Understanding and Articulating your Skills Development
Whether you're a student group president, a committee member, an elected representative, academic rep or ordinary student group member, you're gaining and building a diverse skillset from YUSU's student opportunities.
You may have:
Developed your leadership skills through running your group and leading a committee
Built your conflict management and negotiation skills when dealing with a dispute between members of your student group
Showed effective time management whilst navigating your academic representative responsibilities alongside your studies
Whatever unique experience you have had, it's important to understand what skills you have gained and developed within your role, and how to articulate those skills you have gained.
You can navigate to relevant sections using the contents below:
York Strengths
York Strengths is part of the University's employability offer to students.
As a student at the University, through York Strengths you will have the opportunity to take part in a range of activities to:
Help find out more about yourself
How to make the most of what you offer
Support your personal development and make the most of your time at University
Identify careers that suit you, and make better decisions for your future
Build your confidence in talking about your strengths, and demonstrating them to employers
You can complete York Strengths by:
Attending a Development Session
Completing York Strengths Online
Find out more about York Strengths on the University's webpages.
Understanding Skill Gain from Student Opportunities
To help understand what skills you have gained from extra-curricular activities, alongside the York Strengths programme there are a number of different options you can explore. From guidance developed by Barclays Life Skills as well as Careers advice from the National Careers Service, there are a whole host of internet resources you can find that help you understand the skills you are gaining from certain experiences. We have also developed a few tools that you might want to try that help you understand the skills you are gaining. The buttons below will take you to links with options to explore depending on your personal preference, whether you want to try mind-mapping or completing a skills audit.
Using a mind-map is an effective way for you to work out what skills and experience you have gained since being in a particular role.
A skills audit helps you establish the skills you have, and your level of 'expertise' for each of those skills.
Articulating Skill Gain from Student Opportunities (Identifying your transferable skills)
Employers want you to tell them why you are the right candidate for a role, and whilst you might have identified them through the mind-map or skills audit, you now want to start thinking about how to articulate those skills onto your CV, application forms and in interviews.
Opportunities to Articulate your Skills
Social Media, primarily your LinkedIn Profile
Networking Opportunities such as Careers Fairs or Networking Events
Cover Letters and CV's
Application Forms
Interviews
Presentations
Assessment Centre's
One effective way of answering a hiring manager's questions in an interview or reflecting on experiences in an application form is to use the CAR method. CAR stands for Context, Action, Result) and is a good way to structure the answers you give, and reflect on specific experiences.
Think about it this way, if you were a hiring manager, and you asked a candidate, 'Can you tell me about a time when you had to solve a problem?' would you hire candidate A or candidate B?
Candidate A: 'I used my problem solving skills when I was part of a group doing a project and they disagreed on the presentation topic. I resolved this so we could all work together'
Candidate B: 'I was tasked as part of my course to complete a group project, where we picked a presentation topic from a select list provided by the lecturer, and then worked together to create the content and present. I used my problem solving skills when in the early meetings the members of the group began to disagree on which topic we should present. I took the lead and gave each group member the opportunity to share their opinions on each topic, and I then suggested we vote to decide on the topic. This allowed for everyone to have their voices heard, and everyone was happy it was decided fairly. This meant the problem was then resolved and we were able to work productively, put the content together and present a strong presentation.'
Apart from how brief Candidate A's answer was, you can see from Candidate B the walk through of the situation, what happened, and what B's role was in resolving the issue, and what the outcome was. This answer was structured using the CAR method, and you can see another example below.
Context: briefly set the scene for your example. ‘In my part-time work in a busy coffee shop…’
Action: explain what you did. ‘...I demonstrated leadership skills by mentoring new employees and assisting the supervisor during busy periods...;’
Result: explain the outcome. ‘Leading to me being promoted to supervisor where I managed four colleagues and dealt with any problems that occurred during my shift.'
Be recognised for your Skills Development
The York Award is a formal award of the University that demonstrates to employers that you have taken a proactive approach to life at university, and recognises personal and professional development within and outside your programme of study.
The Award typically takes place in the final stage of your Journey towards the end of your university programme. It provides the opportunity to reflect on the experience and skills you have gained during your time at York, helping you communicate what you have to offer to employers/further study providers.
Need to boost your CV, sell yourself in an interview or present yourself in an application? Then apply for the York Award and gain a formal certificate that makes you stand out from the crowd while building your confidence as you enter the world of work or further study.
