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A new employability award to help Cardiff students gain valuable employability skills and boost their CV is being officially launched by the University.

The Cardiff Award gives undergraduates a chance to gain recognition for the skills they acquire through extra-curricular activities whilst also improving their professionalism and self-awareness.

Following a successful pilot exercise, the Award is being launched on 30^thJanuary at the Students' Union event Refresh Your Future – a day that is focused on giving students the opportunity to think about and improve their employability skills.

Kathryn Foot from the Careers and Employability Service who is leadingThe Cardiff Award said: "The Refresh Your Future event is a chance for students to engage with some of the UK's top employers and to find out more about The Cardiff Award.

"It's a challenging time for graduate recruitment and at Cardiff we are committed to giving our students the best opportunities to help them secure employment. The Cardiff Award aims to improve students' employability, to increase their self awareness and to enable them to sell themselves and their skills effectively to future recruiters."

The Cardiff Award has been developed in conjunction with Ernst and Young, the Award's principal sponsors, and will help students develop six key employability skills: self management; teamworking; business and customer awareness; problem solving; communication and literacy; and application of numeracy. Other Award sponsors include Champions Life Academy, Petersens and Rate my Placement.

Along with applying to join The Cardiff Award at the Refresh Your Future event, students will have the chance to get involved with mock interviews from some of the UK's top employers and take part in a 'Dragon's Den' style event where they could win an I Pad 2.

Throughout the day a series of workshops will give students an insight into using social media to help plan their careers, tips on the best way to sell their skills to potential employers and securing work experience.

Successful entrepreneur Paul Ragan who has appeared on the Channel 4 programme Secret Millionaire will also be speaking at the event and giving advice on how students can improve their future employability prospects.

All events are free but booking is essential. The full schedule for Refresh Your Future is available here.