2.6 Identifying other important skills
From the outside, it’s not always immediately obvious which skills are being used and developed in different work experiences. Quite often, more skills are being developed and used than first appears. In the next activity, the example case studies will highlight just how many skills one period of work experience can develop.
Activity 2 Which skills are these interns developing?
Look at the following work experience case studies and see if you can identify the skills each individual will be developing. Some of the skills you might identify haven’t been covered in this section. Still note them down in the box adjacent to each example as they are also key skills which will be valued by employers.
Alice works part time in a very busy coffee shop with six staff. She serves customers and takes their payments, arranges food and cold drinks in the display fridge, and generally keeps the café tidy.
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Soraya has an internship in the local council offices, where she works with the housing team. She accompanies housing officers on their visits, does basic admin and is helping them overhaul their social media presence.
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| Darren has managed to secure a week of work shadowing within a local publishing firm. He also works full time as an accountant and is doing a part-time degree. |
Discussion
You could have chosen some of the following skills:
Alice works part time in a very busy coffee shop with six staff. She serves customers and takes their payments, arranges food and cold drinks in the display fridge, and generally keeps the café tidy. |
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Soraya has an internship in the local council offices, where she works with the housing team. She accompanies housing officers on their visits, does basic admin and is helping them overhaul their social media presence. |
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| Darren has managed to secure a week of work shadowing within a local publishing firm. He also works full time as an accountant and is doing a part-time degree. |
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You’ll see from this activity that many of the skills that employers value can be developed from a wide range of different experiences.
So now you are more aware of some of the skills you could develop from almost any work experience you choose, how do you make the most of them in your future career? The key is to be self-aware, and you’ll learn more about that in the next section.