12 Core Skills
Warwick's 12 core employability skills
The Warwick Award is based around 12 core employability skills that employers tell us are crucial for the next step in your journey.
If you’re able to show how you’ve developed as many of these skills as possible during your time at Warwick – with specific examples of where you’ve done so, that you’ll be able to use when applying for jobs – you’ll be setting yourself up for a fantastic start to life after graduation.
On this page, we’ve pulled together a little more information about each of the 12 core skills that sit at the heart of the Warwick Award. We’ve included a short video introducing you to each skill and information about which members of staff are part of that skill’s Academic Advisory Group. These groups are made up of subject-specific experts from across campus to help us shape content and training provision for each of the core skills at the heart of the Warwick Award.
More information

Critical thinking is the ability to analyse facts, data, information, and opinions to form an evaluation or judgment.
Related subskills include: interpreting, analysing, evaluating.
Examples of where you might develop this skill during your time at Warwick: writing an essay, conducting a literature review, doing your own independent reading to better understand a news story.

Chair: Dr Steven Burke
Email: Steven.Burke@warwick.ac.uk

Member: Andre Celtel
Email: A.Celtel@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Associate Professor, DSEP
Department: Sociology


Member: Nalita James
Email: Nalita.James@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Associate Professor, DSEP
Department: CLL

Member: Rochelle Sibley
Email: Rochelle.Sibley@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Senior Teaching Fellow
Department: English and Comparative Literature

Information literacy is the ability to understand the nature and value of information, search and select information, manage lots of different bits of information effectively, and create and produce information so that it is robust and adds value to different discourses.
Related subskills include: searching for information, managing information , using and creating information.
Examples of where you might develop this skill during your time at Warwick: using databases, conducting literature reviews, communicating research findings to acknowledge limitations of the research.

Chair: Dr Tom Greenaway
Email: T.Greenaway.1@warwick.ac.uk




Member: Sophie Allen
Email: Sophie.Allen@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Academic Services Development Manager
Department: Library

Member: Cathy Hampton
Email: C.M.Hampton@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Reader
Department: School of Modern Languages and Cultures


Member: Jade Millar
Email: Jade.Millar@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Student as Researcher Project Officer
Department: Library

Digital literacy is the ability to live, learn, and work in a society where communication and access to information is increasingly through digital technologies like internet platforms, social media, and mobile devices.
Related subskills include: IT skills, social media management, personal branding.
Examples of where you might develop this skill during your time at Warwick: using common Office software such as Excel and Word, managing a club/society social media feed, building an effective LinkedIn profile.

Chair: Dave Musson
Email: Dave.Musson@warwick.ac.uk

Member: James Alexander
Email: James.Alexander@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Director of Digital Strategy and Transformation
Department: IDG

Member: Helen Luckhurst
Email: Helen.Luckhurst@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Engagement Officer
Department: WIE

Member: Judith Brown
Email: Judith.Brown@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Technology Enhanced Learning Specialist
Department: FOLD (Flexible & Online Learning Division)

Member: Bodrun Nahar
Email: Bodrun.Nahar@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Employability and Placements Manager
Department: School for Cross Faculty Studies

Sustainability is the awareness that the human past and present will profoundly affect our entangled environmental and social futures.
Related subskills include: social engagement, community citizenship, values thinking.
Examples of where you might develop this skill during your time at Warwick: recycling wherever possible, voting in your local elections and considering local issues of environmental and social sustainability when choosing who to support, researching an organisation’s values and seeing if they match up with the actions of the organisation when applying for a job.

Chair: Dr Steven Burke
Email: Steven.Burke@warwick.ac.uk

Member: Dr Alastair Smith
Email: A.Smith.21@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Senior Teaching Fellow
Department: Global Sustainable Development

Member: Dr Adriano Lameira
Email: Adriano.Lameira@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Associate Professor
Department: Psychology

Member: Dr Caroline Kuzemko
Email: C.Kuzemko@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Associate Professor
Department: IPE

Member: Dave Chapman
Email: D.M.Chapman@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Sustainability Champion
Department: Estates

Communication is the ability to convey or share ideas and feelings effectively, by speaking, writing, or using some other medium.
Related subskills include: public speaking, creative writing, active listening.
Examples of where you might develop this skill during your time at Warwick: giving a presentation, writing an essay, volunteering with Nightline.

Chair: Dave Musson
Email: Dave.Musson@warwick.ac.uk


Member: Shirley Sturzaker
Email: Shirley.Sturzaker@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Marketing Manager
Department: Warwick Medical School

Member: Damien Homer
Email: Damien.Homer@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Head of Disability Services
Department: University-wide

Member: Paul Grigsby
Email: Paul.Grigsby@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Research Fellow in Outreach and Impact
Department: Classics and Ancient History

Intercultural awareness is the ability to work productively with people from different cultural backgrounds.
Related subskills include: intercultural understanding, intercultural communication, intercultural sensitivity.
Examples of where you might develop this skill during your time at Warwick: learning a language, working in multicultural teams, sharing experiences with people from different cultural backgrounds, e.g. meals, sports events, seminars.

Chair: Dr Tom Greenaway
Email: T.Greenaway.1@warwick.ac.uk

Member: Simon Brown
Email: S.Brown.15@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Internationalisation Officer
Department: Student Opportunity

Member: Dr Sophie Reissner-Roubicek
Email: Sophie.Reissner-Roubicek@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Associate Professor
Department: Applied Linguistics

Member: Achim Krausert
Email: Achim.Krausert@wbs.ac.uk
Title: Associate Professor, DSEP
Department: WBS

Member: Dr Zi Wang
Email: Zi.Wang.1@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Internationalisation Coordinator
Department: Student Opportunity

Teamwork is the ability to work in a team respectfully, productively, and cooperatively?
Related subskills include: collaboration, leadership, managing team processes.
Examples of where you might develop this skill during your time at Warwick: completing a group project, setting meeting agendas, being part of a sports team, and managing team deadlines.

Chair: Dr Tom Greenaway
Email: T.Greenaway.1@warwick.ac.uk

Member: Dr Sophie Reissner-Roubicek
Email: Sophie.Reissner-Roubicek@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Associate Professor
Department: Applied Linguistics


Member: Jagjeet Jutley-Nelson
Email: Jagjeet.Jutley-Neilson@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Professor
Department: Psychology

Member: Tamara Friedrich
Email: Tamara.Friedrich@wbs.ac.uk
Title: Associate Professor
Department: WBS

Organisational awareness is the ability to understand organisational structures, operations, culture and systems, and adapt your behaviour and attitudes accordingly.
Related subskills include: commercial awareness, corporate social responsibility, government awareness.
Examples of where you might develop this skill during your time at Warwick: performing a SWOT analysis, researching an organisation and finding out its values, priorities and culture prior to a job application/interview.

Chair: Lisa Faulkner
Email: Lisa.Faulkner@warwick.ac.uk


Member: Dr Daniel Dauber
Email: D.Dauber@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Associate Professor
Department: Applied Linguistics

Member: Konstantina Dee
Email: Konstantina.Dee@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Careers and Employability Officer
Department: WMG

Member: Oliver Walmsley
Email: Oliver.Walmsley@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Director of Business Relations
Department: Innovation Group

Professionalism is the ability to be reliable, set your own high standards, and show you care about every aspect of your job by being industrious and organised, and holding yourself accountable for your thoughts, words, and actions.
Related subskills include: time management, attention to detail, personal impact.
Examples of where you might develop this skill during your time at Warwick: balancing competing deadlines to still complete all assessments and coursework on time, thoroughly proof-reading and editing coursework before it is submitted, representing your coursemates’ views to University staff.

Chair: Lisa Faulkner
Email: Lisa.Faulkner@warwick.ac.uk

Member: Dr Debbi Marais
Email: D.Marais@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Professor in Health Sciences Education, Director of PGT programmes
Department: Warwick Medical School

Member: Hilary Riseley
Email: Hilary.Riseley@wbs.ac.uk
Title: Undergraduate Careers Manager
Department: WBS


Member: Anne Wilson SFHEA
Email: A.E.Wilson@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Head of Careers
Department: Student Opportunity

Problem solving is the ability to define a problem or challenge, then find, design, and select a solution to it.
Related subskills include: problem creation, decision making, learning from failure.
Examples of where you might develop this skill during your time at Warwick: creating a brand new product, choosing modules that are relevant to your career aspirations, applying feedback on your essays to improve them next time around.

Chair: Dr Steven Burke
Email: Steven.Burke@warwick.ac.uk

Member: Dr Siri Chongchitnan
Email: Siri.Chongchitnan@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Associate Professor, DSEP
Department: Mathematics

Member: Dr Sarah McCourt
Email: Sarah.L.E.McCourt@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Acting DSEP
Department: Arts Faculty

Member: Mark Pulsford
Email: Mark.Pulsford@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Associate Professor, DSEP
Department: Education

Ethical values are the ability to operate with high moral standards – namely being fair, respectful, compassionate, honest, and responsible.
Related subskills include: integrity, empathy, compassion.
Examples of where you might develop this skill during your time at Warwick: accurate and honest referencing in academic writing, not fabricating experiment results, mentoring a school student through an outreach/WP project.

Chair: Dave Musson
Email: Dave.Musson@warwick.ac.uk


Member: Dr Jen Baker
Email: J.Baker.5@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Teaching Fellow in C19th and C20th Literature
Department: English and Comparative Literature Studies

Member: Dr Sarah McCourt
Email: Sarah.L.E.McCourt@warwick.ac.uk
Title: DSEP
Department: Arts Faculty

Self-awareness is the ability to recognise your own personality, strengths, emotions; your ability to learn and develop.
Related subskills include: self-reflection, unlearning, self-directed learning.
Examples of where you might develop this skill during your time at Warwick: undergoing training to build skills you don’t feel confident in and identifying what else you need to do to practise them further, hiring a left-hand drive automatic car on holiday, when you’ve only ever driven with manual transmission in the UK, learning a foreign language via an app in your own time.

Chair: Dr Steven Burke
Email: Steven.Burke@warwick.ac.uk

Member: Gonzalo Ceron Garcia
Email: G.Ceron-Garcia@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Senior Teaching Fellow
Department: Warwick Writing Programme

Member: Charlotte Jones
Email: Charlotte.E.Jones@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Associate Professor, Course Director
Department: CLL

Member: Karen Simecek
Email: K.D.Simecek@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Associate Professor, DSEP
Department: Philosophy

Member: Luke Hodson
Email: Luke.Hodson@warwick.ac.uk
Title: Associate Professor
Department: Psychology