Skills For Employment

Skills for employment are crucial for the future of the workplace and your place in it, for your future.

Skills for Employment is a new initiative promoted by the RNN Group to develop students’ power skills / transferable skills in the workplace, developing you to be first rate employees for local businesses. 

You will work to complete ten skills for employment – power skills – which will include the following skills:

  • Communication 
  • Creativity
  • Critical thinking
  • Decision making
  • Leadership / adaptable / flexible
  • Problem solving
  • Proactive / shows initiative
  • Resilient 
  • Self-Management / hard worker / reliability
  • Time Management
Protective Services students map reading

Why is this important?

RNN Group understands the need to support employers by providing both entrants to the job market and those rejoining the job market due to family commitments or a change in career the right skills to thrive personally and professionally.

Skills are not just those found in the classroom or an exam room. Skills needed to grow our economy are transferable from job to job and organisation to organisation.

We know that employers consistently talk about the lack of these power skills and we hope that this new initiative will help both you gain a great job and thrive, and employers gain a great employee with all the skills they need. 

Employers are helping us by pledging their support to the scheme so that both learners and other employers will recognise that learners / employees who achieve the skills for employment are going to be an asset to any business. 

This is a Gold Standard Certification focusing on these all important transferable power skills for learners and other employers. This scheme will show all employers that they are hiring a learner from RNN Group with some or a full complement of power skills, a top class employee who has the skills for employment to help businesses grow and achieve success. 

Employers will also help with work experience or an industry placement to help gather the evidence required for each stamp and certificate.

Whether by supporting a customer showing communication skills, being creative when something goes wrong as well as showing resilience when you get on with the job after making a mistake, problem solving and showing initiative to turn that mistake into a positive outcome or being adaptable to help your employer where they need it, your employer will know they have a great employee with the right skills. 

“Supporting local employers with the skills needed to help grow their business and our economy.”

Skills For Employment

A Standard for Each ‘Skill for Employment’

It is impossible to list every example of each of the power skills that you will work towards, but some examples are listed below to show the level of what is expected to ensure that the three examples are valid and the certification is gained. 

Communication

A learner will be required to show they have demonstrated the art of communication with colleagues, staff, employers or a customer(s). Examples of this include:

  • Ringing a customer in a timely manner to support them with a query and doing it politely and ensuring the customer has all the information they need and that the student will ring back to confirm any information missing is relayed at another time. 
  • Replying to an email to a colleague / student / employer / customer in a helpful and timely manner using correct spelling and grammar and basic good formatting and spacing.
  • Talking with a colleague / student / employer / customer and supporting them with a task or project or service in a helpful and timely manner

Creativity

A learner will be required to show they have demonstrated creativity with colleagues, staff, employers or a customer(s). Examples of this include:

  • Create a new and more efficient process for a student project or activity
  • Using key skills within a team project to maximise the effectiveness of the project through playing to strengths within the team
  • Using AI to be more effective and efficient.
  • Creating and developing a new event for a fundraising drive
  • Working on a plan to save more money for a project

Critical Thinking

A learner will be required to show they have demonstrated critical thinking with colleagues, staff, employers or a customer(s). Examples of this include:

  • A learner writes or videos themselves narrating content to portray both sides of a situation for a project and . They critically assess various sources, weigh evidence, and construct a well-reasoned argument supported by credible data.
  • A student conducts a research project evaluating various sources, identifying gaps in current knowledge, formulates a research question, and designs a study to address it. They then analyze the results and consider their implications.
  • A student engages in a debate about a project and they and everyone around listen to their peers’ arguments, ask probing questions, and provide evidence-based responses that consider multiple perspectives, not just their own.

Decision Making

A learner will be required to show they have demonstrated good decision making skills with colleagues, staff, employers or a customer(s). Examples of this include:

  • A student chooses to participate in a campus event by considering the potential benefits, such as networking opportunities or skill development, and balancing it with their academic responsibilities.
  • Faced with multiple assignments and exams, a student prioritises tasks based on deadlines, importance, and difficulty, creating a study schedule to ensure all work is completed on time.
  • A student decides which extracurricular clubs to join by evaluating their interests, the time commitment required, and how each club aligns with their personal and career goals.

Leadership / Adaptable / Flexible

A learner will be required to show they have demonstrated leadership with colleagues, staff, employer or a customer. Examples of this include:

  • A student volunteers to lead the organisation of a department charity event. They coordinate with sponsors, manage volunteers, and ensure the event runs smoothly, raising significant funds for the cause.
  • A student takes the initiative in a group project by organising meetings, assigning tasks based on team members’ strengths, and ensuring deadlines are met. 
  • A student participates in class discussions, asking thoughtful questions and sharing insights that help deepen the understanding of the topic for the entire class

Problem Solving

A learner will be required to show they have demonstrated problem solving skills with colleagues, staff, employers or a customer(s). Examples of this include:

  • A student has found revising hard in the past but now they break down each problem into smaller steps, bite size chunks to help them remember the information for the exam.
  • A student is assigned a research project but struggles to find relevant sources. They use advanced search techniques, consult with a librarian, and explore different databases to gather comprehensive information as well as question thoroughly to gain the information they need
  • A group project has many components and a tight deadline. A student proposes dividing the project into sections, assigning tasks based on each member’s strengths, and setting interim deadlines to ensure progress

Proactive / Shows Initiative

A learner will be required to show they have been proactive and show initiative with colleagues, staff, employers or a customer(s). Examples of this include:

  • The student sees that a project is not going to meet a deadline and encourages the team to work together positively to ensure the deadline is met.
  • The student demonstrates empathy by helping and supporting another colleague or friend who they see is finding the task challenging and supporting quietly and effectively to bring that colleague or friend along with the group to achieve the desired outcome. 
  • A learner follows up a project with a survey or questions to find out how it went to ensure satisfaction and address any additional concerns, leading to improved customer retention and satisfaction in future. 

Resilience 

A learner will be required to show they have demonstrated resilience with colleagues, staff, employers or a customer(s). Examples of this include:

  • When a customer says no, the student does not get deflated and stops there but continues to learn to get better and get a yes from another customer
  • When a tutor marks some work and makes a constructive comment, the student does not give up but takes on board the comment and develops a better understanding of the project and outcome
  • When an employer gives feedback on how a situation could have been improved, the student takes that on board and shows the learning by employing this learning in future.

Self-Management / Hard worker / Reliability

A learner will be required to show they have demonstrated self management and are reliable with colleagues, staff, employers or a customer(s). Examples of this include: 

  • A student offers to help with a project and is available for that project throughout the project timeline and supports the project from beginning to end
  • A student demonstrates hard work by doing extra jobs and projects to develop her or her skills
  • The student gets on with their work after being briefed and only comes to ask for help or have follow up questions at key times in the project

Time Management

A learner will be required to show they have demonstrated good time management skills with colleagues, staff, employers or a customer(s). Examples of this include:

  • Attendance is 100%
  • Work and / or coursework / key projects are completed and submitted on time
  • The student uses Trello, or some online app to help them manage and keep track of their schedules.

Find out more

To find out more please email marketing@rnngroup.ac.uk.