Skills, Skills and More Skills

In my last post I voiced my opinion on whether or not a computer science degree really did help you in your preparation for the real world. If you made any sense from it then I think you will agree with me (and if you didn’t then you should voice your opinion by commenting on the post).

So what skills are you being taught by going to lectures and seminars? And that’s skills, NOT information.

The obvious ones:

• Team work – in your 3 years at university I can guarantee everyone has worked in a team, be it Football, Swimming or project based.
• Management – University forces you to manage yourself, you time, and you might have even lead a team.
• Communication – Simple – you have been talking since you can remember, university gives you the opportunities to build on these skills and communicate to a wider audience.

I could go on, but I am sure you get the idea. The point I am trying to make here is that if you are successful at these skills then you are attractive to organisations. They know you can learn, that’s proven in your degree certificate. It’s how you would fit into the real world that makes you STAND OUT to employers.

You should be selling yourself on these unique skills that work well for organisations. A good way to do this is imagine working for the company and what you think you will be doing, will you be making decisions? In that case look back and see when you have done this before, what it was, and what you learnt. I am sure everyone has examples of these situations in their back pocket and it’s university that gave you these...

So university does prepare you for the real world. Doesn’t it?

Some interesting links
Employers’ Perceptions of Key Skills
What is the evidence that employers value key skills?