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Employability

Develop your skills

Once you have identified the skills that you need to develop, make an action plan focussing on how you will develop them. This will help you to take full advantage of the opportunities for development that the university offers.

Create a skills action plan

SMART action planning is a way of identifying and setting clear objectives for your personal development. This will make your plans more achievable.

SMART tasks:

  • say exactly what you are going to do
  • allow you to easily measure whether you have done it or not
  • include a deadline for completion and
  • are realistic and achievable given your time and resources.

You should also factor in achievable milestones, and plan for how you will review your progress. Your milestones must be realistic and measurable, so that you can recognise when you have done what you set out to do. Milestones are not an "end date" by which you should have gained those skills, but rather a milestone of achievement during your ongoing development.

Reflect on your skills development

A key part of personal and professional development is being able to evaluate your own performance, learn from your mistakes, and improve as a result.

You might find it helpful to keep a reflective record of your skills development. This could become a really useful reminder when you complete application forms and prepare for job interviews.

If you haven’t practiced this skill before, Skills@Library has advice about how to get started with reflective writing.