EMPLOYABILITY FOR THE FUTURE – EMPLOYABILITY FOR THE FUTURE – THE EMPLOYERS’ PERSPECTIVESTHE EMPLOYERS’ PERSPECTIVES

Carl GilleardCarl GilleardChief Executive, AGRChief 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 includesMembership 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

• 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

Changes at work will impact on:

• 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

The working environment 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

Careers in the future

The new language of careersThe 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

• 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

Recruitment in the future

• Some jobs will demand specific degrees, many won’t

• A good degree plus

• Skills (technical/generic)

• Personal attributes

• Work experience

• Impressive applications

What will employers look for in graduates?

“Hire for attitude first, and

specific skills second”Jonathan Winter and Tony DiRonualdoManifesto for the New Age Workforce

Which generic skills?Which generic skills?

Team working

Oral communication

Computer literacy

Flexibility

Problem solving

Risk taking/enterprise

Numeracy

Commercial awareness

Analysis and decision making skills

Planning and organisation

Leadership

Cultural sensitivity

Managed own learning

Project management

Written communication skills

Second language

Customer Focus

“Have you got Oomph?”

• 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 key challenges ahead

“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

14.7%

5.1%

15.5%

-3.4%

-6.5%

12.7%

5.2%

16.4%

14.6%

-10% -5% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20%

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

Graduate Vacancies – trends (2000-2008)Graduate Vacancies – trends (2000-2008)

The current graduate employment scene – first the good newsThe current graduate employment scene – first the good news

Applications per graduate vacancy received byApplications per graduate vacancy received byAGR employers in 2007AGR employers in 2007

17%

29%

25%

20%

6%

4%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%

1-10 applications per graduate vacancy

11-25 applications per graduate vacancy

26-50 applications per graduate vacancy

51-100 applications per graduate vacancy

101-150 applications per graduate vacancy

More than 150 applications per graduate vacancyMean: 29.2 applications

Recruitment shortfall in 2007Recruitment shortfall in 2007

51.1%

24.4%

7.7%

2.2%

8.8%

3.3% 2.2%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

1-5vacancies

6-10vacancies

11-15vacancies

21-30vacancies

31-50vacancies

51-100vacancies

More than100

vacancies

Average - 14.2 vacancies per company that experienced a recruitment shortfall were left unfilled

Yes 43.5%

No 56.5%

Then the not so good newsThen the not so good news

Potential shortfalls in 2008Potential shortfalls in 2008

No 75.1%

Yes 29.4%

70.6%

55.9%

55.9%

52.4%

43.4%

33.8%

25.5%

16.5%

13.8%

0.7%

21.4%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Graduates' perceptions of the industry sector

Not enough applicants with the right skills

Challenges in specific geographical regions

Not enough applicants with the right qualifications

Limited resources to market graduate vacancies properly

Late change in the business's requirements

Graduate starting salaries not competitive enough

Candidate drop-out because selection and assessment

Graduate training and development programme

Other

Yes 67.1%

No 32.9%

And even worse newsAnd even worse news

55.9%

What do you do with a BA in English?What is my life going to be?

Four years at collegeAnd plenty of knowledge

Have earned me this useless degree.I can’t pay the bills yet

Cause I have no skills yetThe world is a big scary place.

But somehow I can’t shakeThe feeling I might make

A difference to the human race.

Avenue Q

Some final thoughts

“To be employed is to be at risk

To be employable is to be secure”

• 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)

A practical definition of employability

QUESTIONS?