WHEN Alyson Howard, chairman of the Kent branch of the Institute of Directors spoke to pupils at Invicta Grammar School in Maidstone, she issued them a challenge – dare to be different.

Alyson told them that while she understood their desire not to stand out among their peers, employers and competitive universities looked for attitude before aptitude and educational standard.

According to Alyson, employers want people who are ambitious, interested, focused, outgoing, able and keen to take responsibility, accountable, and reasonably robust with some degree of outside activities ­whether that’s sport, music, hobbies or some sort of voluntary work.

She added that presentation was key, from a good handshake (for both men and women) to spelling and grammar, adding that the number of young people who cannot write a business letter, let alone a report, due to their poor spelling and grammar is a worry.

The same applies for e-mails, too, and texts if one sends them to a customer or client. You need to change your approach from one of: "How can I score as many marks as possible with this piece of writing?" to: "What am I trying to achieve?"

An understanding of basic accounts and business practices is also crucial, Alyson added, saying that it is too easy for too many people of whatever age to say they don’t understand figures which is a way of refusing to take responsibility for the impact their actions have on profit or budget targets.

You don’t have to be able to produce a set of accounts to know that if spending three hours on a task is more profitable than spending four.

"As an employer I want young people who aren’t afraid to voice their ideas," Alyson said. "And if, that idea is not workable for any reason – which should and would be discussed with them at length so that they fully understand why – I want them to come back with another idea, and another.

"What we don’t want in business is a bunch of young people who have got lines of 'A' grades but no personality, and who have had all the energy and questioning squeezed out of them to get them through their exams."