Employability & Team Work Certificate

Employability & Teamwork Skills

The Employability & Teamwork Skills will accompany all courses and will give the participants the opportunity to:

Group Work

Identity Within a Group

Active Listening

Giving and Receiving Feedback in a Positive Way, Kind, Helpful and Specific

Different Styles of Communication

Self Esteem and Self Worth Sessions

It is envisaged that young people will improve their skills in these fields which will increase their own understanding of themselves.

These skill sets can be tailor-made and adapted to any situation, either within education or on a more social or work-based setting. Improving intergenerational relations.

Social skills are the skills we use to communicate with each other, both verbally and non-verbally, through gestures, body language and image.

As human beings we are sociable creatures and have developed many ways to communicate our messages, thoughts and feelings with others. What is said is influenced by both verbal language and the way we use it , tone of voice, volume of speech and the words we choose - as well as by more subtle messages such as body language, gestures and other non-verbal communication methods.

Developing social skills is about being aware of how we communicate with others, the messages we send and how methods of communication can be improved to make the way we communicate more efficient and effective.

Team Working

This is a key employability skill!

Being able to show that you can work collaboratively with others from a wide range of backgrounds is a key requirement in most occupations and is very important when applying for a graduate job. Employers see the ability to work as part of a team as a crucial skill, and you need to be able to demonstrate convincingly that you have sufficient understanding and experience of team working. Careers and Employability can help give you some ideas to improve your team working skills and therefore your employability and your CV!

First Thoughts

What Makes a Good Team Player?
How to Impress
Where to Start
How Careers and Employability Can Help

What Makes a Good Team Player?

To be an effective team member, you need to be able to show a range of skills: for example, you need to be able to.

Listen

Question

Persuade
Participate and sometimes lead.

How To Impress

Remember, you need to prove to employers that you have team working skills, with tangible evidence to back up your claims. So think about what you have achieved so far:
Think about your current team working skills.
Think of your best example of working co-operatively as a team member to accomplish something. What did you do? What was the result? How did you interact with others on the project? What did you do to contribute towards creating a teamwork environment? Did you play a particular role within the team?
Think about the most difficult challenge you have faced in trying to work co-operatively with others. What was your role in enabling the project to move ahead? Was it successful? If not, why not?

Where to Start

Kick-Start your Ideas: if you are struggling to think of examples that illustrate your team working skills, here are some ideas to think about:

Course Work

Building up examples of your teamwork experience based on your course work is a useful starting point. For example, you may have taken part in a team presentation as part of your course. Or perhaps you had to submit a group report for assessment. What role did you play when preparing the work? Did anything go wrong during the preparations? Did you help to put it right?

Find Part Time Work

Not only a great way to earn money to keep you going whilst you study, part-time work will help you to increase your employability skills and will impress employers. Work such as stacking shelves, or working in a shop, can show that you have customer care experience and are accustomed to working in a team with others.

Volunteer!

Visit our jobs vacancy database for details of volunteering opportunities in the local community. For example, if you are interested in conservation work, there are many local environmental projects. Not only can you help local groups, this will give you a chance to demonstrate that you are used to working with others and give you a bank of evidence/ to draw upon when filling in application forms.

Start Preparing Your CV

If you are applying for a part time job whilst studying at the University, many employers will ask you to send in your CV (resume). Your CV is your marketing tool. It summarises your qualifications, experience and skills.If you start preparing your CV now, it can also act as a template that you can develop as you progress through University. This will save you a lot of time in the future if you have all your information collected in one place. As you develop more evidence of your team working skills, you can add it to your CV and develop a strong bank of evidence that will help when you come to apply for graduate jobs. Careers and Employability has a range of resources to help you to write a CV and/or covering letter. These can be picked up in person from Careers and Employability or found online.

Get Involved!

Get involved in clubs, societies or with the Students' Union. All of these activities will help develop your personal skills. For example, if you have been involved in sporting activities such as rugby, this can show your team working skills; if you are a member of a role playing group, this can show evidence of your communication skills and your ability to work alongside others. As well as having fun or keeping fit, you will greatly enhance your CV. Perhaps you could join a student committee so you can demonstrate your teamwork skills.