In Geographical , September 2011 (see http://www.geographical.co.uk/ for magazien website plus their blog) there is a very good set of cameos from geographers who have found their training useful for their current employment. The foreword from Dr Rita Gardner, the Director of the RGS (with IBG) provides a bit of context but it is the sketches of the geographers that is most informative about why geography is so useful. The individuals arrange from an air traffic control specialist, through the seemingly more exciting jobs of adventurer and helicopter pilot, to socially aware jobs of activism coordinator at Oxfam founder of Green Economic Institute. Additionally, renewable energy, water resources engineer, environmental consultant and transport logistic manager all get a look in as well as the maybe more expected and traditional trainee teacher. The important point that all of these individuals make is that geography has proven to be extremely useful to their chosen career path even if they didn’t believe it at first. Well worth a read if you are trying to justify taking the subject up to some non-believers.
Showing posts with label careers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label careers. Show all posts
Monday, July 9, 2012
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Multiple Intelligences and Employability
Students often ask what employers are looking for. As with most things the answer is – it depends! One thing is clear though – leaving university with a good degree may be a good start BUT everyone else who is going to apply for the job you want will have a good degree as well. So the question becomes how do you make yourself distinct, unique, a sought after product?
It maybe useful to think about the skills you have gained in terms of different types of intelligences as outlined by Howard Gardner. Gardner suggested that there are many and different types of intelligence as in the list below.
It might be useful to think about the job you are applying for in relation to these types of intelligence. Which type or types do you think the job is most concerned with? In what order do you think an employer would rank these intelligences? Would the ranking be the same for every job? How do you demonstrate to your potential employee that you have that type of intelligence? A degree might be able to demonstrate a logical-mathematical intelligence, depending on the subject matter of the degree. Similarly, you might expect a holder of a degree to have linguistic intelligence and a geographer to have spatial and naturalist intelligence. Beyond having a degree how would you demonstrate these intelligences? Would your employer expect you to have all these intelligences or can you develop some of these in post to help further your career?
Other types of intelligences would seem to be important for developing a career as well. High interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences show an ability to understand other people and yourself as well as an ability to interact effectively with others in the context of work. I would suggest that a moral intelligence is also a keen feature for career development. The ability to work within a moral framework and to show that will help to develop trust between yourself and your colleagues. This may seem like a minor skill compared to the hours you may have spent figuring out how to understand multiple regression but it is an intelligence that will enable you to interact with others without them worrying about your motives. It is an intelligence that will engender trust in you and what you do – a vital component for career development. Really it is about your character and what how you project that to others. The problem is how do you show that you have any of these seemingly intangible intelligences? I would suggest that voluntary work is a good way to show both your existential and moral intelligence as well as developing these intelligences and your intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligences. Voluntary work will also make your CV a little bit different from others.
Intelligence Characteristics
Interpersonal Capacity to understand others, to recognize their abilities, motivations and values. Allows effective working with others.
Intrapersonal Capacity to continually and accurately self-assess and to sue that understand to alter or maintain effective relationships with others
Linguistic Sensitivity to spoken and written word. Capacity to communicate thoughts and ideas effectively.
Logical-Mathematical Capacity to identify, analyse and solve problems mathematically and scientifically.
Spatial Capacity to identify patterns and understand rand model eality relationally in space.
Naturalist Capacity to identify and classify reality based on pattern recognition and to be sensitive and flexible enough to modify this depending on context
Body-kinesthetic Capacity to use body or parts of body to solve problems. Mental abilities co-ordinate movements of body.
Musical Capacity to perform, compose and appreciate musical patterns.
Existential Concern for ultimate issues. Could be seen as your religious outlook.
Moral Concern with rules, behaviours and attitudes that govern your life and the lives of others. Ethics and morals.
Howard Gardner has published these ideas in the books below:
It maybe useful to think about the skills you have gained in terms of different types of intelligences as outlined by Howard Gardner. Gardner suggested that there are many and different types of intelligence as in the list below.
It might be useful to think about the job you are applying for in relation to these types of intelligence. Which type or types do you think the job is most concerned with? In what order do you think an employer would rank these intelligences? Would the ranking be the same for every job? How do you demonstrate to your potential employee that you have that type of intelligence? A degree might be able to demonstrate a logical-mathematical intelligence, depending on the subject matter of the degree. Similarly, you might expect a holder of a degree to have linguistic intelligence and a geographer to have spatial and naturalist intelligence. Beyond having a degree how would you demonstrate these intelligences? Would your employer expect you to have all these intelligences or can you develop some of these in post to help further your career?
Other types of intelligences would seem to be important for developing a career as well. High interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences show an ability to understand other people and yourself as well as an ability to interact effectively with others in the context of work. I would suggest that a moral intelligence is also a keen feature for career development. The ability to work within a moral framework and to show that will help to develop trust between yourself and your colleagues. This may seem like a minor skill compared to the hours you may have spent figuring out how to understand multiple regression but it is an intelligence that will enable you to interact with others without them worrying about your motives. It is an intelligence that will engender trust in you and what you do – a vital component for career development. Really it is about your character and what how you project that to others. The problem is how do you show that you have any of these seemingly intangible intelligences? I would suggest that voluntary work is a good way to show both your existential and moral intelligence as well as developing these intelligences and your intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligences. Voluntary work will also make your CV a little bit different from others.
Intelligence Characteristics
Interpersonal Capacity to understand others, to recognize their abilities, motivations and values. Allows effective working with others.
Intrapersonal Capacity to continually and accurately self-assess and to sue that understand to alter or maintain effective relationships with others
Linguistic Sensitivity to spoken and written word. Capacity to communicate thoughts and ideas effectively.
Logical-Mathematical Capacity to identify, analyse and solve problems mathematically and scientifically.
Spatial Capacity to identify patterns and understand rand model eality relationally in space.
Naturalist Capacity to identify and classify reality based on pattern recognition and to be sensitive and flexible enough to modify this depending on context
Body-kinesthetic Capacity to use body or parts of body to solve problems. Mental abilities co-ordinate movements of body.
Musical Capacity to perform, compose and appreciate musical patterns.
Existential Concern for ultimate issues. Could be seen as your religious outlook.
Moral Concern with rules, behaviours and attitudes that govern your life and the lives of others. Ethics and morals.
Howard Gardner has published these ideas in the books below:
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Going Places With Geography!
Following on from thinking about what you can do with Geography there are a couple of very useful videos produced by the RGS (Royal Geographical Society) available on Youtube that are a little old now (4 years and counting) but are still very worthwhile looking at.
They are 'Going Places With Geography Part 1' and, the unsurpirsingly named 'Going Places With Geography Part 2'!
They are 'Going Places With Geography Part 1' and, the unsurpirsingly named 'Going Places With Geography Part 2'!
These videos are good, general introductions to the possiblities that geography opens up for graduates as well as illustrating the use of the 'transferable skills' the subject can provide. A quick thought on 'transferable skills' as well - lots of subjects provide a great deal of the generic transferable skills that you hear about such as the abiltiy to write for different audiences, numeracy, data analysis and presentation skills. Mentioning that the subject provides them is fine but what evidence do you have that you ahve acquired them? How do you show someone, an employer maybe, that you have acquired these skills? View the videos in this light - do those involved show these transferable skills? Do they focus on general skills or do they show these transferable skills through their discussion of subject specific skills? Maybe the confidence you get from studying a subject you enjoy and understand helps you to demonstrate 'transferable skills'. Skills without this sort of context maybe difficult to demonstrate.
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