Since my degree began, I have developed and improved on many
transferrable skills. I have recently been to a leadership skills event, which
has given me some more insight into how to become a better leader, and so this,
combined with my managerial role during group reports, has developed my skill
as a leader and made me more confident and able to manage people. Admittedly I
still need further practice, but I often take on the managerial role in group
work, as I have done many times before coming to university, but my confidence
still needs to improve and I know I definitely have to work on enforcing tasks
and ensuring people complete them by the deadline. Other transferrable skills I
have improved on include problem solving, editing, organisation and working to
deadlines.
I am a very organised person, keeping
completed work and notes from lecture in folders which are chronologically ordered
and sectioned into each module. The top left-hand corner of every page is also
colour coded to signify the theme within each module. For example, the
biosphere section in the Earth Systems module is coloured green while the
geosphere section is coded blue. I also often make a list of tasks that need to
be done, including the deadline, so that I can mark them off and it helps me to
remember what I have left to complete. This system works very well for me
because I can find my notes quickly and easily in terms of work, but I need to
address the issue with my desk. There are a few piles of lecture notes which
need to be completed and, although they are sectioned into different zones and
organised chronologically, the ones that I have completed should go back into
folders and the others should be neatly placed around my desk, which they are
currently not. I will have to work on this, making sure that I put all
completed notes away.
Since I started my degree I have learnt how
to, at least in part, be critical when reading journals and writing
reflectively or writing essays. I have also learnt how to research effectively,
searching for relevant journals, articles and books, with which I have had no
previous experience. Although it was a daunting prospect at first, it is now a
very simple process. However, I need to improve my reading ability because it
sometimes takes me a while if it is a long journal and I have not yet developed
the ability to pick out the relevant sections. This is not always the case but,
at this current moment in time, it depends on the section headings and whether or
not I can establish its relevancy within the first few lines of the section,
otherwise I continue reading in case I miss something important.
According to papers from the Royal
Geographical Society (RGS) website, employees often look for innovation skills,
critical thinking ability, the ability to understand and interpret ‘complex
data’, analytical skills, being able to ‘work collaboratively with teams of
people from a range of backgrounds and countries’, ‘advanced technology skills’
and, in Geography specific jobs, ‘an understanding and application of
scientific logic, principle, methods and laws’ as well as ‘knowledge of GIS and
its applications’ are highly sought after (2013: 1). Many of these, especially
analytical and critical thinking skills, I will continue to develop over the
course of my degree but, as I am not taking any GIS-related modules next year, I
could use the GIS programme in my spare time now that I have it installed on my
computer.
References
http://www.rgs.org/NR/rdonlyres/1422E618-F932-4F20-9500-C9C605246076/0/Employabilitydemandforgeography_.pdf
~ Jones' Journal
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