Employability Event

Registration guarantees a seat until 5.45pm at which point any empty seats will be made available to unregistered students.

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Is your Birkbeck Qualification enough? The skills employers really want and how to get them

A seminar with Terry Dray

Director of Graduate Advancement and Employer Engagement at Liverpool John Moores University UK

Employers have long complained that universities do not equip students with the skills needed for the work place or a career change. A degree alone is not enough anymore. In fact, the top skills that employers want may surprise you; although some are expected e.g. analysing and problem solving, many of the skills most sought after by employers are within the sphere of emotional intelligence (EQ). Specifically employers want graduates who are able to recognise and predict the effects of their behaviour on others, who are able to recognise emotional states in others, and graduates who are able to reflect on their own strengths and weaknesses. Wondering whether you have those skills, how to develop them, how to demonstrate them to an employer or what other skills are important?

Innovative research on truly valued graduate employability skills and attributes has been carried out and developed into the World of Work (WoW) Programme led by Terry Dray, Director of Graduate Advancement and Employer Engagement at Liverpool John Moores University, UK. Terry Dray is coming to talk about the practical implications of this research and Programme: The skills that employers want and how you can get them on Friday 17 Feb 6pm in the Clore Management Centre (Free to Student Union members i.e. Birkbeck Students).

The WoW Programme started by asking a diverse group of influential employers, e.g. NHS, The Tate, CBI, Sony, Ford, Marks and Spencer, Airbus etc., to identify where they felt graduate job applicants were deficient and their wish list of graduate and employability skills. Terry Dray’s talk covers the top eight essential graduate skills and the higher level world of work skills identified by employers and also the World of Work Skills Certificate. Project management skills and organisational awareness are also highly valued. Employers additionally feedback that graduates are generally not able to justify why their degree has made them more employable and tend to give stock answers such as ‘writing essays has made me better at meeting deadlines’. Terry will also talk about how to articulate well crafted answers that reflect your uniqueness, strengths and weaknesses.

Many of us have attended workshops on how to get a job e.g. to improve our CVs and interview skills. WoW is different as it is a university career development programme that develops skills that employers want graduates to have once we are in the workplace (and those are the skills that employers are really looking for at interviews). WoW aims to remove the steep learning curve that happens when graduates move into a new job/ field, and turn the concept of employability into something tangible.

On a personal note I have previously attended a seminar by Terry Dray on graduate employability skills, and found it exceptionally illuminating, which is why we asked Terry to come speak to you. This event is highly recommended.

Terry Dray speaks on:

The skills employers are looking for and how to acquire them.

Room Clore B01 (Basement Clore Management Centre which is opposite the library)

Friday 17 February 6 - 7:30pm

Followed by wine and nibbles

Free to Birkbeck Student Union Members (i.e. all Birkbeck students)

 Registered seats will be reserved until 5.45 pm at which point empty seats will be available to any Birkbeck Student.

Terry Dray Biog:

Terry Dray is Director of the Graduate Advancement and Employer Engagement at Liverpool John Moores University, UK. In this role he takes the lead in developing and implementing the World of Work Programme and Alumni Relations. His professional interests focus upon student and graduate employability and career development. He has worked in higher education careers services for 20 years and has held management positions at Oxford University where he was Director of the Career Service, Warwick University and The University of Manchester. He has an MA Careers Guidance and an MSc Management. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services and has travelled widely conducting professional visits and delivering papers in Australia, South Africa, China, Malaysia, Europe and The USA.