Develop your skills

Whether you are considering employment, further study, freelance work or setting up your own business; developing a range of skills and gaining varied experiences whilst you are a student will give you a head start preparing for and ultimately managing your own career.

Employers value skills that have been developed through a variety of different experiences including both academic and extra-curricular activities.

Employers expect students and graduates to have a broad range of skills and abilities that will help them to make the transition to the workplace as smooth as possible and hit the ground running. During any application process you will be expected to provide evidence of how you have developed your skills.

When to start

Start during your first year - your time will pass extremely quickly at university; during your final year you will be so busy so take some of the pressure off yourself in advance and start to develop your skills during your first year.

Use the Career Timeline - an interactive tool with advice on what you need to be doing during each year of your studies to prepare for life after graduation.

Before you start

It is essential to assess what skills and abilities you currently possess, this will help you to identify any gaps you need to fill. Information on how to conduct a self-assessment is available via the Career planning section.

If you have a career in mind

It is essential to do your research and find out what employers in your chosen sector / role expect, give yourself a chance to develop the required, skills, knowledge and experience. Do your research and find out what employers in your chosen sector look for in a graduate - start by looking at job advertisements in Researching jobs, employers and sectors

If you do not have a career in mind

It is still essential to develop transferable skills and gain experience; this may even help you to identify career ideas. As mentioned below, transferable skills can be applied to almost any role. Read the Career Planning section for further advice on how you can start to explore your career options. Do your research and find out what types of skills employers look for in a graduate - start by looking at job advertisements in Researching jobs, employers and sectors

Types of skills

Transferable skills also referred to as 'soft skills'
Are those that employers tend to look for no matter what the sector of employment is and skills that you can apply to a variety of tasks and roles, including: communication; teamwork; analytical thinking and problem-solving; planning and organising.

Sector specific skills
These are essential to work in some roles and sectors.

Career Management Skills
These are skills that will help you to secure career opportunities of your choice and remain employable throughout your working life, including:

Self-awareness - understanding what you have to offer. Further information on self assessments is available from the Career planning section.
Self-promotion and self-confidence - being able to market yourself effectively during the application process via CV, application and at interview. See the Application process section.
Networking - confidently and effectively liaising with employers / potential business associates.
Exploring, decision making and action planning - being able to seek opportunities, create new ones and make plans to get to where you want to be. See the Career planning section for further advice.

The Careers and Employability Service offers professional guidance on how to develop these skills further. The Career Development Programme will also set you on the right track to developing your Career Management Skills, visit the Events section for further details.

How to develop your skills

Via your academic studies

You will develop a range of skills and knowledge via your studies and not just knowledge from your discipline content. Use your module specifications from your course to recap on your learning outcomes, this may help you to understand the skills you have developed from your academic studies.

Choose modules and dissertations wisely

If you have the option to choose modules then think about which ones are relevant to your chosen career if you already have one in mind. Even if you do not yet have a career choice in mind, think about how a recruiter will view your choice and how this will prepare you for life after graduation.

If your course involves project work or a dissertation then again think carefully about how this also relates to your career choice, with the amount of time, effort and research you will put in to completing your dissertation / project then it is definitely worth tailoring it to your chosen career.

Get involved in course activities

If you are given the option to get involved in additional project work, running of events or becoming a course representative then these are great opportunities to develop your skills further and demonstrate that you are a proactive individual.

Via extra-curricular activities

Work experience

Exposure to a working environment will help you to develop skills, gain commercial awareness and network with potential employers. There are many benefits and different forms of work experience which are detailed in the Work Experience and Volunteering section including information on where to look for opportunities.

Volunteering

A great way to develop skills and gain work experience, the opportunities are so varied, everything from caring roles, marketing for a charity, after school sports coaching and student mentoring are just a few examples. Find out more about local, national and international opportunities from the Volunteering section.

Societies and sporting activities

A great way to expose yourself to new activities and an opportunity to network with peers as well as professionals.

Visit the University of Huddersfield Students' Union website for further details.

Short courses

Enhance your skills by doing a short course, which could be anything from languages to IT to photography.

There may be additional short courses, modules or training events run by your academic school or within the University that you are eligible to attend. Ask your tutors and the Students Union about such opportunities or try the following courses:

Modern languages at Huddersfield University courses that can be studied alongside your degree,

Alternatively try local education courses:

Kirklees College provide adult education courses including: Photography, IT, Arts based, Media, Languages and more.

Get involved in competitions and challenges

Get involved in competitions and challenges - some offered by your department / school. See also our Events section for any advertised on our website.

Join a professional body

An opportunity to enhance your networking skills and develop commercial awareness.

Networking

Networking with employers is a great way to develop networking skills by practicing your professional dialogue, something which is essential not only in the working world but essential to putting in a good performance during any application process.

Attend employer events - opportunities to meet with employers who are promoting vacancies or providing advice on how to enter a particular role or sector. Further details from the Events pages.
Take any opportunity offered on your course to meet with employers.

recording_skills_and_experience

Make your experience count

See the Work experience section for advice on how to make the most of your experiences and potentially turn these into a graduate position.

Make your experience count

Advice on how to make the most of your experience is available from the Work experience section - Make the most of your experience

Quick links

Share |