Building your super-skills, support for estranged students, and taking the impossible leap.
😊 Welcome
This week we look at the importance of building universal transferable skills while at university, and why you really want to find your specific super-skills.
We look at some great resources for estranged students.
And we discover the truth about taking the impossible leap.
✍️ Building your super-skills
We all know that university is about gaining knowledge, but it's also about building up skills.
I wrote some months ago about the changing world, and the skills that the World Economic Forum believes will be crucial in the near future (see here).
But are there such things as universal skills; transferable skills that will always be useful, regardless of the economy, AI and changes in the environment?
I think there are, and the closest thing I have found to it is a simple list of ten skills identified a couple of years ago in the careers section of indeed.com.
The article has long gone from their webpages, but I wrote the list down at the time as it was probably the simplest breakdown that I had seen of universal transferable skills, and why they are useful.
The thing about these universal transferable skills is that they can be applied across industries and across roles.
They are important to employers because they help the organisation to be more efficient and productive and they help strengthen working relationships.
And for you they show that you can take on new responsibilities and adapt to new challenges, regardless of where you are in your career.
So what are these skills?
💡 Did You Know?
If you are an estranged student, that is, you no longer have contact with your parents, you can potentially be exempted from having their income assessed, and get full financial support from the government.
There is a process to go through, and paper-work and evidence to gather.
You can find out all about it at:
Many universities also provide extra bursaries for you, and you can see a list of these universities at:
📢 Quote of the week
"Sometimes a thing can seem an impossible leap, then when you do it, you find it’s just been a little step all along."
Joe Abercrombie
Author (From “The Heroes”)
I've been pretty much terrified of video cameras since I was a teenager.
So the idea of taking ideas from these newsletters and making them into YouTube videos to reach a wider audience seemed like an impossible leap.
And yet, here we are; I have a YouTube channel and an online course with a whole bunch of videos to help you write your UCAS Personal Statement, and it turns out the step wasn't that big after all.
The more small steps I take, the better the videos will get!
And if you haven’t had a look yet, please do.
Thanks for reading!
Jonathan
🎯 In case you missed it
📅 Next week
Next week we have a go at demystifying some of the crazy jargon used in university degree descriptions.
