http://employability.shu.ac.uk/resources/Carl%20Gilleard

EMPLOYABILITY FOR THE FUTURE – THE EMPLOYERS’ PERSPECTIVES

Carl Gilleard Chief Executive, AGR

Background to AGR Mission: To set the agenda for change in graduate recruitment and development • •

Not-for-profit membership organisation 800 plus members - blue-chip companies -

• •

public sector charities universities supply firms

Recruit 30,000 graduates into graduate level jobs annually Services include: - research -

•

training conferences information and advice networking representation

www.agr.org.uk

Membership includes ASDA

Atkins

Barclays

BP International

Cabinet Office

Caterpillar

Clifford Chance

Danone

Diageo

Enterprise Rent-A-Car

GlaxoSmithKline

Google

Hilton Hotels

Innocent

JP Morgan

Kerry Foods

Kier

Lloyd’s Register

Marks & Spencer

McKinsey & Company

Metropolitan Police

Mitsubishi

National Grid

Norwich Union

Oxfam GB

PricewaterhouseCoopers Rolls-Royce

Scottish & Newcastle

Shell

Skanska UK

Standard Life

Teach First

Tesco

Thomas Cook

Virgin Transatlantic

Wincanton Logistics

Sheffield Hallam University

In the world of work – Change is the only constant and the only certainty is uncertainty

The changing world of work •

Globalisation

•

Technology

•

Demography

•

Environment

•

Business and people expectations

The changing business world •

Increasingly diverse business sectors -

global local public, private, not-for-profit large, medium, small, sole traders

•

Customer driven

•

Switch from manufacturing to service

•

Increasingly competitive

“India wants your lunch and China wants your dinner” Professor Richard Scase

Changes at work will impact on: •

What we do

•

How we do it

•

When we do it

•

Where we do it

•

The speed at which change occurs and how we cope with it

•

The demand for skills, knowledge and understanding The knowledge economy demands a better educated, more highly skilled and flexible workforce

The working environment in the future •

The war for top talent will continue unabated

•

Work performance will be judged on results, not time spent

•

Roles will be defined by behaviours and outcomes rather than tasks

•

Greater emphasis on project working and networking

•

Many workers will have more than one boss

•

Some will have more than one employer

•

More of us will work remotely

Careers in the future •

The end of a ‘job for life’

•

Start later, end later

•

Most will have several careers

•

Many graduates will go into ‘non-graduate’ jobs

•

Flatter structures, fewer promotions

•

More flexibility and less certainty

The new language of careers FROM

TO

Clarity

Fog

Ladders

Bridges

Employer

Customer

Career

Portfolio

Progression

Personal growth

Rising income and security

Remaining employable

Training

Life long learning

Boss

Bosses / self employed

Time spent

Results

Job description

Project working

“No such thing as a career path.

It’s crazy paving and you have to lay it yourself!”

If Only I’d Known

“A degree is merely a license to hunt” If Only I’d Known

Recruitment in the future •

Much of it online – marketing, applications, selection

•

Borderless

•

Competition is the name of the game

•

Employer expectations will continue to rise

•

Qualifications will open the door to opportunities

•

Skills will let you in

What will employers look for in graduates?

•

Some jobs will demand specific degrees, many won’t

•

A good degree plus

•

Skills (technical/generic)

•

Personal attributes

•

Work experience

•

Impressive applications

“Hire for attitude first, and specific skills second” Jonathan Winter and Tony DiRonualdo Manifesto for the New Age Workforce

Which generic skills?  Team working

 Planning and organisation

 Oral communication

 Leadership

 Computer literacy

 Cultural sensitivity

 Flexibility

 Managed own learning

 Problem solving

 Project management

 Risk taking/enterprise

 Written communication skills

 Numeracy

 Second language

 Commercial awareness

 Customer Focus

 Analysis and decision making skills

“Have you got Oomph?”

The key challenges ahead •

Managing expectations

•

Mismatch between what is on offer and what is sought

•

Comparability of qualifications

•

Mobility

•

Work/life balance

•

The desire to succeed

•

Global competition

“The labour market has changed beyond recognition in the last decade; in a word it has gone global. If businesses can’t find the skills or work attitudes that they need in a national workplace, they can perfectly well recruit elsewhere. They don’t have to hire people from the UK education system. And they don’t have to locate their activities in the UK.” Richard Lambert Director General of the CBI

The current graduate employment scene – first the good news Graduate Vacancies – trends (2000-2008) 14.7%

2000 2001 2002 2003

14.6% -6.5% -3.4%

2004

15.5% 5.1%

2005 2006

5.2% 12.7%

2007

16.4%

2008 -10%

-5%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

Applications per graduate vacancy received by AGR employers in 2007

More than 150 applications per graduate vacancy 101-150 applications per graduate vacancy

4%

Mean: 29.2 applications

6%

51-100 applications per graduate vacancy

20% 25%

26-50 applications per graduate vacancy 11-25 applications per graduate vacancy

29% 17%

1-10 applications per graduate vacancy 0%

5%

10% 15%

20% 25% 30% 35%

Then the not so good news Recruitment shortfall in 2007

Yes 43.5% 60%

Average - 14.2 vacancies per company that experienced

51.1%

a

50%

recruitment shortfall were left unfilled

40% 30%

24.4%

20% 8.8%

7.7%

10%

2.2%

3.3%

2.2%

51-100 vacancies

More than 100 vacancies

0% 1-5 vacancies

6-10 vacancies

11-15 vacancies

21-30 vacancies

31-50 vacancies

No 56.5%

And even worse news Potential shortfalls in 2008 Graduates' perceptions of the industry sector

55.9%

Not enough applicants with the right skills

55.9% 55.9%

Challenges in specific geographical regions

52.4%

Not enough applicants with the right qualifications

Yes 67.1%

43.4%

Limited resources to market graduate vacancies properly

33.8%

Late change in the business's requirements

Yes 29.4%

25.5%

Graduate starting salaries not competitive enough

No 32.9%

16.5%

Candidate drop-out because No selection and assessment 75.1% Graduate training and development programme

70.6%

13.8% 0.7% 21.4%

Other 0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Some final thoughts

What do you do with a BA in English?

What is my life going to be?

Four years at college And plenty of knowledge Have earned me this useless degree.

I can’t pay the bills yet Cause I have no skills yet The world is a big scary place.

But somehow I can’t shake The feeling I might make A difference to the human race.

Avenue Q

“To be employed is to be at risk To be employable is to be secure”

A practical definition of employability •

The ability to get a job Requiring a set of skills specific to applying for and succeeding in securing a job/career (research, making choices, self-marketing, communicating, convincing)

•

To do it well The skills to succeed in a job (self-efficacy, technical skills, soft skills, flexibility, willingness to learn and take control)

•

Then to get another job Moving on when the time is right or managing change when the time is wrong (career management, decision making, positioning, networking, coping with change, self-efficacy)

•

And another Understanding that change is the only constant and seeing change as an opportunity rather than a threat (career management, positive attitude, including I CAN)

QUESTIONS?