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
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?