How to sell your Student Activities
skills on your CV
What skills are employers looking for?
After extensive research, the Association of Graduate Recruiters
identified the following skills as those which are most desirable for
potential employers (with 1 being most desirable).
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
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20.
Motivation and enthusiasm
Interpersonal skills
Teamworking
Oral communication
Flexibility and adaptability
Initiative
Productivity
Problem solving
Planning and organisation
Managing own development
Written communication
Customer orientation
Time management
Business Awareness
Numeracy
Leadership
Cultural sensitivity
General IT/computer literacy
Risk taking/entrepreneurship
Foreign languages
Which of these skills do you think you have gained from your
involvement in student activities? Which skills do you think are
your weakest? Are there student activities you could get involved
in to develop these skills? Use the skills audit and examples
overleaf to reflect on your own skills.
Other useful sources of
information
University of Nottingham Centre for Career
Development
Based on D floor in the Portland Building, or online at
www.nottingham.ac.uk/careers
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ePARS
Electronic Personal and Academic Records, log in at
winster.nottingham.ac.uk/ePARS
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www.prospects.ac.uk

www.esect.co.uk
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www.doctorjob.com
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www.hobsons.co.uk
Related STAR Burst’s!:
 How to handover
Disclaimer: This leaflet provides general guidance only. It cannot be relied upon as a complete statement of how to
run your group. The Students’ Union will not
accept liability for any claims or inconvenience as a result of the use of this
information leaflet. This leaflet can be produced in alternative formats on request.
STARS Sessions related to this Burst!:
How to sell your Student Activities skills on your CV
Other STAR Bursts! available:
Attracting Sponsorship
Beginners Guide to Events
Development Planning
How to hold your AGM
How to handover
How to prepare for Freshers
Involving and motivating your members
Managing your meetings
Publicity and promotions
For More Information:
E-mail: SUStars@nottingham.ac.uk
Call: 01158 468 785
Or drop in to Student Activities in the Portland Building between 10 and 5
Monday — Friday.
Societies Officer: susocieties@nottingham.ac.uk
AU Officer: auofficer@nottingham.ac.uk
What is a STAR Burst!?
A STAR Burst! is a mini guide
with advice on how to run various
areas of your activity!
This leaflet, along with the others in the series, is designed
to give facts and tips that you need to know in order to
successfully run your group.
What’s in this Guide?!
 Why Student Activities are important to
employers
 The skills employers look for
 How to package your skills
What is Employability?
“ a set of achievements—skills, understandings and personal attributes that
make individuals more likely to gain employment and be successful in their
chosen occupations” (ESECT, 2003)
Being employable is about a life-long process of skill development and
personal evaluation. Being employable is more useful and gives you more
security than being employed!
It’s widely acknowledged that having a degree is no longer enough to
secure you a job, and this is set to increase with increasing numbers of the
population entering Higher Education. Employers are looking more to what
students have done at University outside of their degrees, and those who
have taken part in student activities have a huge advantage when it comes
to applying for jobs.
However, many graduate recruiters complain that students are still
undervaluing these experiences when applying for jobs.
Motivation and enthusiasm
Examples: Choosing to get
place, setting one up
involved in a student group in the first
Interpersonal skills
Examples: Committee duties—liaising with staff/student
members/external bodies. Being any kind of mentor. Handing over to a
successor
Teamworking
Examples: Being on a committee
Oral communication
Examples: Similar examples to interpersonal skills. Chairing
meetings, making speeches,
delivering presentations, delivering any
kind of training
Examples: Getting sponsorship, starting a new venture or event, starting a
new group or
resurrecting and old one, coping with a crisis
Initiative
Examples: Managing your student activities commitments while
studying, coping with anything at short notice - events changing or not
going to plan
Flexibility and adaptability
Written communication
Examples: Being the secretary and taking minutes of meetings,
communicating with members, letters to gain sponsorship,
producing publicity materials
Customer orientation
Examples: Dealing with and
providing for paying members,
experience of a Student Run
Service, running events and
activities, getting member
feedback
Examples: Attending and keeping a record of training
Managing own development
Examples: Project work, organising events, managing your student
activity commitments while
studying
Planning and organisation
Examples: Dealing with a crisis, overcoming obstacles to achieve
something, resolving conflict on a committee
Problem solving
Examples: Managing your student activity commitments while
studying, achieving measurable results - increasing membership or profit
Productivity
Cultural sensitivity
Examples: Working in any group as a University as diverse as
Nottingham, making your activities open and accessible to all students
General IT/computer literacy
Examples: Being responsible for or using websites, email lists, using IT to
produce minutes or budgets, using databases to store members’ details
Examples: Being on a committee, being a President or Captain,
co-ordinating a particular project or working group
Leadership
Examples: Being a treasurer,
working to a budget
Numeracy
Examples: Working to a budget,
providing a quality service to
paying members, relating your group to
the business world through sponsorship or joint
ventures. Development
planning
Business awareness
Examples: Managing your student activity commitments while
studying. Planning events or
activities at short notice
Time management
Other skills
Examples: Involvement in a
language workshops
cultural society, attending Why Don’t U
Foreign languages
Examples: Staring new ventures or groups, running a new event or
scheme
Risk taking/entrepreneurship
Packaging your skills (continued)
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Relate all of your experiences to the job(s) or type of
employment you are applying for—don’t just show how
you have used a skill in the past but also how you
could apply it in the job you are applying for and adapt
it to new contexts.
Show that as well as picking up new skills you are able
to reflect on your skills and invest in your own personal
development
Explain how you have used and can use a skill, for
example confidently, positively, thoughtfully,
diplomatically, responsibly, sensitively
Use examples that show you in a positive light, and
think of funny or memorable experiences or situations
which will make you stand out
Packaging your skills for employers
Remember, it’s not just about having the skills, it’s about
being able to sell them well to potential employers when
writing your CV, filling in application forms, and at
interviews.
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Always put yourself in the position of the employer what would you want to know?
Once you have written your CV or application, go
through and write “so what?” next to everything. If it
isn’t relevant, take it out.
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Don’t just say that you have a skill—employers want
proof. Show them how you have achieved that skill and
how you have put it into use
Remember…
When you are applying for jobs, think about it as a marketing
exercise with you as the product and the employer as a customer.
Really sell yourself and your skills to your potential employer why should they want you more than anyone else?
Whenever you are selling yourself, remember the 3 stages of
packaging a skill:
- identify the skill
- identify how you have used it
- identify how you would use it in this position
Always take the time to reflect on your learning and the skills you
are developing, as well as situations where you have used them.
Keep a record of this in your Personal Evidence Database in
ePars. It will really help when it comes to applying for jobs and
preparing for interviews.