Helping your child understand their strengths and key skills is an important part of preparing them for the world of work. This page explains what key skills are, why they matter, and how to identify them.
Key skills are the core abilities that employers and educators look for in young people - things like communication, problem-solving, teamwork and organisation. Helping your child identify which key skills they have can make it easier for them to choose the right courses, apprenticeships or jobs.
As the world of work changes, it’s less about having one “job for life” and more about having a set of skills that can be used in lots of different roles. The more adaptable young people are, the more opportunities they’ll have.
Employers are looking for a mix of abilities, such as problem-solving, teamwork and communication, as well as practical and technical skills.
Whether it’s basic soft skills or technical hard skills, we are all good at something but figuring out what these are and communicating them isn’t always easy. Use this resource to identify key skills in demand by employers and how your child may already be developing some of these.
Complete our interactive activity to understand the wealth of skills needed for future aspirations and how often they are required within employment.
These are the top key skills that employers are always on the lookout for.
