Metadata
Title
Employability Skills
Category
international
UUID
53518f0a4e994aceb8b87383abae9c1b
Source URL
https://careerzone.universiteitleiden.nl/en/develop-your-skills/employability-sk...
Parent URL
https://careerzone.universiteitleiden.nl/en/develop-your-skills
Crawl Time
2026-03-18T03:49:13+00:00
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Employability Skills

Source: https://careerzone.universiteitleiden.nl/en/develop-your-skills/employability-skills Parent: https://careerzone.universiteitleiden.nl/en/develop-your-skills

Career Zone EN

Employability Skills

Problem solving skills, communication, teamwork, adaptability, leadership, entrepreneurship, self-reflection...

These and other skills are also called employability skills, 21st-century skills or transferable skills.\ But what is employability and why are employability skills so important?

Employability

The aim of Leiden University is not only to provide you with a good, solid university education, but also to prepare you as well as possible for a labour market, that is rapidly developing and changing as a result of new technologies, changing partnerships and increasing complexities, and thus to contribute to the development of your employability. This will make it easier for you to make the transition to the labour market, to remain employable in a dynamic labour market in a (career) job that suits your own personal values, preferences and development.

Employable' students have developed themselves in the following way. They:

Employability skills

Employability skills are core skills (transferable) that you need in every job. You have developed these skills in a specific context, but can also apply them in a completely different context. They are skills demanded by employers and are at least as important as job-specific or technical skills.\ \ The more you possess these skills, the more employable you are, the greater your chances of getting a job and advancement opportunities.\ It is therefore important to develop these skills during your studies, both within the curriculum and beyond. In order to be well prepared to enter the job market, it is advisable to determine to what extent you possess these skills and which ones you want to develop further.

Transferable skills Leiden University

During your studies you will develop transferable skills. Leiden University has selected 13 transferable skills that it finds important for students to develop during their studies. These skills are important not only during your studies but also in later life once you begin working.\ These transferable skills can be divided into three categories:

1. Skills that we use in relating to the world around us ((meta) cognitive skills):

2. Skills that we use in relating to other people (interpersonal skills):

3. Skills that we use in relating to ourselves (intrapersonal skills):

These skills are further explained in this section. For each skill, you will find additional information.

Transferable skills in Prospectus\ In the study guide (prospectus), you will find one or more of these skills that apply to each course in your programme. This gives you a good idea of the cross-curricular skills you will develop in your study programme.

Other important transferable skills

Competence Instrument VSNU\ When drawing up this list of skills (definition and behavioural indicators), frequent use was made of the Competence Instrument Dutch Universities of the VSNU-NOA.

Online courses moocs

Online courses / MOOCs:

Coursera Essential skills for work place Academic Skills for Univ. Success

More skills

More skills:

Employment skills by job Top 10 skills employers seek

Application skills

Application skills

See Application skills

OECD skills

Skill needs per country

Read more