Employability

“70% of employers agree that degree results alone are not the best measure of employment potential”

Quote from Graduates in the Eyes of Employers 2002

Employability is a word today in increasingly common use, especially in relation to students and graduates. When seeking a definition, it is important to establish the difference between employability and employment. ‘Employment refers to having a job, whilst employability, or being employable, refers to the qualities needed to maintain employment and progress in the workplace.’ Lees 2002

When looking to identify evidence of employability, employers seek evidence of key skills. Also known as employability, transferable or generic skills, these terms refer to competencies unrelated to a particular subject or situation.

The Enhancing Student Employability Co-ordination Team (ESECT) is a network of organisations and specialists all committed to developing student employability throughout post-16 education. Network members include:

• National Union of Students
• Association of Graduate Recruiters
• Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services
• Centre for Recording Achievement
• The Academy (formally known as Learning and Teaching Support Network)
• Academic experts in employability from a number of HEIs

The ESECT team is unique in approach as all sectors are able to hear first hand about current employability trends, needs and practices identified within other areas. It is hoped that by doing this, potential areas for cross-sector working will be identified thus increasing the volume of and quality of employability skills opportunities within post 16 education.

Download the special edition employability focused Stadium to facilitate your work within this sector. This pack has been compiled by NUS and ESECT with enormous imput from the Stadia network.

Resources

Connecting Personal Development Planning to Employability - A PowerPoint presentation on using PDP to support graduate employability.

What is Employability Card Sort handout - This card sort exercise has three stages, which may be carried out sequentially or in separate sessions: employability is, employability outcomes and techniques.

FutureSkills presentation - A PowerPoint presentation by Aberdeen University Students’ Union on future skills and employability.

Contact Lisa Widdows to discuss further: Lisa Widdows