Strong communication and influencing skills are essential, not only as skills for education and studying, but also beyond into the workplace and the research environment.

During your Master’s degree, you will be required to communicate in a variety of different ways. These might include in written form, through an oral presentation, poster presentation, or in team or group work.

It’s important to view each of these types of work as an opportunity to craft your skills. There are great lessons to be learnt and value to be gained from working with your peers during your studies, both in and out of class.

Learning to negotiate the challenges of these types of communication will help you immensely in your future career. Verbal communication skills are among the most important skills employers look for in applicants and, along with teamwork, consistently comes top in surveys asking what employers are looking for (UKCES Employer Skills Survey 2015: UK report, NACE 2016 Job Outlook, Prospects – What skills do employers want?, KAPLAN -  Graduate Recruitment Report: Employer Perspectives 2014).

Developing strong communication skills, academic writing and your own authentic voice will enable you to improve your influencing skills.

The Graduate School run courses that can develop your communication and influencing skills. You can also access units on communicating and influencing on the Attributes and Aspirations online short course.