Employability skills - what employers are seeking!

During your course, you should be asking yourself "What can I do to improve my chances of getting a job when I graduate?"

The first step is understanding what the employers in your field are seeking in candidates. Below is a list of the 8 employability skills, and under each are the current key skills that media and communication employers value. We found this information by searching for relevant jobs on seek.com.au.

Being aware of the key skills required in your field, will help you search for opportunities to build on these skills and then you will be able to demonstrate them in your resume and during interviews.

The 8 employability skills

Communication that contributes to productive and harmonious relations between employees and customers:

• Possess an excellent command of grammar, spelling and punctuation.
• Have exceptional communication skills and the ability to interact with and influence colleagues throughout the business.
• Have exceptional personal communication and presentation skills.

Planning and organising that contributes to long and short term strategic planning:

• Be a motivated and disciplined writer who can work well under time constraints.
• An ability to multi-task and meet several competing deadlines.

Teamwork that contributes to productive working relationships and outcomes:

• Ability to develop and maintain collaborative relationships at all levels of the organisation.
• A "can do" attitude working within a team.

Problem solving that contributes to productive outcomes:

• Critically analyse complex information and work within tight timeframes to meet strict deadlines in a high volume area.
• Development and management of the sponsorship strategy for the business.

Technology that contributes to effective execution of tasks:

• You embrace digital journalism and see it as an exciting and valuable means of disseminating news. You see how print and digital journalism, social media and strong engagement can work together to provide an audience with a fully integrated and enriching news experience.
• Understanding of multi media and emerging technologies.
• Advanced skills in Microsoft Office applications, particularly Word and PowerPoint (Desk Top Publishing skills would be an advantage.

Self-management that contributes employee satisfaction and growth:

• Motivated self-starter, enthusiastic team player.
• Strong attention to detail, and the ability to handle multiple projects and tight deadlines.
• You’ll be a talented self-starter who can maintain high levels of personal organisation and time management practices and be committed to your assignments and tasks.

Learning that contributes to ongoing improvement and expansion in employee and company operations and outcomes:

• You’re not afraid to shrug off the traditional and look for new approaches to journalism.
• Be enthusiastic, self-driven and motivated for ongoing learning

Initiative and enterprise that contributes to innovative outcomes:

• Ability to generate ideas, and translate these ideas into action

Other attributes that schools are seeking from media and communication graduates:

• Experience in content development including journalistic interviewing techniques and the ability to source news opportunities.
• Detailed knowledge of modern broadcast technology including digital editing and online content.