What are the transferable skills that are particularly popular with graduate recruiters

The competencies or transferable skills that are particularly popular with graduate recruiters include:

• gracommunication - ability to communicate orally, in writing, or via electronic means, in a manner appropriate to the audience;
• teamwork - being constructive and willing to take on less attractive tasks, contributing practically to the team’s success;
• leadership - being able to motivate and encourage others, whilst taking the lead;
• initiative - ability to see opportunities, to set and achieve goals and act independently;
• problem solving - thinking things through in a logical way in order to determine key issues, often also including creative thinking;
• flexibility/adaptability - ability to handle change and adapt to new situations;
• self-awareness - knowing your strengths and skills and having the confidence to put these across;
• commitment/motivation - having energy and enthusiasm in pursuing projects;
• interpersonal skills - ability to relate well to others and to establish good working relationships;
• numeracy - competence and understanding of numerical data, statistics and graphs;
• IT knowledge - a basic understanding of common office equipment and programs and the ability not to be daunted by a change in the technology.

In addition, private sector employers like applicants to have some commercial awareness and knowledge of the business world and its relevancy to their organisation. You should therefore research the companies you apply to. Knowledge of their competitors can also provide you with a deeper level of understanding.

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