benefit of themselves, their employer and the wider economy." (CBI, 2009, UK).
Generally speaking, the Career Development Centre has adapted the UK definition outlined above. Given the focus placed on student development and student employability, the Career Development Centre has repositioned itself to address this important agenda and research into these areas informs our professional practice. Click on the links on the right side of this page to access some recent reports on employability skills.
The table below summarises the core employability skills required by employers across industrial sectors, identifies some meta-skills required for effective career management and some examples of how students may enhance their skills repertoire when at UCD.
Table 1: Employability and Career Management Skills
KEY SKILLS
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EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS
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CAREER MANAGEMENT SKILLS
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HOW TO DEVELOP SKILLS
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Helping students find Internships and Graduate Jobs
We ask Schools at UCD make a link from their home page to the Career Development Centre website where we host an array of material, including searchable databases of internships, graduate vacancies and graduate study opportunities. The Career Development Centre website links students into quality assured national and international vacancy search and careers advisory sites.
