This document summarizes a survey of students, employers, and career advisors on the topic of employability. It finds that while students define employability mainly as qualifications and skills, employers emphasize soft skills and workplace experience. Career advisors believe they are responsible for developing employability, while most students and employers believe students themselves are responsible. There are opportunities for universities to better support employability through career services and collaboration with employers. Overall, improving employability requires efforts from students, universities, and employers.

1. Employability in 3-D

2. Survey emailed out to a sample of students provided by UCAS and promoted via
the guardian students network, careers advisers via the guardian professional
networks and to recruiters from the AGR and the guardian’s own database
Survey conducted between 14th May and 20th June 2013
Total sample: 533 students, 98 employers, 129 careers advisers
Objectives: To find out what employability means to students, employers
and careers advisers and how prepared students are for the world of work
Methodology

3. Employability in the news…

4. What is Employability?
Employability /ɪmˌplɔɪəˈbɪləti/ noun
The skills and abilities that allow you to be employed: There will no longer be jobs
for life, but employability for life.
Cambridge English Dictionary
Source: Cambridge English Dictionary, Wikipedia
Employability is a set of achievements – skills, understandings and personal attributes –
that makes graduates more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen
occupations, which benefits themselves, the workforce, the community and the economy.
ESECT based on Yorke 2006
Employability is not just about getting a job. Conversely, just because a student is on a
vocational course does not mean that somehow employability is automatic. Employability is
more than about developing attributes, techniques or experience just to enable a student to
get a job, or to progress within a current career. It is about learning and the emphasis is less
on ‘employ’ and more on ‘ability’. In essence, the emphasis is on developing critical, reflective
abilities, with a view to empowering and enhancing the learner.
Harvey 2003

5. What does employability mean to students?
“The qualities that employers look for in terms of skills, experience and
personality - work ethic and cooperation”
“How employable someone is - measured by a certain set of skills of a high
level, including social, verbal, written, analytical, numerical, and problem
solving. Ideally they would also have some further education and relevant
experience”
“To me it means having the qualifications required to be employed”

6. …but do employers agree?
“Understanding yourself, the sector and the role you are applying for and
making your case lucidly”
“Someone that may still need training, but has the necessary understanding
of how businesses work, how to conduct themselves in the work place, a
willingness to get stuck in , learn and grow”
"Soft skills" are often lacking in new graduates. Graduates have often not
had enough experience outside the academic world to be immediately useful
to us as an employer. Graduates who have come to us from European
universities normally have much more to offer then their UK equivalents”

7. What skills make you more employable?

8. Key differences in opinion…
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
students
employers
careers advisers

9. Discussion Point 1…
“What are the key skills that need
developing to ultimately improve
success amongst graduates, and how
can they be developed?”

10. Employability advice & training
51%
of students have used their university careers advice
service and 3% were not aware that their university offered
this service
of employers think that careers advisers aren’t doing
enough to help get students ready for employment
of students said that their careers advisory service
has been useful in supporting employability training
29%
69%

11. Discussion Point 2…
“The role of the Careers Advisory Service –
how can the universities improve the
employability of their students by working
both with the students themselves, and
employers?”

12. 42%
of students think that the responsibility for developing
employability lies with them
of employers think that the responsibility for developing
employability lies with students
of careers advisers think that the responsibility for
developing employability lies with careers advisers.
38% of them think it’s the students’ responsibility
60%
42%
Who is ultimately responsible for improving
employability?

13. Final Discussion Point
“What can be done by each group to
improve students’ understanding of
employability and ultimately to improve
employment success rates?”