Reflection builds your sense of self-awareness as it allows you to consider the skills you have learned and what you have done as well as to think about how you may do things differently next time. Combining these experiences and skills into a narrative about yourself that you can communicate clearly and succinctly to others plays a major role in your employability.
Therefore, reflection can make you more employable by:
When you start interviewing for jobs, it might be useful to look back on the reflective writing tasks you completed for your university course.
Depending on the type of jobs you go for, a common approach taken by employers during interviews is to find out how you handled certain work situations in the past. This can be achieved by posing competency based (behavioural) questions which typically begin with phrases such as 'describe a time when...' or 'share an example of a situation where...'
To prepare for job interviews, it is therefore useful to reflect on your past work or student experiences using the STAR technique.
Situation: Describe the event or situation you were in
Task: Explain the task you had to complete or what was required of you
Activity: Describe the specific actions you took to complete the task
Result: State how the event or situation played out as a result of the actions you took
For example: 'Describe a time you had to consult someone about an issue'
Situation: I was working as a teaching assistant in a primary school. I had to support a teacher in year 5 who had 30 students in her class and I noticed that one boy's behaviour seemed to change completely overnight. He looked angry, wouldn't socialise and yet prior to this he was really outgoing. I knew something was wrong.
Task: I was required to inform the class teacher and, after observing him also, she agreed and told his mother that we were concerned about him.
Activity: His mother let us know that something really serious had happened at home and both my class teacher and his parents were grateful that I had brought his behavioural changes to their attention. I worked closer with him to support him and the school also arranged counselling sessions.
Result: His behaviour picked up and he began participating in class again. With the extra support he received, he was coping really well by the end of the school year.
