2. In this session …
• Graduate employability – a slippery concept.
• One definition and one model.
• Some examples of measurement tools.
• Some successes.
• Conclusions.
3. So what exactly is graduate employability?
• There is a reason why it is called a slippery concept!
• Is it just about being able to gain a ‘graduate’ job?
• What is a ‘graduate’ job?
• If a graduate is unable to secure a ‘graduate’ job on
completion of their studies have we as employability
developers failed?
4. The Big Issue!
• Employment and employability are not the same (but the two
concepts are often conflated). Maybe because they both
begin with ‘employ’!
• If a graduate gains a graduate position do they have
‘employability’? – possibly … but not necessarily
• If a graduate does not gain a graduate position does that
mean they don’t have ‘employability’? – possibly … but not
necessarily.
5. Some thoughts on this issue…
• ‘Employment and employability are not the same thing. Being
employed means having a job, being employable means having
the qualities needed to maintain employment and progress
through the workplace.’ (Lees, 2002, p 3)
• ‘Employability is not just about getting a job; it is about
developing attributes, techniques, or experience for life. It is
about learning, and the emphasis is less on “employ” and more
on “ability” …’ (Harvey, 2005, p 13)
• ‘We interpret “employability” in terms of a graduate’s suitability
for appropriate employment. It is quite different from actually
getting an appropriate job, which is dependent on factors such
as the state of the economy and patterns of discrimination in the
labour market’ (Yorke & Knight, 2007, p 158).
6. It is employers who convert graduate
employability into employment …
We, as employability developers have no influence over:
• Type of HEI attended
• Student location and mobility
• Subject of study
• Previous work experience
• Age
• Ethnicity
• Gender
• Social Class
(Harvey, 2001)
7. A quote from 2001 – have we moved on
since then?
‘Given the range of independent factors that impinge on
the recruitment process and the tenuous link between
employment and employability-development opportunities
offered by institutions, it is rather surprising that intelligent
people have rushed to use employment rates of graduates
as measures of the employability-development impact of
institutions. In part, in the UK, there has been political
pressure to produce an ‘employability performance
indicator’ and the clear preference is a simple quantitative
measure based on outcomes, irrespective of whether it
actually measures anything that the institution can directly
affect.’ (Harvey, 2001, p 105)
8. Some further thoughts …
• It may be tentatively concluded that as with many of the
achievements valued by society, graduate employability is
something that resists reliable and valid measurement in this
value added way and that attempting to measure it in this
fashion is a somewhat pointless exercise. (Yorke & Knight, 2006)
• However developing models and tools to enable
students/graduates to engage with the idea of employability
and reflect on their strengths and areas for improvement is a
worthwhile endeavour. Self-evaluation is likely to be the most
useful way of approaching this task.
9. There are some published measures of
self-perceived employability out there …
• Berntson & Marklund (2007), De Vos & Soens (2008) and
Rothwell & Arnold (2007).
Examples of items:
• ‘My competence is sought-after in the labour market’ (B&M)
• ‘I believe I could easily obtain another job that would give me
a high level of satisfaction’ (DV&S)
• ‘If I needed to I could easily get another job like mine in a
similar organisation’ (R&A)
10. Futuretrack
• A longitudinal study following all who applied in 2005/6 for
a full-time place in HE.
• Latest figures released in November 2012 (stage 4).
• Graduating into one of the worst recessions in history:
– 75% thought they had learned skills that employers seek
– 78% thought their skills would help them get work
– 70% were happy with their future career options
– 96% would do it all again!
• Provides evidence of the value of studying for a degree.
(Futuretrack – Kate Purcell, Peter Elias et al from Warwick Institute for
Employment Research)
11. One definition of graduate employability
‘Employability is having a set of skills, knowledge,
understandings and personal attributes that make a person
more likely to choose, secure and retain occupations in which
they can be satisfied and successful.’
(Dacre Pool & Sewell, 2007; 2012)
12. The CareerEDGE Model of Graduate
Employability
Career Development Learning
Experience (Work & Life)
Degree Subject Knowledge, Understanding and Skills
Generic Skills
Emotional Intelligence
13. The Employability Development Profile (EDP)
• Uses CareerEDGE as a practical framework to structure
discussions around employability issues with students.
• EDP – a brief questionnaire that encourages students to
identify their employability strengths and areas for
improvement.
• It also encourages them to think of evidence to support
their strengths and develop an action plan for making
improvements.
15. Some ways we have used the EDP
• In face-to-face meetings with students so they can be directed
to services/modules/workshops that will be useful to them.
• As part of Career Development Learning taught modules.
• During employability workshops with groups of students.
• In lecture theatres (including large cohorts up to 150
students) with individual feedback via email.
• As a way of identifying useful employability related activities
for embedding into the curriculum.
• To evaluate employability interventions (note – care needed
with interpreting the data).
• As part of personal tutorial sessions – a framework for
discussions around employability.
16. Measuring some aspects of employability
development
Career Development Learning – Used the EDP pre and post
module (Planning Your Career) and found significant increases
for the CDL items.
(Dacre Pool, Qualter & Sewell, Exploring the Factor Structure of the CareerEDGE
Employability Development Profile due to be published in Volume 56 Issue 4 of
Education + Training 2014).
17. • An intervention designed to enable students to learn more
about EI as an area of academic research but also to develop
their own EI ability and confidence.
• Taught as a semester long elective module (could also be
taken as part of an employability award) – one class weekly,
with activities to complete out of the classroom.
• Assessed through an essay on EI and graduate employability
(so the students engage with the academic research and gain
a good understanding of the importance of EI in the
workplace) and a reflective EI journal.
• Students took EI tests and were given one-to-one feedback
on the results.
Emotional Intelligence
18. Measures used in the evaluation
• Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT)
pre and post taught module (this is an ability measure – not
self report)
• Emotional Self-Efficacy Scale (Kirk et al, 2008)
• Control group on unrelated elective modules took the tests at
the same times
19. • The EI students showed statistically significant increases in their
ability to understand and manage emotions (as measured by the
MSCEIT).
• The EI students showed highly significant increases in their
emotional self-efficacy (or their confidence in their EI ability).
• Full details of the study published in the journal Learning and
Individual Differences.
(Dacre Pool & Qualter, 2012)
Results
20. Conclusions
• Measuring our success as employability developers is tricky
and complex (not least because the concept itself is tricky and
complex).
• It is possible to measure some aspects of employability
development.
• Although it is difficult, we do need to continue to try and
provide evidence for the impact we have on our students’
employability development. But reliance on DHLE figures for
this purpose is unlikely to be a helpful way forward.
21. • If you are interested in using CareerEDGE or the EDP please
contact me at ldacre-pool@uclan.ac.uk
