Employability Skills

Argue which three employability skills employers would consider to be the most important in your chosen profession when you graduate.


I have chosen school teacher as my profession for this assignment, because like many other professions, the quality of their work involves and relies heavily on their abilities and understanding communication, problem solving, critical thinking, numeracy or the application of numbers, use of information technology and working with others ( NCVER, 2003, p.6, para, 3). This essay discusses the three primary principles and values of employability skills in education sector such as communication, problem solving and critical thinking (AGDEST, 2006, p.10,para. 1).

Therefore these skills are defined. Employability skills are also known as generic or key competency skills are defined to gain employment and progress with in an enterprise (NCVER, 2003, p.2, para, 5). Consequently enterprises particularly in education sector continue to focus on adaptation, cost reduction, increased productivity, new markets or products and services (NCVER, 2003, p.2, para, 2 & Hall, 1996, p.13, para. 4&5). Enterprises choices with regard to recruitment and training are largely being driven by these business strategy directions (NCVER, 2003, p.2, para, 3). In this environment, there is an increasing requirement for employees to be able to support increased competitiveness, innovation, flexibility and client focus (Van Der Heijde, C. & Van Der Heijde, B., 2006, p.452, para.1).

For that reason in today’s workforce employability skills are highly valued. These skills all have the contextualized applications unique to a work place and job role. In another word the skills learned or applied in one work place will also be applicable in another (NCVER, 2003, p.1, para, 8 and Harvey, 2008,p.16, para. 1). For example the teamwork skills utilized in primary school teaching are applicable to working as teaching adults in a college. Thus employability skills have become highly respected and admired by employers through out the work places across the globe (NCVER, 2003, p.2, para, 1 & Hall, 1996, p.13, para. 4&5 & Heijde, C. & Van Der Heijde, B., 2006, p.455, para.1).


Enterprises including education divisions are increasingly seeking a more highly skilled workforce where the generic and transferable skills are broadly distributed the organization and very simply mean that today’s employer is seeking the ideal employee (Heijde, C. & Van Der Heijde, B., 2006, p.455, para. 1-5). The “ideal employee” is a master of basic skills such as reading, writing, numeracy, learning, communication, critical thinking, creative thinking, and problem solving where the employee can respond to a problem quickly, correctly, and with little or no supervision (AGDEST,2006,p.14,para.2). In view of that the benefits of communication skills will be argued here.

Communication skills are defined as a behavior, verbal or nonverbal that is observed by another person. It is the knowledge, feelings , thoughts or messages that are pre-arranged and interpreted by another person. It means that the other person understands the message (Judith, 2003, p.4, para. 3-4).

Therefore communication skills are used in any work palce to establish good working system in a company. Good working system will build stronger teams among employees. Because team members need to be able to relate and communicate thoughts and ideas with each other’s in the work place (Judith, 2003, p.11, para. 2-6). Good communication skills are vital in education section and any the work place (Hall, 1996, p.12, para, 3). Having poor communication skills can have a very negative effect on the relationships among co-workers for instance school principles, teachers, parents, guardians, students, and other employees in general. Productivity may even decrease due to not having good communication (Hall, 1996, p.12, para, 3).

Therefore, effective communication in the workplace is necessary for a friendly and conducive work environment; therefore our work and our relationships with other people at work help us to learn in many different ways (Hall, 1996, p.10, para, 1 & Judith, 2003, p.5, para. 3). When people do not communicate effectively, their productivity decreases and their efficiency can be brought to a state of decline. For this reason, communication should be considered the most important of all the employability skills (Judith, 2003, p.5, para. 3).

It is important to be as kind and as courteous as possible at work. As well as professional and confident in the nominated role. Communication and respect goes both ways. If the person is willing to make some friendly changes then this might be surprised how things change for good in an environment or work place for the better (Judith, 2003, p.13, para. 4).

Problem solving skills are important part of our life and our job. It’s always best to improve co-worker’s ability to create positive and effective solutions in a workplace (Hall, 1996, p.11, para, 3&4).In working environment employees mostly confronted in satiations to make decisions at work. It can be very difficult to decide on the best option that can have huge impacts. Also it may plagued the member of staff by indecision (AGDEST ,2006,p.18,para.1). The co-workers may be forced to choose between two equally good options, or perhaps, they may have to pick between two choices that both have drawbacks. This is why effective problem solving skills are extremely important when considering employability skills for any workplace (AGDEST ,2006,p.20,para.5-6).

At its simplest, problem solving can be described as seeing that something is wrong and fixing it (NCVER,2003,p.5). At a more complex level, problem solving can include processes to identify problems (NCVER,2003,p. 3). For example, risk management and quality assurance. Initiative is an important part of problem solving as it allows individuals to take steps to solve problems, with or without input from supervisors, before they impact on production or service delivery (AGDEST ,2006,p.18,para.1-3).

Problem solving is used in the field of education or any workplace to in contingency situations. Thus it is required to identify a problem to create continuous improvement processes. Consequently it is an important means to ensure that key lessons are learned and integrated following workplace problems (AGDEST ,2006,p.19,para.1-4).

It's important to realize that being a problem solver isn't just ability; it's a whole mind-set, one that drives people to bring out the best in themselves and to shape the world in a positive way. True problem solvers are constantly trying to proactively shape their environment (AGDEST ,2006,p.20,para.1).

Critical Thinking is also crucial in education sector as well as other professions. It is significant in decision making. For example in education sector, the teachers identify and evaluate evidence for and against the choice they make. Analyzing evidence to guide one's decisions is key to being an effective thinker and making well-reasoned choices (Smith, 1995, p. 2, para.5).

Critical thinking plays a fundamental role in making any choice, from choosing the correct answer from multiple choices on an exam question to making major life decisions (Smith, 1995, p. 3, para.2). A child taught to think critically is a child far less likely to make poor choices that are harmful to one's self or to others. A child taught to think critically can accurately predict the possible outcomes of his actions. This is important part of educating young children. One of the methods to teach children critical thinking skills, is to give them facts to memorize and ask questions, seek alternative answers, try hypotheses, and consider their viewpoints (Smith, 1995, p. 4, para.3). Because critical thinking helps children to formulate the right questions, assess possible answers, judge the credibility of information and sources, and make solid judgments based on the evidence. Critical thinking should be a component of every curriculum (Smith, 1995, p. 4, para.2-3). Thus critical thinkers need to question statements, claims, and maintain a skeptical attitude about ideas that they agree (Smith, 1995, p. 4, para.1).

There are may be more then one correct way of answering a question with alternative explanation. It can be easy and obvious when answering questions and using effective skills for formulating and evaluating the issue (Smith, 1995, p. 4, para.4).
In conclusion employability skills are not only vital in getting a job also it is about developing attributes, techniques and experiences for life (Harvey, 1999, p.13, para, 2). It relates to life learning and changes through learning (Hall, 1996, p.9, para, 1). Employability skills are beneficial for career out comes and company outcomes. The benefits are for both present performance on the current job and also future profession (Van Der Heijde, C. & Van Der Heijde, B., 2006, p.468,para.3).

The development of employability skills are necessary in education sector , as discussed communication, critical thinking and problem solving skills are associated with employability skills. It is vital to focus on these skills and attributes and develop the ability to perform good work within an enterprise (Cohn, Katzenbach, & Vlak, 2008, p.66, para, 5&6).

References list is in APA system.

NCVER (National Of Vacational Education Research) . (2003). Defining generic skills at a glance : Journal of Australian National Training Authority , pp. 1-12, viewed 20 October 2010, From CDU Database, http://www.cdu.edu.au or www.ncver.edu.au

Harvey, L. (1999).’ Employability: Developing the relationship between higher education and employment’, Opening Presentation At The Fifth Quality In Higher Education 24-Hour Seminar, Scarman House, Warwick university 28 October, Centre for research in to quality, University of central England in Birmingham, pp. 1- 24, viewed 20 October 2010, From CDU Database, http://www.cdu.edu.au or www.uce.ac.uk/crq

Cohn, J., Katzenbach, J. & Vlak, G. (2008). ‘Finding and grooming breakthrough innovators’ , Harvard Business Review, pp. 1-69, viewed 20 October 2010, From CDU Database, http://www.cdu.edu.au

NCVER (National Of Vacational Education Research) . (2003). Defining generic skills at a glance : Journal of Australian National Training Authority , pp.1-12, viewed 20 October 2010, From CDU Database, http://www.cdu.edu.au or www.ncver.edu.au

Hall, D. (1996). ‘Proten careers of the 21st century’. Academy of Management Executive ,New Yark: Academy of management, v.10 (4), pp.1-16,viewed 20 October 2010, From CDU Database, http://www.cdu.edu.au


AGDEST (Australian Government Department of Education, Science and Training ). (2006). ‘Employability skills, From framwork to practice’. An introductory guide trainers and assessors, pp.1-62. viewed 20 October 2010, From www.precisionconsultancy.com.au.

Smith. R. (1995), ‘Guidelines for critical thinking’. In Challenging Your Preconceptions: Thinking Critically About Psychology, Brooks/Cole, Pacific Grove, CA, pp.1-20, viewed 20 October 2010, From CDU Database, http://www.cdu.edu.au

Judith. D. (2003),’ How communication works’, The Business Communication Handbook 6th Ed, Frenchs Forest, and N.S.W: Pearson Education, pp.1-20, viewed 20 October 2010, From CDU Database, http://www.cdu.edu.au

Van Der Heijde, C. & Van Der Heijde, B., (2006),’ A Competence-based and multidimensional operationalization and measurement and measurement of employability’: Human Resource Management, Wiley inter Science, Wiley Periodicals Inc., v.45, no. 3, pp. 449-476, From From CDU Database, http://www.cdu.edu.au or http://www.interscience.wiley.com.