Employability skills
In March 2002, a survey of employers commissioned by the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry was undertaken by DEST.
The results of the survey lead to the development of a framework of employability skills that were identified as “required not only to gain employment, but also to progress within an enterprise so as to achieve one’s potential and contribute successfully to enterprise strategic directions”.
These employability skills include:
Communication skills as demonstrated by:
- Listening and understanding
- Speaking clearly and directly
- Writing to the needs of the audience
- Negotiating responsively
- Reading independantly
- Empathising
- Using numeracy effectively
- Persuading effectively
- Establishing and using networks
- Being assertive
- Sharing information
- Speaking and writing in languages other than English
top of pageTeamwork skills as demonstrated by:
- Working with people of different ages, gender, race, religion or political persuasion
- Applying teamwork skills to a range of situations, E.g. Future planning, crisis problem solving
- Identifying the strengths of team members
- coaching, mentoring and giving feedback.
Problem-solving skills as demonstrated by:
- Developing creative, innovative solutions
- Developing practical solutions
- Solving problems in teams
- Showing independence and initiative in identifying and solving problems
- Using mathematics including budgeting and financial management to solve problems
- Applying a range of problem-solving strategies across a range of areas
- Testing assumptions taking the context of data and circumstances into account
- Resolving customer concerns in relation to complex project issues
Initiative and enterprise as demonstrated by:
- Adapting to new situations
- Being creative
- Developing a strategic, creative, long-term vision
- Identifying opportunities not obvious to others
- Translating ideas into action
- Initiating innovative solutions
Planning and organising as demonstrated by:
- Managing time and priorities – setting timelines, coordinating tasks for self and with others
- Establishing clear project goals and deliverables
- Allocating people and other resources to tasks
- Planning the use of resources including time management
- Participating in continuous improvement and planning processes
- Predicting – weigh up risk, evaluating alternatives and applying criteria
- Collecting, analysing and organising information
- Understanding basic business systems and their relationship
Self-management as demonstrated by:
- Having a personal vision and goals
- Evaluating and monitoring own performance
- Having knowledge and confidence in own ideas and vision
- Articulating own ideas and vision
- Taking responsibility
Learning skills as demonstrated by:
- Managing own learning
- Being open to new ideas and techniques
- Contributing to the learning community at the workplace
- Using a range of mediums to learn – mentoring, peers support, networking, information technology (IT), courses
- Applying learning to technical issues and people issues
- Having enthusiasm for ongoing learning
- Being willing to learn in any setting – on and off the job
- Being prepared to invest time and effort in learning new skills
Technology skills as demonstrated by:
- Applying IT as a management tool
- Using IT to organise data
- Being willing to learn new IT skills
- Having a range of basic IT skills
- Having the occupational health and safety knowledge to apply technology
- Having the appropriate physical capacity
For more information on what employers are looking for and key competencies, refer to Wise Up for Work.
Information on the Graduate Attributes.