What is Skills Award ?
Skills Award is the Students' Union's employability programme. When you sign up to Skills Award, you get access to free training sessions and career reflection sessions. You can expect to learn new skills and understand how you can present your experience to employers.
To get the Skills Award, you'll need to complete a minimum of three training sessions and a reflection session.
What are the benefits?
Skills Award will help you to:
- Recognise your skills: The University and Students' Union endorse Skills Award holders for their employability skills
- Strengthen your skills: You will get access to the Skills Award training calendar to further develop your work-ready skills
- Market your skills: You will learn how to present your skills to employers in CVs, applications and interviews
Who can take part?
You can take part in the award if you are undertaking one of the following roles WITHIN the Students’ Union during 2019-20:
Activity Leader Roles:
- Society Committee member
- Club Sport Committee member
- RAG Committee member
- Heads of Media and Section Head
- Community Sport Coach
- Campaigner (including Green Mary Group)
- Students' Union Crew and Help Squad
- Community Volunteer
Representative Roles:
- Course Representative
- Part-Time Elected Officer
- Student Trustee
Student Staff:
- Bar staff (Drapers Bar & Kitchen, Griff Inn)
- Café staff (Ground Cafe, The Shield, Learning Cafe)
- Students' Union Internships
- Retail staff (Union Shop, Village Shop)
- Reception staff (Students' Union Hub, BLSA)
- Get Active Activator
- Photographer and videographer
- Sport and Fitness staff (Qmotion, Fitness to Practice, Sports Camps)
If you are undertaking another role WITHIN the Students’ Union and you are unsure if you qualify for the award, please contact us at su-employability@qmul.ac.uk
I'm not involved in the Students' Union - can I still take part in Skills Award?
You must hold at least one role of responsibility in the Students' Union (see list of roles above) to take part in Skills Award.
Luckily, it's easy to get involved! If you don't know how to get involved, we recommend that you get involved in our one-off volunteering opportunities. When you've volunteered, you just need to log your hours, and then you can sign up for Skills Award. Learn more on our Volunteering pages.
How do I sign up?
You just need to complete a short registration form. The registration for Skills Award 2019/20 opens on 1 September 2019. When you've completed the registration form, the Employability Team will be in touch with more information.
What kinds of training can I take part in?
We know Skills Award participants all have different interests and career plans, so we organise a varied programme of training sessions to suit your needs.
Examples of training sessions include: Public speaking, time management, negotiation, first aid, mental health awareness, volunteer management and leadership.
If you have taken part in training for your role (e.g. Societies Training), you can count it towards your Skills Award. To do so, you need to tell us which kind of training you have taken part in (you can do this when you sign up to Skills Award or by emailing us).
We'd love to hear about it if you have an idea for a new type of training we should organise. Send us an email on su-employability@qmul.ac.uk and tell us about your idea.
Do I get a certificate?
Yes, if you complete a minimum of three training sessions and a reflection session, you will get a certificate. If you complete more than 10 hours of unpaid training, you will also get recognition of your Skills Award on your electronic transcript (called HEAR) from the university.