>> The importance of skills

It's not just qualifications that are important, skills are important too!

Some skills are important to all employers, such as:

• Communication – being able to speak and write clearly
• Customer service – being pleasant and helpful with customers
• Team working – working well with people you meet at work
• Problem solving –sorting out daily problems quickly and for the benefit of everyone
• IT – basic computing
• Literacy and numeracy – good basic English and maths

Your employer will also expect you to learn the skills needed to do your job, these ‘specialist skills’ will be different depending on the job you do.

Sector Skills Councils, training organisations and employers are increasingly talking about Employability Skills*:

*Source: The employability challenge, February 2009, UKCES.