EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS

Employability skill

Examples (SAO situation,

action, outcome)

Initiative and enterprise: being

creative; translating ideas into action;
adapting to new situations, skills that
contribute to innovative outcome

S: My friends sister had recently

bought a flute online and wanted
to learn how to play. She asked
me whom she could go to for
lessons and I offered to teach her,
as I am currently at Grade 7 in
AMEB flute.
A: She graciously accepted my offer
and took up lessons with me very
quickly. We catch up regularly to
organise dates and times of her
lessons and got straight into
rehearsing once a week.
O: She is now improving rapidly and
has a newfound passion for flute,
just as I do.

Communication: listening and

understanding; sharing information;
understanding the needs of customers,
skills that contribute to productive and
harmonious relations between
employees and customers

S: I was short-changed by $10 from

the cashier at my local shops but
I didnt realise until I got home
when I checked my change. My
mother insisted that I go back
down to the shop and ask for the
correct change, as this would
help me with situations like this in
the future. I returned to the
register where the transaction
had occurred, but the staff
member who had served me had
finished her shift. So I went to the
main office and explained what
had happened to the manager
and she was fairly rude and
refused to believe me.
A: My mother was waiting for me in
the car so I communicated my
issue to her and asked for her
assistance in the situation. We
went back inside to the manager
and my mother backed me up
while I again outlined the
situation to the manager
emphasising that I was not there
to benefit from a lie, but that
there had been a genuine
mistake and incorrect change was

given.
O: Due to being regular customers,
the manager said she would give
me the benefit of the doubt and
went to the cash register and
gave me back $10. However, she
warned that if the cash registers
takings for the day were incorrect
she would call me to return the
money. I never received a call
back.
Teamwork: working as an individual
and as a member of a
team; coaching, mentoring
and giving feedback, skills
that contribute to
productive working
relationships and outcome

S: In Society and Environment in

Year 10, the class was assigned a
group project. I was put into a
group of students who were not
very motivated to even attempt
the project let alone co-operate
as a group. So I knew I had to
take the initiative and keep us on
track with our workload as I had
already learned that doing it all in
the last minute was not an ideal
circumstance.
A: I organised for us all to meet up
on the weekend to set up a
timetable for the duties we all
had to do during the week. I was
fortunate that all group members
agreed with this approach. We
were all assigned a task to do, for
example, each person researched
a different area, one person
created the layout of the project,
another set out the PowerPoint
and presentation etc. At this
stage we were all very organised
and were working diligently on
the assignment.
O: As a group, we got a really good
mark for the assignment and our
teacher was very impressed at
the groups positive turnaround
from the state we were in at the
beginning.

Technology: having a range of IT

skills; being willing to learn new IT
skills, skills that contribute to effective
execution of tasks

S: My three inter-state cousins (from

my age to a few years younger)
were coming to stay for 10 days
at my house. I thought they
would be difficult to entertain,

because they were all into

different things, so I had to find
something that we could all
participate in together and at the
same time have something fun to
do. I knew they liked technology,
but they did not have a lot of this
at home as they were a very
sporty family. So I made sure all
of my households computers,
ipad and play station were set up
with the best games and game
apps (e.g. puzzle apps, mini
game apps etc.).
A: When they arrived, I showed
them how to play all of the games
and taught them how to use a lot
of the devices as well. They all
quickly gained knowledge of
these games, as I taught them
the tricks, short-cuts and skills to
get the best results. Surprisingly,
there were somethings I didnt
know about in these games. My
cousins taught some new things
and we had fun competing
against each other.
O: When they left, they had a more
extensive knowledge of a range
of devices that they did not have
access to in their home.
Problem-solving: developing practical S: In tennis, my team members
solutions; solving problems in teams;
were fighting with our #1 player
resolving customer concerns, skills that
because no one wanted to
contribute to productive outcome

partner with her, as she was a

bad sport and was abusive
particularly to her doubles
partner. As I was the captain, I
was the only one willing to
partner with her, because she
was too much for anyone else to
handle. This was an oncoming
problem and it was affecting the
team spirit, so we werent
performing as well as we could
have.
A: After one particularly bad game
on court, I pulled her aside and
told her to pull her act together
because she was costing us the

game and being a bad sport. It

wasnt difficult to say this to her
as she already knew she was
being rude and immediately
apologised to everyone for bad
behaviour.
O: We won this particular game and
everyone was a lot happier with
her attitude adjustment. After
that day, she tried hard to be a
good sport and her general
attitude was much more positive.
Self-management: taking
S: My friends and I accidentally
responsibility; evaluating and
damaged one of my neighbours
monitoring own performance; having
shade cloths when we were
personal vision and goals, skills that
throwing sparklers around and
contribute to employee satisfaction and
one went over the fence. While I
growth
knew we should go straight to the
neighbour and tell them what had
happened, we agreed not to tell
anyone and keep quiet about it.
However, the next day my
neighbour discovered the damage
and wanted to know if I knew
anything about it. At this point I
took responsibility and insisted
that everyone go over to the
neighbours house to let them
know what happened.
A: We told them what happened
and apologised for not letting
them know as soon as the
incident occurred and how
terrible we now felt. We offered to
help pay for the damages and
suggested ways to cover any
costs. The neighbour accepted
that it was accidental but told us
that he would check to see if their
insurance would cover the
repair /replacement and get back
to us.
O: They contacted me that next day
and thankfully told us that the
cloth was insured so we didnt
have to worry about paying them
anything. They were also very
grateful that we were honest and
willing to pay for damages. After
this event, they also became very

good friends of our family.

Planning and organising: managing
time and priorities; collecting,
analysing and organising information,
skills that contribute to long-term and
short-term strategic planning

S: As the team captain for my tennis

team my role was to manage the
team and decide on order of play.
One of my team members was
late to a match because she
couldnt find the venue. I had to
find a way to get two people
playing on court, otherwise it
would have been unfair (and
against the tennis code) to keep
the other team waiting.
A: I asked one of my team members
if she could swap and go first,
instead of the late girl, so we
could start on time. Thankfully,
she agreed and we could get
started, without penalty. Whilst
the other members were
competing, I managed to find
instructions on how to get to the
club, so I rang the lost girl and
helped her find the way.
O: We won all of our matches on
that day and even finished early.
Everyone was happy that we
were so efficient and organised
given the circumstances, so we
were given a large plate of food
to share.

Learning: being open to new ideas

S: Last year my flute practice was
and techniques; having enthusiasm for
not consistent but I managed to
ongoing learning, skills that contribute
receive good marks. However,
to ongoing improvement and expansion
this year it has been hard to keep
in employee and company operations
up with others so I need to
and outcome

practice a lot more. The other

people in my WACE class have
drastically improved recently and
I dont want to be left behind or
see my marks drop.
A: I have been starting to practice a
lot more regularly this year and
am working hard on my technical
skills to get better at my pieces. I
am also watching YouTube videos
to get ideas from very talented
musicians, so I can try copying
their style and skill.
O: I have improved a lot recently

and I a definitely sure that I will

be well prepared and skilled for
WACE and for my future career in
flute.