Employability skills – what do they really mean? Whether young people possess sufficient and suitable ‘employability skills’ is a debate that has been going on for some time. Employers are demanding the right skills to meet the ever-changing needs of today’s global economy and schools, colleges and universities are working hard to develop a better skilled future workforce to help meet those needs. A key question still remains, however, as to whether there is agreement on what those skills are. At a national level we have considered research from CBI, DEMOS and the Learning Skills Network. At a local level the Berkshire Education Business Partnership Organisation undertook a survey of businesses in the region on the subject of ‘work readiness’ of young people as experienced by employers in Berkshire.
The National Picture Within the CBI report there are several calls for developing vital employability skills whilst young people are at school, and for young people to be able to articulate more clearly to future employers that they possess these skills. The CBI carried out an Education and Skills survey in February 2011; responses were received from 566 employers collectively employing 2.2 million people. Respondents came from businesses of all sizes and sectors across the UK. It is important to stress that the CBI found that employers do not expect young people to be fully ‘job ready’ and recognise their responsibility to train them for specific jobs and roles. Firms do, however, expect school leavers to be able to draw on a range of employability skills, enabling them to become rapidly effective in the workplace. The key issues the CBI reported, which related to young people at school and college, were: •
Over 2/3 of employers (70%) want to see the development of employability skills among young people at school and college made a top priority – this does not require a new qualification but rather embedding the skills and qualities required by employers in the curriculum, as the best schools and colleges already do
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2/3 of employers (65%) also see a pressing need to raise standards of literacy and numeracy amongst 14-19 year olds
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Many young people are still leaving school and college with serious shortfalls in their employability skills. Over half of employers (55%) experience weaknesses in schools leavers’ management skills and two thirds (69%) believe they have inadequate business and customer awareness.
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Employers report widespread weakness in core workplace skills with almost half reporting problems with literacy and numeracy. What would business do to help? •
Engagement with secondary schools is a clear priority for employers, with two thirds having already built links. (67%)
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Employers are stepping up their commitments, with over a third (36%) having increased their school engagement over the last year
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Business involvement goes beyond simply providing work experience for pupils – nearly half of employers (48%) support careers advice and more than one in four (28%) provide school governors
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There is an appetite from employers to play a greater role in delivering careers advice – more than half (54%) would be willing to do more, rising to two thirds (66%) of large firms.
CBI Findings The CBI has identified that a positive attitude is the key foundation of employability. This can be summed up as a ‘can do’ approach; a readiness to take part and contribute; and openness to new ideas and a drive to make those ideas happen. The CBI has defined employability skills as: •
Self Management – readiness to accept responsibility, flexibility, resilience, self starting, appropriate assertiveness, time management, readiness to improve own performance based on feedback, reflective learning
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Team Working – respecting others, co-operating, negotiating/persuading, contributing to discussions, and awareness of interdependence with others
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Business and customer awareness – basic understanding of the key drivers for business success – including the importance of innovation and taking calculated risks – and the need to provide customer satisfaction and build customer loyalty
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Problem solving – analysing facts and situations and applying creative thinking to develop appropriate solutions
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Communication and literacy – application of literacy, ability to produce clear, structured written work and oral literacy, including listening and questioning
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Application of numeracy – manipulation of numbers, general mathematical awareness and its application to practical contexts (e.g. measuring, weighing, estimating and applying formulae)
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Application of information technology – basic IT skills, including familiarity with word processing, spread sheets, file management and use of internet search engines.
The Learning Skills Network published a report ‘Employability Skills explored’, which examined the issue of employability skills. They concluded that any definition of employability skills must reflect the mix of skills, attributes and behaviours necessary to find and sustain employment. The acquisition of employability skills should be seen as a continuum of learning that supports job progression, not just entry into the workforce. Two of the key points from the Learning Skills Network research: •
Employers want young people entering their first job to be good at timekeeping, possess literacy skills and numeracy skills, and show enthusiasm and commitment
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Employers are struggling to recruit school and college leavers with the skills they need for their businesses.
The local dimension In July 2011 the Berkshire Education Business Partnership Organisation (EBPO) undertook a survey of businesses in the region on the subject of ‘work readiness’ of young people as experienced by employers in Berkshire. The survey was undertaken by 182 respondents, of which 55% were in the private sector, covering a range of businesses from small local employers to large global corporations. The remainder of the survey sample was made up of public sector, education (themselves responding as employers rather than educationalists), third sector and organisations that did not specify their business environment. Feedback from respondents highlighted specific needs and concerns in the following areas: •
Literacy and Numeracy – skills were either weak or required significant training, there seemed to be a consistent lack of understanding of how to apply basic skills to simple tasks such as letter writing
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Reliability – the students struggled to complete a day’s work, failed to arrive on time and were inclined to high levels of sick leave
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Communications – on a positive note the students were unafraid of interacting with senior staff, but often used inappropriate communication styles in those interactions. Similarly they were effective ‘social media’ and ‘text’ communicators but were unable to demonstrate those skills within a business context
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Initiative – students seemed unsure how to complete tasks if they were not monitored, although they were prepared to ‘have a go’, they were easily distracted and gave up if things became challenging
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Positive contribution – the businesses generally felt that having a student in the workplace changed the dynamics in a positive way, challenging traditional thinking and introducing new ideas. The IT literacy demonstrated by students was seen as a positive and something that had the potential for development in the workplace.
Despite these concerns employers in the survey locally, as with the national picture, are very committed to work placements. Employers locally are prepared to invest their time in practical ways to help students and education providers to understand the needs of the market, and many felt that it is particularly important to ensure information was current and relevant. One independent think tank perspective DEMOS is by no mean the only think tank offering ideas on this subject but it does offer a thought-provoking perspective. Demos has established itself as one of the leading independent think tanks in British politics. It recently published ‘The Forgotten Half’, which looks at the work opportunities of the 50% of young people who do not go to University. ‘The Forgotten Half’ explores the school to work transitions of these young people. It found the educational offer to be severely lacking and made recommendations about how to provide the ‘employment premiums’ that would give this forgotten half of young people a fair shot at the labour market. It proposed that this can be achieved in a variety of ways: through technical education such as apprenticeships, cultivation of soft skills, improved literacy and numeracy, and through work itself. The report highlights issues such as lack of activities (within school) that build capabilities, lack of work-related learning, poor business engagement, issues with advice and guidance (which is also identified as a cause for concern within the CBI Reports) and failings in the vocational offer (though this is slightly at odds with the CBI recommendations). There is a degree of overlap between the Demos report ‘premiums’ and the employability skills presented by the CBI (although these are pitched in terms of individuals’ needs more than those of employers). These are as follows:
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‘The character premium’ – capabilities and soft skills, such as the ability to communicate effectively, apply oneself to the task, commit to long term goals and work effectively in a team, are now as important as academic ability in predicting earnings at the age of 30
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‘The literacy and numeracy premium’ – literacy and numeracy skills boost earnings and employment rates all other things being equal
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‘The work premium’ – work is the best way to build employability skills and early experiences of work lead to more employment over the life course
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‘The technical premium’ – training and education to level 3 (A levels or equivalent) yields a substantial wage return – for example, completing a level 3 apprenticeship. Depending on the qualifications, training schemes and degrees, level 3 qualifications can yield wage returns similar to university degrees
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‘The graduate premium’ – graduates (on average) gain a wage premium of £100,000 over the course of their lives. The skills that provide access to these premiums are the best insurance we can provide for young people at risk of becoming NEET.
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Work Readiness’ and ‘Employability’ – What does some of the research tell us?
CBI Overall ‘Employability Skills’
70% of employers want to see the development of employability skills for young people at school and college made a priority.
EBP Employers are very committed to the concept of work placements, with over 77% prepared to participate in future engagement.
Learning Skills Network
DEMOS recommendation
25% of employers who take on school leavers find them poorly or very poorly prepared for work.
Provide more one to one support around employability skills through tutorials, coaching and mentoring.
20% of employers who take on college leavers find them poorly or very poorly prepared for work
High quality work experience and employability skills training; including opportunities for high quality practical and vocational learning.
Employers say young people lack ‘employability’ skills
The teaching of specific ‘employability skills’ like CV writing and interview techniques. Meaningful work experience. High quality information, advice and guidance on work and careers. Business engagement in education.
Self-Management Skills (e.g. Problem solving, enthusiasm,
55% of employers experienced weakness in school leaver’s selfmanagement skills.
Students seem unsure how to complete tasks if they are not monitored; although they were
Employers say young people lack selfmanagement skills.
Personal coaching models in schools should be expanded to help develop ‘soft skills’ and employability skills, particularly 6
commitment, initiative, resilience).
prepared to have a go, they were easily distracted. With regard to flexibility skills employers did note that students were ‘prepared to have a go’.
75% of employers want young people to show enthusiasm and commitment.
among young people at risk of becoming NEET.
Communication Skills
The CBI has identified communication skills as a core employability skill – this is the ability to produce clear, structured written work and oral literacy including listening and questioning.
Employers noted that’ on a positive note, young people were confident with senior staff; however they often used inappropriate communication styles.
Employers ranked good communication skills as a priority.
Readdressing the balance between academic knowledge and practical ability by delivering the national curriculum through project learning that emphasises communication skills, teamwork, negotiating and problem solving.
Reliability
Employers are looking for young people to have an understanding of the workplace disciplines around timekeeping and attendance.
The students struggled to complete a working day, failed to arrive on time and were inclined to high levels of sick leave.
80% of employers view good timekeeping/ reliability as a key attribute/characteristic.
Engaging and creative activities that build ‘soft skills’ and ‘character capabilities’ through practical learning, enterprise and entrepreneurship and community based learning.
Numeracy/Literacy
35% of employers are unhappy with levels of numeracy.
Numeracy skills were either weak or required significant training.
Employers want young people to possess good numeracy and literacy skills.
Develop literacy and numeracy recovery programmes at Key Stages 3 and 4.
42% of employers are not satisfied with basic literacy levels.
Literacy skills were either weak or required significant training. There seemed to be a consistent
79% said that young people must have fully developed literacy skills.
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IT Competency
65% of employers want to see standards of numeracy and literacy raised amongst 14 to 19 year olds.
lack of understanding of how to apply basic skills to simple tasks such as letter writing.
88% of employers are satisfied or very satisfied with the IT skills of young people.
Employers said that young people had excellent IT skills.
77% of employers prioritised numeracy skills.
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