Oxford

GAINING EXPERIENCE AND DEVELOPING SKILLS
C
NINE CORE EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS
3. TEAM WORK
Organisations want to know that you can work in a group to
achieve something tangible. There are many possible ways
you can develop this, including:
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Joining a sports team. There are dozens of student-run
sports clubs, and many more for individual colleges. See
www.sport.ox.ac.uk for inspiration.
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Getting involved in a choir, orchestra or band – or helping
to produce a play.
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Contributing to the decision-making of your Common
Room committee, or a student society.
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Choosing to do group project work, if the option is offered
on your course.
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Joining The Student Consultancy (p.29), or student led
initiatives for consultancy work in a group, like OxAid,
the Microfinance Initiative, or Oxford Biotechnology
Roundtable.
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Completing a Duke of Edinburgh award – designed for
people under 25.
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Campaigning with OUSU. Campaigns promote many
good causes, from mental health to racial equality.
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Becoming part of the student team that runs Oxford Hub.
4. LEADERSHIP
Employers will want you to have the ability to motivate,
influence and organise others. You can develop this by:
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Taking a position of responsibility in your Common
Room or with OUSU.
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Producing or directing a play, or organising an event,
such as a ball.
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Joining the Oxford University Officers’ Training Corps,
for their leadership development training programme.
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Volunteering with youth organisations, such as the girl
guides, scouts, or even a cycling proficiency group!
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Offering to help train new staff in a part-time job.
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Captaining a sports team, or running a student society.
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Leading a team on The Student Consultancy (p.29).
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Encouraging students to apply to Oxford.
5. ORGANISATION & PLANNING
Employers will want to see evidence that you can schedule
resources and multi-task to achieve objectives to a deadline.
Outside managing your studies, ideas of how you can develop
this include:
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Organising a ball, bop, conference or campaign.
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Co-ordinating your Common Room’s annual elections.
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Organising a group or event to raise money for charity.
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Organising an away-day for a society, or an inter-university
match for a sports club.
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Editing a student publication, such as a newspaper,
website or yearbook.
6. SELF-MANAGEMENT
Recruiters will want evidence that you can manage
your own time, are flexible, resilient, and can improve
yourself based on feedback. You can demonstrate this
by:
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Doing any extra-curricular activities or part-time
work in addition to your degree. This will signal
to employers that you can balance various
responsibilities and workloads.
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‘Up-skilling’ yourself. Why not take a course at
the Oxford Language Centre, or a free computing
course at IT services?
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Setting yourself personal goals that require training
to complete, such as running a marathon.
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Hitch-hiking (with a friend) to Morocco or Croatia
on an organised charity challenge to raise money
for Link Community Development.
www.careers.ox.ac.uk 27