Proactive leaders
Proactive leadership goes beyond telling people what to do. It's about effective communication, building consensus, delegation, motivation, and influencing others to reach a common goal. There are different elements to master for effective leadership, including discipline, support, creativity, insight, and values.
Reflect
- Are you proactive and determined?
- How have you influenced people to make a change? How do you bring people together, making sure everyone's included?
- What else could you do to develop your leadership potential?
In the next section you will see how you can develop this skill.
Develop your skills
Here you will find some suggested activities that you can do to enhance your proactive leadership skills:
- Opportunities to lead on group projects within your studies.
- Leadership roles within the University (societies, sports etc.).
- Roles where you are meant to influence people (Course and School representatives).
- Work experience/internships which give the opportunity to lead/influence teams.
Once you have started to consider how you can develop your skills, start to think about how you might be able to showcase them during your career journey.
Demonstrate your employability skills
You will be asked to provide evidence of your skills in job applications, CVs and interviews – articulating where, when, why and how successfully you have used your employability skills. Top tips:
- Start with noting down examples of your skills on our Employability Skills Checklist
- Keep this as a record to use when completing applications and preparing for interviews.
Reflect on your journey
- Identify the skills you're using in your studies.
- Record all your experiences (paid work, voluntary work, roles in clubs or societies, for example) using our Employability Skills Activity Sheet
- Maintain your skills audit for future reference.
- Pinpoint any challenging skills or qualities you are struggling to evidence.
- Take action to bridge any skills gap.
Check out our employability guide (perfect for new students) to unlock opportunities and more ideas to help you develop your employability skills.
Be positive and relevant
- Give examples of the most relevant skills first from your job, internship or work experience
- Use confident language to describe your skills, for example, praise employers have given you.
- Better to focus on transferable skills than routine tasks on your CV, gained through part-time jobs.
Sell your skills in different ways
These are just a few examples:
- Social Media including a Linked-In Profile
- Networking opportunities
- CV, Covering Letters, Application Forms
- Interview and Assessment Centres
- Presentations
Think beyond common skills
Our Employability Skills are probably ones you are familiar with. But there are some you might not be familiar with, such as meta-skills. A meta-skill like a master skill – it's something that can help you in lots of different environments.
Think also about:
- Subject skills e.g. Software, use of Lab equipment or research methodology
- Talents and abilities e.g. Languages, drawing skills, athletic
- Personal qualities e.g. Calmness, tenacious, creative, supportive
Match skills to your employer
Research the employer – what is their company culture? Look on their website and see what their company beliefs are.
Look at the job description you have. You should be able to find some of the employability skills they are looking for.
Use the STAR technique to help you relate the employability skills into your answers and examples. Read our blog post written by our careers adviser, Adam Taylor, on the STAR technique.
Speak to a careers adviser
Get guidance from our friendly Careers Advisers. Book an appointment on Advantage or call 0161 295 0023 (option 5, option 3).
Open to current students and Salford Alumni only.