EEP 3 - English for Employability

Week 2: Introduction to the New Metrics in the Industry 4.0 Labor Market

 UNDERSTANDING THE INDUSTRY 4.0 LABOR MARKET

This lesson introduces you to the Industry 4.0 labor market. It explores human capabilities
and skills development as the new metrics needed by future-ready workforce. In light of
highlighting skills, not job titles, as the new currency in the labor market, you will be led to
understanding the importance of relevant skills you need to be employable and to find job
placement.
Relative attention is given to English language proficiency and its dialectical relationship to
the concept of employability. Given with the changing dynamics of global labor market, it is
an imperative to put DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION AND HUMANITIES premium on
skills for productivity—communication and soft skills, in particular.
Provided that various literatures consider communication and soft skills as important
attributes to graduate’s employability in the VUCA labor market landscape, the concluding
section lays down the foundation of significantly optimizing your English skills to become
adaptive in the VUCA world.

 NEW METRICS IN THE INDUSTRY 4.0 LABOR MARKET

With the rapid changes in contemporary society brought about by technology, the changing
nature of work has a ‘disruptive impact on workers, labor markets and organizations.’ This
paradigm shift informs the necessity of workers and organizations to adapt. The future-
ready workforce needs to be exposed in re-imagining and rethinking the importance of skills
for jobs of the future with this changing dynamics of the Industry 4.0 labor market.

 Skills as the New Currency

Future-ready workforce needs to secure the following necessary and relevant skills, to wit:
 basic digital skills and literacy;
 learnability skills;
 skills needed for greening economies;
 skills required for engaging in Industry 4.0 occupations;
 skills for next-generation infrastructure and services; and
 skills for technology-infused manufacturing sectors.
For our purpose, their study stresses the market value of broad-based soft skills which helps
improving workplace effectiveness. These skills, which will be discussed in full-swing in the
following lesson, include teamwork, problem-solving, creativity, and design-thinking. The
aforementioned skills are very important and argued as having far-reaching impact on the
future trajectories of work.
In light of the waves of change occurring in global labor markets being driven by the
pervasive impact of disruptive technologies on economies and societies, there is a need to
reconsider unique challenges and new opportunities that this change has come to offer.
With the initial thought that new technologies will somehow displace people in the
workplace, there is a forward-thinking view that this will be accompanied by gains in giving
value and augmenting human capabilities and soft skills such as creativity, effort and
initiative, critical thinking and design thinking and negotiation skills which are all
contributory to the diverse contexts of problem-solving in the workplace.

Putting premium on productivity, creation of new jobs is an imperative highlighting ‘the

importance of investing in a skilled workforce and ensuring that workers are equipped with
specialized skills required for working with new technologies.’ The United Nations
International Labor Organization’s Global Commission on the Future of Work states that
‘Today’s skills will not match the jobs of tomorrow and newly acquired skills may quickly
become obsolete.’ The greening of our economies will create millions of jobs as we adopt
sustainable practices and clean technologies but other jobs will disappear as countries scale
back their carbon- and resource-intensive industries.’
This paves way to ILO’s following important recommendations:
(1) increasing investment in people’s capabilities;
(2) increasing investment in the institutions of work; and
(3) increasing investment in decent and sustainable work.
In short, there is a necessity to invest in human capital skills development.

 The Relationship between English Language Proficiency and Employability

The Philippines is regarded as one of the largest English-speaking states in the world with
majority of its population having fluency, to some extent, in the English language. This
English language proficiency has become one of the country’s drivers to become one of the
emerging economies in Southeast Asia.

English has become an important part in the Philippine higher education curriculum. Being
one of the official languages in the country, it becomes an important tool for social mobility,
particularly in finding job placements in the local and global labor market. English is taught
as a means of communication in the early part of tertiary studies in most of the state and
private higher education institutions in the country. Behind from its Asian neighbors, the
British Council reported that the Philippines needs to step up its efforts in developing English
language proficiency as a vital skill in the workforce through enhancing and sharing best
practices of teaching and learning the language. Being an English-speaking nation, the
Philippines sets its distinct advantage in the ASEAN economic integration. To strengthen its
potential, the country needs to further build on the English skills among its young workforce.

This trajectory is mainly informed by the dialectical relationship between English language
proficiency and employability, supported by contentions in various literatures that
‘communication skills are highly valued as a graduate attribute for employability.’ With
focus on aspects of oral and written communication skills supported with relevant tasks and
activities anchored from CSU core values from entry to exit, students are expected to
enhance their English language skills needed for employability after graduation.
There are a number of skills relevant to graduate employability which will be discussed in
details in the following lesson, but this section focuses only on English language proficiency
as a value-added skill. In light of considering English language proficiency as a market value,
there is a need to understand how this relates or is linked, in part or in whole, to the concept
of employability.

 Employability
• A set of achievements–skills, understandings and personal attributes–that make
individuals more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations,
which benefits themselves, the workforce, the community and the economy.

 USEM Model
emphasizes the interrelated nature of skills and attributes that together constitute a
graduate’s employability:
 Understanding (of disciplinary subject matter and how organizations work);
 Skillful practices (academic, employment, and life in general);
 Efficacy beliefs (reflects the learner’s notion of self, their self-belief, and the possibility
for self-improvement and development);
 Metacognition (complements efficacy, embraces self-awareness, how to learn and
reflection.
It encompasses knowledge of strategies for learning, thinking and problem solving, and
supports and promotes continued learning/lifelong learning.

 Employability - what it is
• It is a lifelong process.
• It applies to all students whatever their situation, course or mode of study.
• It is complex and involves a number of areas that interlink.
• It is about supporting students to develop a range of knowledge, skills, behaviors,
attributes and attitudes which will enable them to be successful not just in employment but
in life.
• It is an institution-wide responsibility.
• It is about making the components of employability explicit to students to support their
lifelong learning.

 Employability - what it is not

• It is not about replacing academic rigor and standards.
• It is not necessarily about adding additional modules into the curriculum.
• It is not just about preparing students for employment.
• It is not the sole responsibility of the careers department.
• It is not something that can be quantified by any single measure.

 Adaptability and Flexibility in the VUCA Labor Market Landscape

What is VUCA? It was first coined at the graduate school for future generals in Army War
College. Introduced thereafter in the entrepreneurship context by the New York Times
columnist, Thomas Friedman, since then, it has become one of the buzzwords in social
sciences.

 Volatility : Changes happen in an exponential speed;

 Uncertainty : Giving solutions to any problem has become ambivalent—i.e. once
appropriate solution before might not anymore applicable today;
 Complexity : As Marshall McLuhan points out ‘The world has become a global village’
influenced by these technological advances, yet exploring its granularity has become
very complex;
 Ambiguity : Giving way to pluralistic views of every social reality, where people from
different social positioning bring their own analyses to the table. There is hardly one
way for explaining any social phenomenon.

Along the backdrop of some philosophies relatively saying that ‘life is both a journey and a
struggle,’ the VUCA world is not a threat but an opportunity for self-development. Going
with a more optimistic and forward-thinking view, living mindfully in this VUCA world is a
necessity. With these rapid changes in our social realities caused by this inter-discursive
dynamics of, digitization, connectivity, trade liberalization, global competition, innovation,
technological breakthroughs, mobility of people, globalization, and so forth, our role as job
seekers, then, who possessed this workforce readiness is ‘to be fluid, flexible and adaptive’
with these changing dynamics.

This is the very reason that adaptability or flexibility is a very important skill in this VUCA
labor market landscape. Hence, the rhetorical question of ‘How to cope with Volatility,
Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity in any organization or workplace?’ makes sense by
approaching and managing it through ‘integrative self-management.’ After all, improving
one’s human capabilities to achieve such decent and sustainable work is a personal promise,
responsibility, and journey (or struggle). The role of other stakeholders such as government
agencies, job providers, academe, family, and other social institutions is to provide us multi-
layered opportunities enabling us to improve ourselves, particularly in the world of work. An
important contention to consider here is that this journey is not easy, linear nor achievable
overnight, but a lifelong process. That is, self-assessment of our individual strengths and
weaknesses towards becoming competent, service-oriented, morally-upright, and socially-
responsible human capital informs how we design and create our own personal brand for
career readiness and success.

 TAKEAWAY
As a starting point since skills are the new metrics of Industry 4.0 labor market, we need to
optimize our prominent skillset and enhance further our least prominent skillset through
immersing ourselves in social practices where we could optimally improve our human
capabilities.
On that note, being ‘workforce-ready and job enabling English proficient’ along with the
skills of adaptability and flexibility in the micro helps addressing macro-concerns of
unemployment, underemployment, and unequal opportunities in the Industry 4.0 world of
work.

Week 3: Soft (Durable/Transferable/Essential/Rising) Skills

SOFT SKILLS are broad set of skills, competencies, behaviors, attitudes, and personal
qualities needed by job seekers or employees which will enable them to effectively navigate
their environment, work well with others, perform well, and achieve their goals. Aside from
technical skills, vocational skills, and academic skills, soft skills are equally relevant as these
are crucial for you personal and professional growth.

1. SOCIAL SKILL
helps people get along well with others. Acquiring this skill will help you engage in
meaningful interactions. This ability includes respecting others, using context-appropriate
behavior-meaning we know how to carry and act depending on the situation we are in, and
resolving conflict with colleague or others. Social skill is universally relevant.

2. COMMUNICATION SKILL
referring to the specific types of communication used in the workplace and includes oral,
written, non-verbal, and listening skills. Strong general communication skills contribute to
the development of other soft skills, like social skills.

3. HIGHER ORDER THINKING

this consists of problem-solving, critical thinking, and decision making. At a basic level, this
includes an ability to identify an issue and take in information from multiple sources to
evaluate options in order to reach a reasonable conclusion.

4. SELF-CONTROL
This is one of the hardest things to master as people are communicative in nature. This
refers to one's ability to delay gratification, control impulses, direct and focus attention,
manage emotions, and regulate behaviors. This soft skill reminds us to match our
communication with the situation as this is also beneficial for us and others. In other terms,
we only need to talk if ever needed or when we are asked to. Self-control is an intrapersonal
skill, foundational to many others, as it enables successful decision making, resolution of
conflict, and coherent communication.

5. POSITIVE SELF-CONCEPT
This includes self-confidence, self-efficacy, self-awareness and beliefs, self-esteem, and a
sense of well-being and pride. What does this mean in real life? A positive self-concept is
reflected in how we see and respect ourselves in the work and as an individual, how we
utilize our talents and skills and put them to good use, how we take care of ourselves during
stressful times, how we put ourselves first without undermining others, and how we stand
up for what we believe in without disrespecting people. When we master positive self-
concept, we become more efficient as a worker and as a person because we understand and
respect ourselves better and our capabilities.

Week 4: Personal Branding

Personal Branding is an individual's method in promoting themselves and their identities

and their professions. In essence, it is the continuing method of generating a prescribed
picture or perception of a person, community or entity in the minds of others.

There are four (4) important questions in order to achieve this:

 ACTIONS What have you done in the past that could affect your brand positive of
negative?
 BELIEFS What is it that you believe to be true based on your past experiences?
 ABILITIES What is your skillset?
 VALUES What is important to you?

Now, your brand or identity tells your audience 3 important things:

• WHO YOU ARE
• WHAT YOU DO
• WHAT MAKES YOU DIFFERENT
And why are these so important?
• INCREASE EARNING POTENTIAL
• LEADERSHIP ROLE
• GREATER RECOGNITION
• ENHANCED PRESTIGE
• “TOP-OF-MIND” STATUS

And so how do we achieve this?

1. Introduce yourself orally, in prose, and visually.
2. To cultivate a sense of what you do and how you do it.
3. To show your convictions, ideals, and talents to others.
4. To modify or explain the view of you by people.
5. To make an effect on others.

Week 6: Personal Statement Writing/statement for Work Interest

A personal statement is:

• A picture. Your personal essay should produce a picture of you as a person, a student, a
potential scholarship winner, and looking into the future as an employee.
• An invitation. The reader must be invited to get to know you, personally. Bridge the
assumed distance of strangers. Make your reader feel welcome.
• An indication of your priorities and judgement. What you choose to say in your statement
tells the committee what your priorities are. What you say and how you say it is crucial.
• A story or more precisely, your story. Everyone has a story to tell, but not all are natural
storytellers. This is when serious self-reflection, conversation with friends, family, and
mentors, and permission to be creative come in handy.

A personal statement is not:

• An academic paper with you as the subject. Papers written for class are typically designed
to interpret data, reflect research, and analyze events or reading— all at some distance. In
academic writing, personal pronoun is eliminated. The goal in personal statement is to close
the distance between the writer and the reader.
• A resume in narrative form. An essay that reads like a resume of accomplishments and
goals reveals little about the candidate, and is a wasted opportunity.
• A journal entry. While you may draw on experiences or observations captured in your
personal journal, your essay should not read like a diary. Share only relevant experiences to
provide helpful context for your story.

Effective Personal Statement

▪ Who am I?
▪ Who do I want to be?
▪ What kind of contribution do I want to make, and how?
▪ Why does it make sense for me to work in this company?
In general, the personal statement represents an opportunity for you to humanize your
application— to convert the long lists of qualifications you have included elsewhere into a
narrative that essentially argues for why you are a good fit for the position, and why it is a
good fit for you.

Personal Statement Structure

1. Align your statement closely to the job specification and job description.
Job or person specifications list essential and desirable qualities and qualifications the
company ideally would like in a candidate.
2. Use the skills and knowledge you have gained from your degree, extracurricular
activities and work experiences.
Interpret and reflect on your skills and experiences, not just list them.
3. Give very specific examples to back up your claims.
It is not enough to state you possess a certain skill e.g. teamwork. You need to explain why
you think you have a good level of skill.
4. Make the selection easy for employers as they are busy people.
In public sector many managers have to read forms squeezed into their normal working day
or in the evenings after work.
5. Once you have drafted, redrafted and refined the statement you can leave it for a while
and come back to what you have written with a fresh eye.
6. Finally, you can also ask a proofreader to check the grammar, structure and content of
the statement.

Sample Paragraphs
A. Introductory paragraph
Find an interesting angle from which to approach your statement or to “hook” your reader
and create a thesis statement.
As an Environmental Science specialist, I see myself as a science communicator, focusing on
research and policy. I want to help create a common language between the authorities of
environmental management—a language that can be used as a strong mediation and solution-finding
tool. To become such an individual, I have set professional goals that will hone my skills as both a
communicator and a scientist.

B. Body paragraph
The topic sentence of each paragraph should introduce readers to major idea for that
paragraph, whether it is a specific skill, experience, or interest.
As a communicator, my experience centers on writing and teaching. Through the Liberal Arts
Program, I completed the requirements for a technical writing certificate, which included courses in
nonfiction, persuasive rhetoric, and article writing. One of the most rewarding results of this program
was the opportunity to write, film, and edit a fifteen-minute documentary for local television as an
independent studies extension of a technical writing class. The documentary examined a local natural
spring and the current research surrounding its origin and future in the face of increasing regional
development. It was aired last month to gain public support for protection of the resource.

C. Concluding paragraph
Make your conclusion meaningful. Reiterate your enthusiasm and suitability for the role and
if possible, highlight how you might add value to their organization. You may like to thank
the assessor for their time for reading your personal statement but do not be overly
flattering.
My enduring enthusiasm to learn has shaped me into the scientist I am today. I am a hard-
working, persistent, and passionate leader who has a unique eye to the biological, ecological, and
behavioral side of a variety of research questions. With my deep-rooted interests, I hope you will give
my application every consideration.