Your Graduate Attributes
Presentation notes
Notes for use
These notes are a companion piece to the ‘your graduate attributes’ introductory
PowerPoint presentation. They are not meant to be exhaustive or prescriptive, but
merely give you an idea of the sorts of messages you can use when speaking to
these with your students.
Don’t be afraid to inject your own discipline-specific points and humour throughout –
your students will respond much better to your authentic slant on graduate attributes.
For questions, comments and suggestions, please contact
jamie.wightwick@glasgow.ac.uk
Slide 1: Title slide

Explain that you are going to talk about what some people call the hidden
value of a degree – the elements you’re trying to develop in them as
students beyond their knowledge and understanding of the subject.
Slide 2: Why did you come to University?

You can simply pose this as a rhetorical question, or make the talk a bit
more interactive by asking the students to spend a minute or so asking
the person sitting next to them.
Slide 3: The social life?
Slide 4: To study a subject you love?
Slide 5: To become more independent?
Slide 6: What about to get a good job?

Again, you may wish to introduce some interactivity by asking for a show
of hands.

This is something that almost everyone will agree with when prompted,
but it’s not always the most important reason or even one that students
want to think about much. University is a good excuse to not think about
employment for a few years!
Slide 7: Why are graduates so employable?

Pretty much everyone influential in your life will tell you that a degree is
the key to getting a good job: parents, teachers, politicians…but why?

On a very basic level, it tells employers three key things: you’re smart, you
can handle a challenge and you’re able to keep yourself on task to make
sure you achieve what you set out to do.

All employers are interested in hiring people with these qualities. But it’s
not all about attitude – employers need the right skills and abilities as well.
* Animation – press right arrow or click mouse to trigger reveal *

Although it might not always be immediately obvious, as a student you’re
developing these skills and abilities all the time as part of your studies.
Slide 8: At Uni…you are exposed to challenging ideas and perspectives

Contextualise:
o Give examples of sophisticated ideas and theories that students
have to grapple with in your discipline
o Give examples of contested or controversial areas within your field
Slide 9: Employers look for…

Grasp issues and key points quickly: graduate work is rarely about
performing the same task over and over – you move from project to
project, rarely repeating yourself. You have to be able to orientate yourself
quickly, absorb the situation and what you’re being asked to do, and carry
it out. [contextualise: relate this back to coursework]

Independent voices and critical thinkers: graduates are valued for their
analytical ability. Employers want people who come from the sort of
culture of questioning that university encourages – they don’t want “yes
men”, they want employers who aren’t afraid to speak up when they spot
problems (and more importantly) have the ability to think these through in
a critical manner and provide solutions.

Multiple perspectives: working at the forefront of thinking within a
university imbues students with a tendency to look at issues from different
angles very naturally and unconsciously. Employers want graduates who
can put themselves in the shoes of their customers and clients and lead
their business with a focus on their needs.
Slide 10: At Uni…you write essays and reports
Slide 11: (…a lot of essays and reports)
Slide 12: Employers look for…

Effective communicators: it sounds basic, but effective communication
is a far more specialised skill than most realise. Where graduates excel is
that they are used to synthesising complex ideas and communicating
them in a readily understandable way – they take complex ideas and
explain them clearly and concisely, whether verbally or in writing. This is
useful just about everywhere, but can be particularly crucial in business
where you may need to help clients see the value in a particular
approach, or communicate a new research discovery to a lay audience.

Persuasion and logical argument: essays are all about convincing
people of the virtue of your ideas. By the time they leave university,
backing up their ideas logically and persuasively is second nature to
graduates – and again, almost every business can make use of this.
Nearly all businesses are based on the need to get customers to buy into
what they are offering, or bring clients around to your point of view:
graduates are naturally adept at putting together a winning argument.

Working to deadline and specification: Needing to write 5,000 words
on the French Revolution by Friday isn’t likely to crop up in everyday
work, but the time management skills are entirely transferable –
employers are reassured that they are employing individuals who are well
versed in the need to deliver results on time and as required. Putting
together a dissertation at the end of a degree is even better practice – the
long-term nature of the research and writing and the need to hit particular
milestones develops skills very similar to those required for project
management.
Slide 13: At Uni…you spend hour upon hour in the library
Slide 14: Employers look for…

Research and information location: as students, you spend a lot of time
checking facts and looking for secondary sources to support your work.
You might be a little scattergun in approach at first, but over time you
refine your methods and start to understand the basics of good research –
knowing how to structure a search, where to look and what sources can
be trusted. These are the basics of information literacy – and as an
employee in the information age, these are essential graduate workplace
skills.

Self-management: The world of work can be fast-paced, and generally
your employer won’t have the time or desire to micro-manage. They need
to feel reassured that they can set you a task and trust you to manage
your time and resources to make it happen. Graduates are great at this
because students are used to taking ownership of their learning and
juggling their studies, extra-curricular activities and part time jobs.

Flexible professionals: Students also understand that ultimately the
work has to happen. You don’t always stick to the plan – it’s easy to get
distracted at university by lazy afternoons in the Beer Bar or catching up
with the telly – but you have to strike a balance. Too many lazy afternoons
and you’ll find yourself staying later and later in the library to compensate.
It’s the same principle as a graduate employee – you’re a paid
professional, not an hourly worker, and ultimately the work needs to be
done. Employers value graduates who understand the need to be flexible
and adapt to the needs of the business.
Slide 15: At Uni…You can get involved in societies, sports and volunteering
Slide 16: Employers look for…

Teamwork and leadership: There are all sorts of levels to which you can
get involved in clubs and societies. You may just attend a society’s events
– that’s fine, but employers really sit up and pay attention when you get
involved in the organisational side. Getting stuck in shows you can work
well within a team situation – always important as few employees work in
isolation. Even better is to take your involvement one step further and
serve on a club’s executive e.g. as an events manager, treasurer,
secretary or president. You’ll have a real life example of where you’ve
made a demonstrable impact to an organisation’s success – and all of
these positions give you the opportunity to demonstrate leadership
potential.

Organised individuals: Employers often remark that sporty students and
others involved in campus life make for some of their most organised
employees. This is no great mystery – students who take part in
extracurricular activities are simply adding more responsibilities to
manage alongside their studies, home commitments or part time work.
They become adept in juggling these different roles – very useful in the
workplace where they may have to work on multiple projects
simultaneously.

Interesting, outgoing individuals: Above all else, getting involved in
campus life can create a spark of interest between you and an employer.
There are many able candidates looking for good graduate jobs, so it
doesn’t hurt to make yourself a bit more memorable (in a good way!) by
having something other than your academic work to talk about. Building a
good team isn’t always about recruiting the most capable candidates, but
finding the right mix of people who can bring out the best in one another –
and sometimes your extracurricular activities can convince a prospective
employer that you’ll get along perfectly with the existing team.
Slide 17: Why are graduates so employable?

By now you should appreciate that the value of a degree isn’t just in what
you can learn about a particular subject, but the skills, qualities and
abilities that you’ll develop in the course of doing so. It’s because of these
that employers are so keen to employ graduates – and that’s why we refer
to them as our graduate attributes.

The University has attempted to capture all of these desirable skills and
qualities in our graduate attributes matrix. Each main graduate attribute is
described in three dimensions, articulating how each attribute may
present itself in three key social environments: the university, your
personal life and the workplace.

By the time you graduate, you should have had plenty of opportunities to
develop all ten graduate attributes. The matrix can be a useful way of
thinking about how your might demonstrate your value to others – if you
can provide an example to match every one of these 30 descriptors, you’ll
be an outstanding candidate for just about any line of work.
Slide 18: Forget about jobs for a minute

But enough about preparing for what comes next. There’s plenty to
concentrate on in the here and now.
Slide 19: Developing your graduate attributes…makes you a better student

There’s a more important and obvious reason why studying for your
degree helps you to develop these attributes other than employment. The
same skills and abilities are the tools you need to succeed in your studies.

We don’t set you essays to prepare you for writing reports in the
workplace; we set them to hone your scholarly abilities (like critical
thinking and research) and turn you into top class specialists within your
field.

So then, a blindingly obvious point: the more you work on your attributes,
the stronger they’ll become – and the stronger they become, the better
your university work will be. If you get involved in extracurricular activities
that help to develop your graduate attributes, it really can help you to raise
your game in your degree as well. For example, contributing to the
Glasgow University Guardian gives you a different forum to practise your
writing skills, and maybe stretch yourself a bit.
Slide 20: Developing your graduate attributes…prepares you for whatever
comes next

We’ve focused primarily on the value of graduate attributes to
employment, but that’s not the only route open to you after graduation.
Many of you will pursue a postgraduate qualification of some kind – and
unsurprisingly the skills that you will draw upon when studying for a
masters or a doctorate are just heavily developed and refined
expressions of your graduate attributes.

And there are other destinations outside of academia too. You could
travel the world. You might volunteer overseas. Perhaps instead of
becoming an employee you’ll strike out on your own and become an
employer instead. Whatever you do, you’ll find that your graduate
attributes – attributes like an enquiring mind, a critical approach, an
independent perspective and an adaptable mindset - will serve you well.
Slide 21: Developing your graduate attributes…will help you get the most out
of university

There are lots of good reasons to get involved in extracurricular activities
on campus. It’s a great way to experience new things, make new friends
and have some fun. Skills development isn’t always at the top of people’s
priorities, but it’s an equally valid way of thinking about the things you do
outside of the curriculum. Your time at Glasgow will be what you make of
it: try to spend at least some of it getting involved in activities which will
help you get to where you want to be.

Finally, a well-worn but timeless piece of advice: your time at Glasgow
will go by faster than you think. Don’t squander the opportunities open to
you in the here and now. University is one of the rare times in life where
you’ll probably have the time, resources and relative lack of
responsibilities to throw yourself into anything and everything that
interests you. Make the most of it!