Developing Your Employability

Alongside job-specific skills, your course will allow you to develop your general skills. These include written and verbal communication, problem-solving and critical thinking.   

Often, these skills, knowledge, and behaviours are demonstrated through your assessments (such as through reports, presentations and live projects).  

So, talk about your assessments in interviews and applications to evidence skills! 

Placements 

You may have the opportunity to undertake a placement or work experience as part of your course. This could be through a clinical placement (for Health students), self-sourced volunteering placement, or hours as part of a work-based learning module.  

Make sure to keep any feedback received from your placement! This can be later used in interviews and applications to evidence your skills, knowledge, and behaviours. 

Personal Tutor 

As experts in your area, your Personal Tutor will encourage you to think about employability. They can also offer advice, refer you to our Careers and Employability team, and talk about career paths with you. 

Make sure to talk to your Personal Tutor about your career! 

Making the effort to evolve your skills and experience outside of your studies will help you demonstrate your suitability for a job. This is necessary in a competitive job market. 

Having a “taster” of a career or industry can also help you decide whether it is for you, or help you explore other avenues that you may have not considered. 

Placements, work experience, and other opportunities 

It’s never too early to start thinking about developing your employability. Here are some suggestions to get you started:  

• Part-time, casual work, and volunteering: sign up to the Careers & Employability Centre for free alerts to local opportunities.   
• Work for UCSD as a Student Ambassador  
• Become a Course Rep or Lead Student Rep: speak to your Personal Tutor at the start of the year.  

Extra training, qualifications, and online courses 

Gaining extra training and qualifications are a great way to grow your skills, knowledge, and behaviours: 

• Some programmes have opportunities for you to gain extra qualifications. 
• Complete an online course – Future Learn offers a wide range of free online courses covering subjects from Business to IT, Health to Politics. 

Kickstart your learning journey at UCSD with the Employability Skills Hub (Online Course). This is a free, customisable remote learning course created by South Devon College that has a host of employability-related modules. Each module is assessed by a virtual examiner, and on successful completion comes with a certificate. 

This is a fantastic way to develop, and evidence, those general employability skills. 

Click here to sign up. 

We encourage all students to make the most of what is on offer, so that you are equipped with the relevant skills, knowledge and experience to support your career aspirations.