What are Higher Order Thinking Skills?

What are Employability Skills?

"Employability skills are those basic skills necessary for getting, keeping, and doing well on a job.

These are the skills, attitudes and actions that enable employees to get along with their colleagues and managers and to make sound, critical decisions.

Unlike occupational or technical skills, employability skills are generic in nature rather than job specific and cut across all industry types, business sizees, and job levels from the entry-level worker to the senior-most position.

What specifically are those skills, attitudes and actions, i.e., employability skills, necessary for getting, keeping, and doing well on a job? Employability skills, while categorised in many different ways, are generally divided into three skill sets:

Basic Academic Skills
Reading · Writing · Science · Math · Oral Communication · Listening

Higher-Order Thinking Skills
Learning · Reasoning · Thinking Creatively · Decisions Making · Problem Solving ·

Personal Qualities
Responsible · Self Confidence · Self Control · Social Skills · Honest · Have Integrity · Adaptable and Flexible · Team Spirit · Punctual and Efficient · Self Directed · Good Work Attitude · Well Groomed · Cooperative · Self Motivated · Self Management"

http://www.foretica.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/employability-skills.pdf

Which skills are college leavers and graduates lacking?

A report from universitiesuk.ac.uk says 'The skills employers find most lacking in university and college leavers are a mix of job-specific and general employability related skills; a majority also cite lack of work experience.'

This report says that core skills "refers to literacy, numeracy and IT, while ‘employability’ refers to a longer list including team working, analytical skills, problem solving, communication, entrepreneurship, leadership, etc."

"The CBI/Pearson Education and Skills Survey asked employers specific questions about graduate applicants’ ‘job-readiness’, finding that 14% reported dissatisfaction with graduates’ basic numeracy skills, 17% reported dissatisfaction with basic literacy and use of English, 19% reported dissatisfaction in their analysis skills, 21% problem-solving, 26% team working, 29% communication, 33% self-management and resilience, and 46% relevant work experience."

"CBI found that between 14 and 29% of employers reported dissatisfaction with graduates’ literacy, numeracy, analysis, team working, communication, problem-solving and self-management skills. Eighty-nine per cent of employers surveyed by the CBI reported that such ‘attitudes and aptitudes’ for work were among the most important factors considered when hiring a graduate, followed by work experience (66%) and degree subject (55%)."

"Chevalier and Lindley (2007) analysed differences between graduates working in what they deemed ‘graduate’ and ‘non-graduate’ jobs, and found little difference in academic skills, but ‘large differences’ in ‘entrepreneurial, management and leadership’ skills – where there was an association between lacking these skills and falling into a non-graduate job.20 Green and McIntosh (2007) point to planning, problem-solving and communication skills."

Supply and Demand for Higher Level Skills
December 2015