Soft Skills You Can Use for Future Employability

When it comes to getting the skills you need for a career in your chosen field, people often think that the only thing you need to do is learn your subject. They could assume this means continuing your education in order to achieve those goals. While this is certainly vital for many roles, it is important to consider the soft skills, or employability skills that you might need as well.

These are skills that will not only help you to do your job more effectively but are something that employers actively look for when they are interviewing potential new employees.

What are Soft Skills?

The term “soft skills” is bandied around quite a lot but not everyone is sure what they are. These are skills that are not directly related to any particular job or vocation, but that will help an individual to do the job to the best of their ability. Soft skills are really important to employers for a number of reasons. While it is true that an engineer will need to have the appropriate technical skills in order to fulfil a job, good employability skills will help them to create a better impression on those people around them. This has the potential to lead to greater success in the role.

What Employability Skills Do I Need?

Arguably the single most important soft skill that you should be working on is communication. This doesn’t just mean being able to communicate ideas to others around you but also being able to listen to their input as well. Communication is a multi-faceted skill and one that requires work – you need to know how to communicate with a range of people and in a variety of ways, remember communication can be written as well as spoken.

Problem solving involves thinking outside the box to produce solutions to problems and is a soft skill that many students really hone during their time at university. This is a skill that interviewers often like to ask about during an interview, because problem solving in the workplace is an essential part of most roles.

Being able to adapt and manage a number of different tasks at the same time and under changing conditions is another skill that is often required for future employability. Someone who is highly adaptable and able to handle what a role throws at them is likely to become a highly valued team member and one who has increased job security as a result of this.

One final soft skill that is a must and is certainly something that can be practiced during any university course is interpersonal skills. It is important to learn how to work well with other people and be able to resolve any conflicts that arise in order to make things run smoothly. Teamwork and collaboration, both essential in the workplace, are often skills that can be honed in an educational setting and with specific soft skills training.

University of Bolton – Soft Skills Training To Help You Become More Employable

At the University of Bolton we understand that employability is more than just academic achievement, which is why so many of the soft skills that employers are looking for are things that you will use whilst studying with us. We give you the opportunity to take on soft skills training to improve your employability, and our dedicated team is equipped to help you learn the employability skills you may need for your future career.

Ours is a university that prides itself on offering a holistic experience of #UniAsItShouldBe focusing on more than just academic achievement to ensure you have all you need to reach your future goals. We are constantly evolving the soft skills training we offer based on feedback and are proud to have been voted in the Top 10 in the UK for 'satisfied with feedback' for the third year running*.

If you would like to learn more about life at the University of Bolton or have questions about any of our courses, we would be delighted to talk to you. Our team of friendly advisors can be contacted on +44 (0)1204 900 600 or you can send your query to enquiries@bolton.ac.uk and our team will be glad to assist you.

*Guardian University Guide - 2022, 2021, 2020