Self-Management

While there are many lists of these 'employability' skills, at Oxford we focus on the key eight skills – based on the Confederation of British Industry (CBI)’s report, Future Fit.

This page focuses on Self-Management. To read more about the other seven employability skills, click on the links below.

• Business Awareness
• Communication
• Creativity
• Initiative
• Leadership
• Planning
• Teamwork

Recruiters will want evidence that you can manage your own time, are flexible, resilient, and can improve yourself based on feedback. These are qualities that are developed over time; there are not really short-term 'quick fixes' in this area, as self-management skills are gained and demonstrated through longer-term activities. Ways to develop your self-management abilities include:

• Doing any extra-curricular activities or part-time work in addition to your degree. This will signal to employers that you can balance various responsibilities and workloads. 
• Up-skilling yourself. Why not take a course at the Oxford Language Centre, or complete an online training programme, for example, a free MOOC (Massive Online Open Course) or use Molly: Oxford’s IT Learning Centre to explore free courses that can be accessed through the University; see our briefing Online and self-directed skills development for ideas.
• Setting yourself personal goals that require commitment to complete, such as Couch to 5K, making a craft project, writing a regular blog or contributing to a coding project.

• Use Oxford’s IDEA Engaging with Entrepreneurship Programme, hosted on Inkpath, to login and attend skill-building activities and build a permanent record of your training activities during your time at the University.

• Participating in an organised charity challenge, such as the RAG jailbreak or Race for Life.
• Demonstrating your sticking power by getting involved in a long-term volunteering project.
• Developing your interests and knowledge by undertaking a summer research project or an internship.

Want to develop your self-management skills? 

Click on the 'CareerConnect EVENTS'  tab below to see upcoming events from the Careers Service where you can build on this skill.