Employability and post-HE progression

Paul BlackmoreHead of Employability & Graduate DevelopmentUniversity of Exeter

Laura WhitmoreStudent, University of Exeter

Cornwall Campus, 1st February 2012

Agenda

What is employability? What do employers want? What do students want? What do (pre-) students need to do? A note on work experience Decision-making tools & information A student’s perspective…

What is employability?

“a set of achievements ¾ skills, understandings and personal attributes ¾ that make graduates more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations, which benefits themselves, the workforce,

the community and the economy.”

HE Academy et al.

or meeting the needs of employers…

Reported observation within graduates of most ‘important’ skills required by employers:

• business acumen (41%)• leadership (41%)• decision making (42%) • influencing/negotiating skills (42%).

What do employers want?

What do employers want?

• 1-in-5 jobs require a degree (70% in Professional Services!)

• 82% rate employability skills as the highest recruitment factor CBI/EDI (2011) Education and Skills Survey: Building for Growth -business priorities for education and skills

• Large companies (AGR) received an average of 83.2 applications per vacancy in 2010-11; an increase of 14.7 per vacancy in one year

…but AGR only represent 10% of the vacancies out there!

• 60-70% of jobs are open to graduates with any degree…

What do employers want?

How relevant is your degree to your 'chosen' profession? What impact do you feel it has had on your professional life?

“I got a BA in Archaeology which stood me in excellent stead as a BLANK. It's similarly useful in my current role which is BLANK”

“However, I loved studying that degree and the varied nature of the degree means that I apply some of the teaching every day in my work or play. it has enabled me to stay something of a generalist as opposed to selecting then having to maintain more discrete and vocational skills.“

Exeter Alumnus, Operations DirectorGlobal Business Group, Fujitsu

“to globalise the operations of a Japanese IT giant…”

“an attack helicopter pilot”

What do employers want?

Health warning: this represents

100 large employers –

what about the 4 million SMEs?

What do students want?

How do these expectations match reality?

What do students want?

Get a good degree +

PTS (Personal Transferable Skills i.e. graduate skills) +

Career Management Skills (CV/application writing, interview skills etc.) +

Work-Related Learning / Work Experience +

Enterprise skills & Commercial Awareness _____________________

Self-efficacy=

Graduate Job

What do (pre-)students need to do?Form

ula for career success

What do (pre-)students need to do?

Self-awareness

Opportunity

Awareness

Decision-making

Transition learning Information

Self Opportunity

Knowledge Qualifications

Skills Competencies

Attitude Culture

Aspiration Prospects/labour market

What do (pre-)students need to do? Choosing a course or University:

• Investigate ‘degree’ employment destinations

• Consider type of course: vocational vs

non-vocational

• Assess ability of programme and University to

assist with ‘formula for success’ criteria

• Have a ‘Plan B’!

What do students need to do?

http://www.exeter.ac.uk/employability/students/careerplanning/timeline/

A note on work experience• Work experience is essential to secure graduate level

employment;• All employers want evidence of it.• The more the better and; it leads on to better quality

placements and sometimes offers a graduate job;• 85% of AGR members offered placement or internship

programmes in 2009-10;• 20% filled +60% of graduate vacancies with previous

year’s interns.• The more developed a student’s ‘network’ before

University, the easier it is to secure work experience.

Decision-making tools & information • Visit HE careers services (websites and libraries)

• Key Information Sets; Unistats.com; (NSS; DLHE)

• Graduate Prospects

• Prospects Planner; Labour Market Information

• ‘If only I’d known’ Carl Gilleard...

• Watch out for the Wilson Review

• http://www.wilsonreview.co.uk

• What about league tables?

Lies, damn lies and league tablesTop 10 Comparator Performance (Times GUG methodology)

QS World Rankings:Employer survey- 100th, 2011 - 117th, 2010

International Student Barometer:• No.1 for careers advice in UK

6th – English Ivy League (% AAB+ tariff); Sunday Times

A student’s perspective…

Laura WhitmoreStudent, University of Exeter