An Introduction to Employability SkillsTeamwork, refection…and getting out of your comfort zone…

Stuart Moss – s.moss@leedsbeckett.ac.uk

@stuartmoss

Today

• Just a brief introduction to employability skills.

• Get you thinking and reflecting about the skills that you have, and the skills that you will need to use and / or develop at this conference.

• Introduce a group activity to you…

How can you help yourself get the

most benefit out of this conference?

What are the snakes to avoid?

Discuss in your working groups for 2

minutes.

Teamwork: Cross-cultural capability

• At this conference you are going to meet and be working with people of different genders, religions, ages, ethnicities and nationalities.

• Be aware of the impacts that your personal and professional actions might have on other people (and theirs on you) so that we can all make our way as professionally and ethically as we can.

• Different cultures behave differently – and ‘my’ way of doing it is no better or worse than the other way of doing it.

(Hind and Moss, 2011)

Teamwork: The attitudeIt is good to get along with people if we can.

It is good to try to get along with people if we can.

The onus is on you – and that means everybody.

Effective Teamwork• Communicate effectively, have you all introduced yourselves and spoken to

each other? • Do you know everybody’s name in your working group?

• Do you have each other’s phone numbers, emails, Facebooks?

• Nominate a team leader right now…this can change each day if you wish.

• Identify who has which roles and responsibilities within your team.

• As a team, set yourself clear goals for the conference.

‘There were four people named EVERYBODY, SOMEBODY, ANYBODY and NOBODY.

There was an important job to be done and EVERYBODY was asked to do it.

EVERYBODY was sure that SOMEBODY would do it.

ANYBODY could have done it, but NOBODY did it.

SOMEBODY got angry about that, because it was EVERYBODY'S job.

EVERYBODY thought ANYBODY could do it but NOBODY realised that EVERYBODY wouldn’t do it.

It ended up that EVERYBODY blamed SOMEBODY when NOBODY did what ANYBODY could have done…..’

(Denny, 1993, p.89)

What nobody here wants to see…

So I asked you a series of questions…

• Have you attended a conference before?

• Have you ever visited Edinburgh before?

• What are you most looking forward to about this conference?

• Is there anything that worries you about this conference?

• What are your personal goals that attending this conference might help you achieve?

• What could you personally do to help you to minimise your worries about this conference, and maximise the chances of you successfully achieving your conference goals?

Have you attended a conference before?

Have attended a conference before Haven't attended a conference before

Have you visited Edinburgh before?

Yes No

What are you looking forward to the most about this confe...

peoplenew

Meeting

learn

Learning

skills

Meet

employability

forward Edinburghdifferent

looking

Networking

city

know

students

countries

experiences

exploring future

likeGetting

also

businessconference

employment

gain

general

international

knowledge

make

things

use

world

Developing

English

TEST

Visiting

bettercertain

contactcountry

develop

discover

especiallyexpand

experience

fun

great

group

hope

improving

information

interactinglook network

really

work

Brexit

Experiential

Interesting

Making

Scotland

Spending

Workshops

abroad

acquire

activities

application attractive backgrounds beautifull

become

best

bigger

career

chances

change

characteristics

classroom

comfort communications

connect

connecting

connections consistingcontrol

country's

course

culture

cultures discourt

discovering

economic

edinburg

effectiveemotional

employers

environment

europe

event

expect

explore

factors

facts

feel

four-days

friends

good

handy

help

helpshoping

ideas identify improveinstructive

intelligence

language

languages

ll

lots

love

matter

means

muchnationalities

net

netwerk

opportunity

path

person

possibility

possible

presentations problematics professionalsproject

prominent

put

relationships

s

sceneryschools

sector

see

share

skill

social

something

stepping

study

subjects

t

take

thinking

time

topic

topics

trends

understand

upgradeuseful

view

want

ways

wouldn

zone

What are you most looking forward to about this conference?

Is there anything that worries you about coming to this c...

peopleenglish

conferencenew

really

students think

worriedworries

forward

groups

mmake

s

Arrogant

Bad

Edinburgh

Maybe

TESTafraid

alsobit

boring

classes

difficult

friends

good

group

looking

might

neverthings

ve

want

week

work

Belgian

Belgium

Dutch

Giving

PerhaphsPrepare Presentations

Scotland

Scottish

Well

X

Yes

able

adventure

along

attendees attending

back

big

came

challenge

chosecityclothes

collegecollegues

communicating

connect

consideringconsisting contact

contacts

copany

courses

crowd

deliver

doen

dont

enough

exitingexperience

experienced

explore

exprime

fact

familiar

first

fitting

flying

front

fun

got

groupes home hope

howl

impression

injury

interact

interesting

just

know knowing larger

late

like

little

lookloosen

lot

made

makes

miss

missedmonotonous

mostly

nothing

now

often

older

open-mindedpacked partnership

perfect

person

planning

possibility

presentation

product

real

rush

schedule

see

seeing

self

self-orientated shame

shy

slight

social

socializing

someone

speak

start

student surrounded

t

teamtend

theoretical

tight

time

understand

unknown

visit

wait

wantingwarm

weather

whether

worry

worth

Is there anything that worries you about this conference?

Is there anything that worries you about this conference?

No worries45%

People19%

Group work14%

Speaking English9%

Missing classes5%

It will be boring5%

Socialising3%

No worries People Group work Speaking English Missing classes It will be boring Socialising

What in particular are your personal goals that attending...

peoplenewEnglish

knowledgelikebetterImprove

employability

knowlearn

learning

skillsmeeting

socialNetworking

different

personal

want

Becoming

achieve

business

conference countries

employment

good

international

later

network

understand

work

EI

Gaining Improving

Make

TEST

already

away

confidence

cultures

environment

experience

gain

goal

grow

help home

languages

life

making

order

others

take

things

think

thinking working

world

Asw ell

CV

Creating

Erasmus

Expand

Expanding

Interacting Leadership

Listen

Perfectionise

Prepare

Self-confidence

Shape

SocialiseSpeaking

ability

advantage

also alw ays

another

anxities

applicants

applications

arise

big

bit

building

career

choosing

cling

collaboration

communicate

compfort

conctacts

consider

contacts

context

control

conversation

country

culture

dense

determined

develop

diff icultdiscover

don

employableemployers

employibityeven

exactly

familiarfar

fluently

foreign

forw ard

freely

friends

fun

future

give

goalsgreat

group

groups grow thhabits headed hidden

hopehoping

i.e

idea

idealimportance

industry

information

insights

interact

internship

job

jobsknow ing

know n learned

learningproces

less

lifelong

little

look

looking

makes

manner

means

meet

muchnoticableoccasion

opportunities

path

perfect

perform

period

personalityportray possible

practise

prapere

preparedpresentpresentationproblematics

process

professional

project

quite

really

regarding

school

see

seem

selfconfident

selfreflection

share

show

shyingskills/talents

snd

standing

start

staying step

stories

stronger

stuff

subjects

system

t

talk

team

tense

terms

thoughts

time

tips

topic

use

useful

utilise

w elcome w ell w ork-relatedw orked

zone

What are your personal goals that attending this conference might help you achieve?

What could you personally do to help you to minimise your...

conferenceopenpeople

Justthink

talk

worriesTry

Make

contactlot

minded Edinburgh

best

group important

learn

mind

speakers

stay

students

Prepare

SpeakTEST

advance

also

chances

comfort

enjoy

everything

going

good

information

less

like

listen

maximize

new

opportunity

others participatepossible

shy

stress

succes

t

things

time

well

workzone

Breathe

Dare

English

Focus

Gather

Inform

Participating

Step

Trust

X

achieve

achieving

actively

activities

affraid

afraid

anything

aside

askingattendeesattending

attention

attentive

attentively back

believe

benefits

calm

calmly carefullychanges

check

class

clue

cold

coming

conferance

conferennce

confidence

confident

contacts

conversations

countries

day

decisive

deliver

directly

doe

don

easily

email

employability

end

ensure

every

everybody

everyone

exactly

experience

fail

faithflow

friendly

friends

fun

future

gogoals

great

guest guest/partner headed

help

helps

home

honesthow everincrease

inforrm

insecurities

interact

joining

journeykey

keynote

know

learned

lose

mails

making

maximise

may

meeting

membres

minimiseminimize

missing

much

must

need

never

notes

offer

open-minded

openminded

opinion

opinionsorganisation

pay

people's

pleasant

projects

put

ready

really

reap

reduce

reflectremind

results

risk

school

self

set

share

si

situationsocialise

socialize someonespray

starting

strengths

students/faculty

studrnt

subject

subjects

surroundings

task

tasks

teachers

thing

till

topic

tow ards

transparent

trying

tu

un

w ay

w eek

w hole

w orried

w rite

à

What could you personally do to help you to minimise your worries about this conference, and maximise the chances of you successfully achieving your

conference goals?

What could you personally do to help you to minimise your worries about this conference, and maximise the chances of you successfully achieving your

conference goals?

Being open / open minded28%

Talk / speak20%

Meet new people20%

Listen / pay attention9%

Be pleasant / friendly5%

Participate in activities6%

Socialise4%

Get out of my comfort zone4%

Enjoy the experience4%

Being open / open minded Talk / speak Meet new people Listen / pay attention Be pleasant / friendly

Participate in activities Socialise Get out of my comfort zone Enjoy the experience

Employability skills and attributes

Ultimately skills and attributes that make you more employable

Personal Skills Interpersonal Skills Study Skills

Career Management

Skills

ManagementEntrepreneurship

Consider how this conference can help you to both use and develop these skills.

Your WORKING GROUP TaskIt’s time to take you out of your comfort zone…

The Ed-Factor

YOUR GROUP TASK…

Your Task• In your working groups, you will form a band or ensemble – give your band a

name!

• Create a rhyme in English that may be a poem, song or rap (you decide which one).

• The rhyme that you create will be about your experience of attending this conference.

• You will perform this on Wednesday evening, and the best one will win a prize.

• When performed by your group, this must be between 60 and 90 seconds long.

• Everyone in your group must have a vocal part.

The Rhyme

• The rhyme must contain the following words and terms:• Businet• Christmas• Conference• Edinburgh• Emotional Intelligence• Employability• Experiential Learning• Friends• Fun• Future• Haggis• Scotland

Your Task• This is intended to be a FUN task, that will get you working together

and communicating with each other in a social way.

• It IS intended to take you out of your comfort zone, but please DO NOT STRESS about it!

• We want you all to engage with this.

• We are not judging you on your singing ability!

• Good luck!!

The Grading Criteria

• 50% - Teamwork (evidence of commitment to the task, practice, rehearsal and everyone contributing to this)

• 30% - Entertainment value (a song / rhyme / poem that is fun, original, and performed with passion)

• 20% - The Ed-Factor (anything else that you can bring to your performance to make it stand out from the others…think theming, dance moves etc…)

Any Questions?

You can also ask questions in the Facebook group, contact me directly on Facebook Messenger or using any of these details:

s.moss@leedsbeckett.ac.uk / LinkedIn: stumoss / Twitter: @stuartmoss / IG: StuMoss