Developing The Complete Skill Set

There’s a clear differentiation in the minds of today’s employers between technical knowledge and what is increasingly being referred to as employability skills.


With a high degree of technical prowess automatically assumed of today’s business school-educated candidates, it’s these wide-ranging employability skills that now constitute a must-have commodity for businesses and organisations worldwide. Consequently, these are the abilities that are aiding candidates in winning premium placements and enjoying the desired rate of career progression. So, how might we define these particular attributes? In a nutshell, candidates deemed to have these skills are those who possess:

• a world-wise, global perspective and the type of strong inter-cultural skills that are essential for effective interaction within a global marketplace. 
• a critical mindset and the ability and willingness to question and test assumptions with a view to achieving the best problem-solving outcomes. 
• excellent communication skills (oral and written) as well as solid research and analytical aptitudes. 
• teamwork skills – an essential ability considering that many business projects are now prosecuted within multi-disciplinary groups.

Crucially, the development of these employability skills represents a core component of the Business School curriculum. But there are other ways that students can also develop the types of abilities that will help them prosper within the dynamic and global 21st Century job market.

Travel, either private or via one of the Business School’s student exchange, study abroad, or offshore placement programs in China, the US and France, is the ideal way to increase cultural awareness and develop a global perspective. The very nature of our learning environment also offers a golden opportunity. Because we attract top-level students from all over the world, all course participants are effectively studying in a global classroom, learning from each other as well as from our expert educators.

We take the needs of employers seriously, so we give students everything we can to support them in the pursuit of their chosen career path. It’s all about building the ultimate candidate.

Author: Dr Leanne Piggott - Director - Business Programs Unit