Decisions, decisions and more decisions

I attended my first ‘Skills for Success’ session last Tuesday which was run by a representative from John Lewis. It was based on decision making and problem solving, which is an incredibly relevant topic in terms of job applications, interviews, assessment centres and life in general because, let’s face it, we students have been known to procrastinate and party rather than prepare and prioritise! 

The session covered a variety of different decision making and problem solving techniques which are used by management bodies in large corporations. These techniques are also transferable to the problems that we, as university students, are faced with every day. This may be time management, money management, what beverage should I have next? The list is endless….

After a really helpful and informative presentation by the John Lewis rep, we were given a few exercises which involved solving common management problems that businesses face every day. This is often an exercise you are faced with at an assessment centre, or during a group job interview. 

Following the presentation I was able to look at the problems we were given from a different perspective, and make decisions about them using different techniques I had learned during the session. After presenting our results we received constructive criticism from the rep which was really helpful. We all felt confident that if we were put in that situation again, we would be able to come up with sounder, superior solutions which would go down a treat with a potential employer!

There are loads of Skills for Success sessions which go on all the time and are run by different graduate employers. Some are run as mock assessment centres, some develop management skills, and others develop negotiation and conflict resolution skills. These sessions develop a good applicant into a great applicant, whilst also contributing towards the Sheffield Graduate Award. 

The sessions are free, fun and an invaluable resource which I would seriously recommend getting involved with. You can see What’s On by visiting the Careers Service events diary at: http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/careers/students/events 

Chris 
(Student Ambassador for the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health)
Careers Service

Careers Service

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