UNEMPLOYMENT levels jumped this month. It means that new graduates need employability skills more than ever as they take their first steps to a career.

The employability skills required by business include the need for critical reflection.

Most graduates are already good communicators. They have intricate peer networks, often virtual, and have learned to deal with the demands of technology. What they have to do is to translate those experiences into real skills for the workplace. They need to reflect.

We learn every day and often don’t know it. Web browsing and emails mean we absorb instantly available information as a matter of course.

Our lifestyles are busy at home and at work. We aspire to do more in less time. We rush through major decisions which can transform businesses, lives and futures.

The need to reflect on our everyday experiences, to watch and understand, is so important. It lies behind successful learning and personal development in school, university or business. By taking a step back – a moment to reflect – we become surer of the best way forward and we learn from the experience.

Reflective practice allows us to judge situations from all angles before making a decision, for a speedy decision is not always the best one! The likelihood that it will be a good decision is all the stronger because of the probing and filtering process that goes into its formulation and the learning that accompanies the experience.

Decision-making is a fluid process which benefits from challenging perceptions, however right they seem to the majority. People in the greatest rush through life are the ones most in need of time to quieten their mind and see past the next hour.

We can all get involved in reflective practice, whatever job we are in. Reflective leaders provide great role models for the next generation. As corporate strategies become more complex and globalisation continues to grow, clear sure-footed thinking and decision-making are vital to business success.

If we all take the time to reflect, then not only do we learn something about ourselves, but we also become better employees, managers, leaders, friends and colleagues.

Recent economic circumstances have led many businesses to consider their leadership and management needs and think critically about the need for change. This reflection leads to more effective leadership, and it in turn can transform organisational practice and staff confidence.

Dr Sonal Minocha is associate dean of the faculty of business and law, University of Sunderland