Preparing young people for job

How we can prepare the young people of today for their

future employment

What we’ll cover

•What employers want•Why they want it•How we can help them...and

the young people studying with us

Graduate employment

•One third of all jobs require graduate level skills• Slightly less than that are at

graduate level•Bank of England – last 10

years all employment growth in graduate jobs, decline in prospects without higher education

Are we doing enough?

“…we believe the current supply of

graduates is broadly acceptable in terms of

quantity, there are question marks over

quality – especially what they’re studying and how they use what

they’ve learnt.”

What employers are looking for

Subject vs General Ability• 44% looking for specific technical knowledge,

eg: STEM• 48% take degree as indication of all-round

ability

Employability skills•Highly sought-after•Need to hit the ground running and add value•Evidence of skills in team-working,

communication, creativity, having a positive attitude, good work ethic, being punctual, reliable and able to meet deadlines.

Top 10 Skills

1. Honesty and integrity;2. Basic literacy skills;3. Basic oral communication skills (e.g. telephone skills);4. Reliability;5. Being hardworking and having a good work ethic;6. Numeracy skills;7. A positive, ‘can do’ attitude;8. Punctuality;9. The ability to meet deadlines; and10. Team working and co-operation skills

Employers most impressed by...

•Honesty and integrity (93%)• IT skills (85%)•Reliability (85%)•Ability to work in teams (82%)

...but less impressed by gaps

•Business acumen (-41%)•Leadership skills (-41%)•Decision-making (-42%)•Negotiating/influencing skills (-42%)

Where evidenced, a big “sell” for employers

Net result•Only 25% of employers believe young people

(graduates and non-graduates) are well-prepared for employment•Employability skills keenly sought• 90% of directors believe universities should do

more to enhance employability skills

Overall• 71% of companies satisfied overall with

standard (12% dissatisfied)• 68% satisfied with technical skills (9%

dissatisfied)• 55% satisfied with wider employability skills

(18% dissatisfied)

How universities compare• 51% - quality of university education good or

excellent• 31% - FE good or excellent• 22% - schools good or excellent

Recommendations•No one “right” way, but employability and

enterprise must be central to education•Embed within programmes – not an optional

extra

What Teesside University Business School is doing

•Full undergraduate review 2008/9 – “live” October 2009•Business-led approach•Designed from the customer in, rather than out

from our interests

Three big changes...• Skills embedded in programmes

– not “do you know how to do it?”, but “have you done it?”

• Leadership and mentoring module– compulsory part of every programme

• Team working assignments- having to work with people you don’t like, persuading

and influencing, presentation skills

...and the biggest one of all•Use of leading-edge business simulation

software- cross disciplinary problems- synthesising knowledge- concentrates on “real world”

application- managing in an uncertain

environment- group dynamics