By 2009 ‘soft skills’ were receiving more focus. The CBI produced a report, Future Fit, which highlighted best practice from universities and addressed how graduate employability skills should be improved. The evidence the report generated showed that where universities set aside budgets and staff to engage with employers, it brought real benefits to students in preparing them appropriately for working life. The firms themselves also benefited from engaging with universities, by raising their recruitment profile and developing existing staff (through management and mentoring).
In 2013, nearly a third of young people (31%) starting their working lives were not confident that they had the appropriate skills. Work experience was felt to be the leading weakness (71%); this view was backed by employers, who felt that students needed better careers advice, more work experience and engagement with businesses (50% were happy to be involved in partnerships with HE institutions to develop this), through national programmes and more concentrated, local, careers resources.
Employability skills and a positive attitude top of the list for recruiters There are other factors that firms have considered over the past ten years when recruiting graduates. ‘Employability skills’ and a ‘positive attitude’ (82% and 85% respectively) are the attributes which regularly top the list of ‘important factors’ that companies have when choosing to employ those with a degree.
Work experience is also a key to gaining employment (62% of companies agree) Traditional work experience placements, for one week or two, are by far the most common way for young people to gain experience (89% of firms offer this). Paid internships (46%), job shadowing (37%), work on a specific project (35%) and simulated exercises (21%) also figured in their offerings. Work experience aids students by making them work ready, giving them commercial awareness and ensuring they are aware of their personal suitability for a chosen path.
Universities: It’s ‘what’ not ‘where’ that matters
The subject studied by an individual is crucial to allow graduates to ‘keep doors open’. This view has been consistently espoused by employers through the survey, with 61% (10-year average) of firms citing this as vital to their recruitment decision. This is significantly more than the weight of importance placed on a graduates’ degree classification (49% on average, though notably this has increased from 28% in 2009 to 65% in 2017) or the name of the institution at which they studied (just 11% of employers view this as one of the most important factors at recruitment).
The average graduate will earn around 23% more than their peers holding two or more A-Levels (PriceWaterhouseCoopers report) and careers advice should focus on encouraging students to choose subjects that will offer a wide range of transferable skills, as they are unlikely to stay in one sector for the entirety of their career (and even less likely to stay within one company). Universities have an important role to play in getting the message across to students about the importance of shaping their employability skills and behaviours early and finding ways (through work experience placements and internships, for example) of developing and practising these essential skills. They should also reflect on the experience alongside the student, helping them to internalise and articulate what they have experienced.
Employers stated business-relevant courses should be one of the most pressing concerns for higher education. They urged universities to build more work-related content into programmes, to encourage greater student awareness of the skills they need and how to acquire them. Graduate recruitment has risen throughout the decade, with the attitude of graduates and the basic skills they demonstrate still being the key to success. Businesses want students to develop business-relevant skills whilst undertaking undergraduate courses, in order that students can become ‘job- ready’.
The number of young people in higher education has, in 2016/17, stabilised after a long, sustained period of growth. However, the statistics show that 87% of graduates at working-age are in employment, compared to only 70% of non-graduates – so, gaining a degree does have an effect on employability rates. It can be seen that degree- level study improves basic skills in numeracy, literacy and IT – areas that are consistently rated by employers to be crucial to help them meet strategic objectives.
Employers have high expectations of graduates
This can be noted by the number of companies who rate themselves as ‘very satisfied’ with the skills demonstrated by the graduates they have recruited. Whilst universities do, it would appear, develop students far beyond the level of school leavers and, in areas such as IT, numeracy and literacy, over and above other non-graduates, there is room for improvement. IT skills (circa 34%), application of numeracy (22%) and communication and literacy skills (21%) are the areas in which employers are the most satisfied with graduates. Other employability skills, particularly the soft skills necessary for the workplace, are in need of improvement and employers would like to see universities take greater action in developing their graduates’ abilities in the following areas: teamwork (only 12% of employers are very satisfied with their graduates’ skills), problem solving (a mere 11% of employers are very satisfied with their graduates’ skills), self-management/ resilience (10% of employers are very satisfied with their graduates’ skills) and business awareness (5% of employers are very satisfied with their graduates’ skills).
To date, universities have made impressive ground, working with employers to design, develop and deliver degree programmes and equip students with the skills that graduate employers are looking for. I certainly look forward to seeing continued progress in this area and welcome the news for today’s graduates.
TheStudentEmployer
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