This week our #MyNextSteps advice campaign is here to help you realise your potential, wherever you are on your career journey. We’re discussing what knowledge, attributes, skills and experiences we are really developing in our university journeys and why we should discover these employability skills in ourselves.
There is a huge amount of uncertainty around at the moment, and even as King’s finalises the details of how you will undertake your final assessments and complete your degree, you might be wondering what all this means for your future ability to get a job. You might also have lost an opportunity for an internship or work experience in the next few months, and be worrying about the impact of that on how employers see you.
Nonetheless, employers have always employed graduates, and not just because of their degree classification or their work experience. The experience of an academic education develops transferable attributes and skills in you that are exactly the elements that employers are looking for in their future employees. So your degree isn’t just about your subject knowledge. It’s about all the other attributes and skills that are innate to your subject, that you develop during study.
What skills does my degree teach me?
It is the forensic attention to detail of History, the ability to see arguments from different points of view in Philosophy, the ability to model change in Geography, the observation of patterns and phenomena fundamental to Physics, the ability to reconcile theory and evidence in Psychology. Whatever subject you are studying – even professionally aligned courses like Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing – you are developing a huge range of widely transferable attributes and skills that employers want, and that make you suitable for a huge range of roles both connected and entirely different to your subject of study.
Academic achievements -like dissertations, research papers or projects- when presented in a skill-based light, are great examples of transferable skills and experience. Why not check out one of our past blogs, “How to ‘sell’ your dissertation to an employer” to dive into a practical example!
Realising your potential
So as you prepare for your final weeks this spring term at King’s, and reflect on all that you have learned, try to take a step back and think not only about your essay writing and presentation skills, your discussion skills and research skills. Think about what it is to be a scholar of your subject, and reflect on the essential elements that sit beside all the knowledge you have gained. You can find lots of help to capture the attributes and skills that you have developed in the What Do I Offer course in the Discover section of our online Careers service on KEATS.
As you prepare to enter the job market, and as you look for roles that interest you and apply or craft your CV, identify those skills and have confidence that you have been developing them all along through your studies. Through your time at King’s, you have so much potential already, so it’s time to realise and acknowledge what’s already there!
Join King’s Careers & Employability on Wednesday 13 April on our virtual advice session on this very topic! Get clear about the Knowledge, Attributes, Skills and Experience (KASE) that you have already gained and learn how to take useful steps to continue building your success and develop your KASE. Click to book to virtual session.
Written by Kate Daubney, Head of King’s Careers & Employability
Edited by Laura Patari