CI4450 Employability Asset AuditThe purpose of an employability asset model is to enable you

to identify the strengths and weaknesses in your current knowledge and skills profile, and to support you acquire those

assets needed to make a flying start to your professional career in a systematic manner. The key to such planning is to

conduct an audit of your assets and to ensure that you have at your fingertips the evidence that will enable employers to

recognise that they need you in their team!

Task 1 – Review the asset modelTask duration: 10 minutes

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Task 2 Auditing your KnowledgeTask duration: 30 minutes

Step 1 – Identifying your domain knowledge

Review the domain knowledge, methodological skills, and technical skills you have acquired so far on your other level four modules. If you could only discuss ten items in a job application, which would you choose?

1. JavascriptThinking like a programmerBasic knowledge of the programming language Javascript. Familiar with most of the basic functions, For, If, ArraysUsed for client side scripting. Widely used in the industry

2. PythonThinking like a programmerBasic understanding on the programming language Python, Some basic functions like how to use if statements, creating loops, using arrays.

3. Computer partsComputing FundamentalsFamiliar with computer parts, how they work and how they work together. Also know how to build one and

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plan a build fitting for the planned task

4. Software Development Life cycleRequirements, analysis and designFamiliar with the differences, strengths and weaknesses of Agile and Waterfall development cycles.MoSCoW

5. Algorithms and Data Structures Computing fundamentalsKnowledge of how algorithms work, search and sortingReproduce searching and sorting algorithmsFamiliar with important data structures

6. Number systemsComputing fundamentalsNumber systems like binary, and hexadecimalConverting between binary, decimal and hexadecimalBasic understanding of Boolean operators

7. Processor instructionsComputing fundamentals

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Step 2 – Identifying your professional knowledge

Beyond your subject knowledge, employers will expect you to demonstrate a range of non-technical competences including the ability to critically assess your work from legal, ethical and societal points of view, an ability to identify the security risks and remedies in systems you will be using or building, and an appreciation of the commercial environments in which your employer operates.Identify five examples of drawn from any of these areas (either from your course or previous experience) that demonstrate you have this wider professional knowledge.

1. How to deal with and treat customers professionallyICT service job Kiosk jobHow to treat customers so they feel appreciated, not make them feel bad for asking for help

2. Troubleshooting IT problems

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ICT service job for 2 yearsHow to efficiently troubleshoot problems with various forms of technology like servers, printers, operating systems and various software

3. Ability to assess security issuesICT service jobAbility to assess vulnerabilities in relation to current system in use, for example preventing cheating during tests, finding new cheating methods and how to prevent them

4. Writing reportsProfessional environmentsHow to structure a report, what to include, proper citations.

5. Legal and Ethical workProfessional environmentsAssessing whether or not something is both ethical or legal in terms of what we are doing, making or using

Which areas of professional knowledge would you struggle to demonstrate an awareness of?

Legal and Ethical work

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Troubleshooting IT problems

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Task 3 Key SkillsTask duration: 20 minutes

Step 1 – Key skills required in your profession

Search on the Internet for job adverts from a variety of types of jobs in your prospective profession. Identify the key skills each of the employers expects. (Bear in mind that skills required for a new graduate early in their career are very different from the skills expected from more experienced personnel.)

1. Java developerNorwegian Toll OfficeInterest in business logicQuality and results orientedUse of DatabasesCommunication abilitiesJavscript front end development

2. Computer EngineerTIDAL Music AS

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Java experienceRESTful API development experienceWant to work with SparkEnjoy analytical and engineering challenges

3. DevOps APITelenorDevops workflowJAVA, HTTP/REST, SOAP, node.JS, Jetty, Apache. Experience in one or more of theseExperience in Git, Maven, Jenkins, Gradle, AnsibleLinux experience

4. DevOpsVisma software Labs ASExperience in either .NET or AngularGood analytical abilitiesAbility to cooperate and communicate

5. Summer internship in EVRY's Innovation HubEVRYProblem solving abilityWritten and Verbal communication

Step 2 – Your top ten skills for the next two years8

Make a prioritised list of the top ten key skills you would like to be able to provide evidence for when you finish your university studies.

1. Team working

2. Communication

3. Public speaking

4. Problem solving

5. Leadership

6. Proficiency in Excel

7. Proficiency in Word

8. Proficiency in Powerpoint

9. Time Management

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Organizational skills

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Task 4 – Personal AttributesStep 1 – Personal attributes valued by employers

Revisit the job adverts you used in Task 3 and record the range of personal attributes employers in your chosen profession value. Synthesising a large number of such qualities, what would be the top ten you should be able to provide evidence for in your employability portfolio?

1. Punctuality

2. Efficient

3. Willing to learn

4. Trustworthy

5. Caring

6. Responsible

7. Good work ethic

8. Innovative

9. Organised

10. Honest

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Step 2 – References – who knows you best?

Providing evidence for personal attributes can be difficult. One source of evidence nearly always sought by prospective employers is a reference. Typically three references are sought. If you can, write down the name, job title, and work address of three people of a professional or commercial standing who could give you a reference? Which of the personal attributes identified in Step 1 could they vouch for?

Reference 1Name Guttorm BringaJob Title ChiefWork Address Bø, NorwayPersonal Attributes Work ethics

EfficiencyHonestyPunctuality

Reference 2Name Svenn Ingar DukefossJob Title IT technicianWork Address Bø, Norway

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Personal Attributes HonestPunctualityEfficiencyOrganised

Potential refereeType of person TeacherHow will they come to know you?

That person will be my teacher

Which of your personal attributes do you hope they could vouch for?

Work ethicsQuality of workPunctualityWilling to Learn

Potential refereeType of person Internship colleagueHow will they come to know you?

Colleague at internship, summer job or similar

Which of your personal attributes do you hope they could vouch for?

Willing to learnTrustworthyResponsibleHonest

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The STAR TechniqueThis is a classic approach for answering questions which enables you to give the interviewers a well-structured answer that makes it easy for them to assess you against the person specification. It provides you with a structure to shape your answer, preventing you from waffling or going off on a tangent. Situation: Provide the context which might include where you

were working at the time, what your role was, and any brief background information.

Task: You need to communicate what you were trying to do or achieve in the example.

Action: Describe what actions you took to manage the task in that particular situation.

Result: Show how you made a difference, added value, or had an impact on the business. The outcome could be measurable or simply anecdotal.

Remember, it is impossible to have a successful interview without proper preparation, so putting in the time to prepare some Star examples is more likely to win you the job.

Step 3 – Case Studies – telling stories!

Other sources of evidence for personal attributes are prepared answers for interviews. These stories (or perhaps case study is a more respectable term!) are typically examples of how you demonstrated a particular personal quality or key skill. They are often structured using the STAR Technique described in the opposite page and should be memorised.

For each of the personal attributes you identified in Step 1, if possible, identify a situation or circumstance that you could later develop into a case study. Some situations might work for more than one personal attribute, and some personal attributes might have more than one case study.

1. Punctuality: I am always early, I hate being late. Id rather take the bus one hour early then be 5 minutes late. I have done this multiple times back in Norway where the busses do not go very often.

2. Efficient: I take pride in my efficiency to complete tasks one I first start one. At my previous job, whenever someone had an issue across the school, people would describe me as “running to fix the issue”, while for me, I was strolling along at slightly faster speed than usual.

3. Willing to learn: I always enjoy learning new things, most of my dead time at my previous job was spent on learning various IT related things, I for example learned how to do some basic python programming to automate several processes which we previously did with manual labour.

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4/5 Trustworthy and Caring: People are quick to open up to me, both with personal and professional issues. My co-workers never hesitated to tell me about the issues they were having or what mistake they did, no matter how embarrassing or stupid it might have been. I made sure to always make sure they felt like they made the right decision to tell me when they did.

6/7/10 Responsible and good work ethic: If I make a mistake, I own up to it. And make sure to fix it however possible, and take measures to prevent it happening again. I once screwed up a printer case which made the students unable to print during a test week. To resolve the issue for the future I added a checklist of everything that is needed and how to prevent similar issues

8 Innovative: During exam period, our office would get in about 500 USB sticks that needed to be wiped and filled with fresh exam ready files each year. This process was manual. However I decided in the months before this, to learn python and make a script that automatically did this process for us. Overall the process took more time, but it left us open to do a lot more at the same time, rather than spending an entire day straight wiping USB sticks.

9. Organised: I always made sure to keep my office neat and organised, everything had its own dedicated place. Not only did this make it look nice for when the students dropped by, but this also helped with my general forgetfulness.

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