Enterprise and employability skills

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The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) defines employability as follows:

"...the possession by an individual of the qualities and competences required to meet the changing needs of employers and customers and thereby help to realise his or her aspirations and potential in work".

The "qualities and competences" identified by the CBI include the following:

  • values and attitudes compatible with the work - including a desire to learn, to apply that learning, to improve and to take advantage of change.
  • basic skills (literacy and numeracy).
  • key skills (communication, application of number, information technology, improving one's own learning and performance, working with others, problem solving, etc.) sufficient for the needs of the work.
  • other generic skills that are becoming increasingly 'key', such as modern language and customer-service skills.
  • up-to-date job-specific skills.
  • the ability to manage one's own career.1

 

Why is employability important?

"The current labour market is flexible and changeable, with a rising proportion of high-skill jobs and knowledge work. In this context, individuals need to maximise their employability for companies and the nation to be competitive." Making employability work: An agenda for action, CBI 1999

Now more than ever before, schools and colleges value the enterprise and employability skills that employers can help students to develop. This is due in large part to the current state of the labour market, in which employers demand that people have a large number of skills and abilities (on top of academic qualifications) if they are to be employed and remain employed.

According to the CBI Employment Trends Survey (2006):

  • 70% of employers are dissatisfied with school leavers' business awareness
  • 65% are dissatisfied with their self-management
  • 61% are dissatisfied with their foreign language skills
  • 52% are dissatisfied with their general employability skills
  • 52% are dissatisfied with their knowledge about their chosen job/career
  • 47% are dissatisfied with their attitude to work
  • 45% are dissatisfied with their basic literacy and use of English
  • 44% are dissatisfied with their basic numeracy skills.

Recent curriculum changes - particularly in secondary education - emphasise work-related learning and enterprise education in response to the demands from employers for the future workforce to have more employability skills.

The recent changes aim to prepare students aged 14-19 for a life of achievement by providing opportunities suited to all their different needs and talents. Employers have helped the Government to ensure that young people's education ensures that they are better prepared for their working lives. The new curriculum also provides many opportunities for employers to contribute directly to the curriculum.

Work experience is one aspect of work related learning and is a very popular and useful way in which employers can help students to develop their enterprise and employability skills. There are currently around 300,000 work experience placements each year. There are also many other ways in which employers can help:

 

 

1Based on In search of employability, CBI 1998