What skills have you developed that make you more employable?
The Graduates Attribute Framework (University of Edinburgh Employability Strategy Group, 2012) is an example of what qualities graduates should exhibit after going to university. They describe three overarching qualities including a fundamental knowledge base in their academic area, pro-actively making the best use of their potential by using their abilities, academic excellence and confidence and finally to possess a universal outlook and to draw on the value and scope of their experience to engage successfully in any environment.
While the teaching gave me the fundamental knowledge base I believe organising a real event gave me the confidence to apply my knowledge and widened the scope of my experience for me to draw on when I going into the workplace. It has also developed key skills such as communication, self-management, creative thinking, leadership, problem solving, adaptability and reliability that are also looked for my employers (CBI, 2009; CBI, 2011; Dinnen, 2011).
This experience has reinforced my desire to run my own events as they have proven to teach me how to actually put an event on more than just learning about them at university. Planning and executing a real event has been perhaps the best way to learn as it involves all of the six experiential dimensions as outlined below.
Belonging: Through interacting with places (venues/shops) and people (sponsors/colleagues/managers.
Doing: By acting physically when putting up posters or adjusting the microphone levels.
Sensing: When touching, listening and seeing the event. Linked to doing, looking for any problems during the event and interacting socially with people.
Feeling: I felt a range of emotions during the process, ranging from stress and worry to happiness and pride.
Thinking: Much of the planning stages involved a great amount of thought when making decisions about theme, target markets, operations, etc.
Being: