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Work Experience Skills Builder (Part-Time Job)

You will gain these graduate attribute skills:

Critical Thinker Critical Thinker

Responsible Team Player Responsible Team Player

Effective Communicator Effective Communicator

Enhancing Potential Enhancing Potential

Personal Confidence & Resilience Personal Confidence & Resilience

Growth Mindset Growth Mindset

Read about Graduate Attributes  

Get EDGE Award accreditation for your Part time job by learning about the skills you are developing and the evidence you are creating that will support your future job applications and interviews.

Outline of Activity

Identify examples of transferable skills gained through practical and interpersonal learning opportunities in your part time work experience. Also support the articulation and review of evidence against key employability skills.

Learning Outcomes

Personal Confidence and Resilience
  • Reflect on your part time work experiences you will recognise the skills and experiences you are gaining and how they are preparing you for your future career.
Critical Thinker
  • Reflecting on key experiences in a way that supports personal development and the enhancement of employability skills
Growth Mindset
  • Analysing and assessing your skills including identifying strengths and weaknesses for ongoing development for the future of work

Assessment Details

The work experience skills builder activity is about you reflecting on and recognising the value of your part time job and the experience you gain through your role.

One of the challenges students often face is not recognising the importance of your part time work experience. When it comes to searching for placement, internships and graduate jobs, your part time work experience will play a pivotal role in how you articulate and demonstrate your skills. You must not just take these experiences for granted, you need to reflect on them and recognise the value of them. This activity should help you do just that.

To achieve an EDGE activity you will need to complete the following 2 elements:

1.Provide evidence of your part time role through two reflective accounts focusing on two work shifts or two significant experiences or challenges within your part time role.

Covering shifts that reach a minimum of 20 hours please use the following template:

  • Job Title:
  • Job Responsibilities:
  • Employer:
  • Start date and average hours per week:

2 entries of minimum 300 words: These should cover 2 single shifts or 2 significant experiences and you should complete each reflection within 1-2 days of each shift if possible.

Use the following questions to aide your reflection:

  • What were the key challenges or experiences within this shift?
  • How did you deal with this and what skills, strengths or weaknesses did this expose or demonstrate?
  • Is there anything you would do differently next time? How could you improve how you dealt with that challenge or how could you improve the experience or outcome?
  • Considering your career goals (even if you’re not sure what that is, you know you want a graduate level job), why might the strength or weakness you demonstrated be important for you?

2. Complete two Career Assessments available within the Abintegro Career Platform

You are required to complete 2 Career Assessments available within Ulster University (careercentre.me). You can also access these ‘Career Assessments’ from the Abintegro Career Platform via our Tools page.

You will provide screenshots of the completed reports when submitting your work for this EDGE Award activity.

Submitting your work

Complete the required work as detailed above and upload documents.

Questions can be directed to the activity coordinator Brian Byers, Student and Graduate Opportunities Manager via email to b.byers@ulster.ac.uk

Level of Commitment

Contact

Brian Byers

Student & Graduate Opportunities Manager

Student and Graduate Opportunities Team

Belfast

BD-03-027

Graduate Attributes

Critical Thinker image

Critical Thinker

A student who displays this skill can:

  • question norms and practices
  • source and retrieve relevant contextualised information to support logical reasoning
  • analyse and combine ideas to find patterns, formulate and evaluate arguments
Responsible Team Player image

Responsible Team Player

A student who displays this skill can:

  • be a reliable, empathetic and empowering team contributor
  • be open to positive and constructive feedback
  • consistently deliver and exceed on all expectations in a reliable and honest manner
  • be accountable and reliable (responsible)
Effective Communicator image

Effective Communicator

A student who displays this skill can:

  • show effective spoken and written communication skills in multiple forms and with a range of audiences
  • help resolve conflicts which may arise in a group dynamic
  • be an assertive and active listener
Enhancing Potential image

Enhancing Potential

A student who displays this skill can:

  • identify development gaps and establish goals that are achievement focused
  • seek ongoing opportunities for personal and professional development
Personal Confidence & Resilience image

Personal Confidence & Resilience

A student who displays this skill can:

  • understand individual emotions and triggers
  • manage stress and stay composed in difficult situations
  • be resilient, adaptable and flexible when dealing with change or uncertainty
Growth Mindset image

Growth Mindset

A student who displays this skill can:

  • confidently explore new directions and take on new challenges
  • proactively make decisions and take responsibility for actions
  • encourage progress by assessing and taking risks