A new practical model of graduate employability

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A new practical model of graduate employability

• Lorraine Dacre Pool Peter Sewell
• Centre for Employability
• University of Central Lancashire

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Learning outcomes

• to be introduced to a new model of graduate
  employability
• to understand how the model could be used in a
  practical way

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What is employability?

• Have a chat to the person next to you about what
  you think makes an employable graduate.

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What is employability?

• For some, it is simply about getting a job.
• Graduate first destinations statistics.
• Increasingly being used interchangeably with
  enterprise which in turn is confused with
  entrepreneurship.

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What is employability?

• An ill-thought out concept infused with more
  hope than substance. (Pascale, 1995)
• It is one of the few words that has gone from
  cliché to jargon without the intermediate stage
  of meaning.
• (Rajan, Van Eupen, Chapple Lane, 2000)
• Cited in Rothwell, A Arnold, J (2007),
  Self-perceived employability development and
  validation of a scale. Personnel Review, Vol 36,
  No1, pp 23-41.

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What is employability?

• According to Hillage Pollard (1998)
• In simple terms, employability is about being
  capable of getting and keeping fulfilling work.
  More comprehensively employability is the
  capability to move self-sufficiently within the
  labour market to realise potential through
  sustainable employment.

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Models of employability

• Hillage Pollards four elements consist of
• Employability assets (knowledge, skills and
  attitudes)
• Deployment (career management skills, including
  job search skills)
• Presentation (job getting skills, e.g. CV writing
  and interview techniques)
• Personal circumstances (family responsibilities
  and external factors, e.g. opportunities in the
  current labour market)

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Models of employability

• Bennett, Dunne Carré (1999) proposed a model
  of course provision in higher education.
• Disciplinary content knowledge
• Disciplinary skills
• Workplace awareness
• Workplace experience
• Generic skills

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Models of employability

• Yorke Knights (2004) USEM model
• Understanding
• Skills (or Skilful practices)
• Efficacy beliefs
• Metacognition

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Employability a definition

• Employability is having a set of skills,
  knowledge, understanding and personal attributes
  that make a person more likely to choose and
  secure occupations in which they can be satisfied
  and successful.
• (Dacre Pool Sewell, 2007)

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The essential components of graduate employability
Dacre Pool Sewell (2007)
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Model Components

• Degree subject knowledge, understanding and
  skills.
• A central concept in the model. Employers will
  judge graduates on the basis of how well they
  have completed their degree course.

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Model Components

• Generic skills (may be referred to as core
  skills, key skills or transferable skills.)
• e.g.
• adaptability/flexibility
• willingness to learn
• working in a team
• good communication (oral and written)
• numeracy

The Pedagogy for Employability Group (2004)
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Model Components

• Emotional Intelligence, defined by Goleman
  (1998) as
• the capacity for recognising our own feelings
  and those of others, for motivating ourselves,
  and for managing our emotions well in ourselves
  and in our relationships.

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Model Components

• Emotional Intelligence, defined by Mayer,
  Salovey Caruso (2004) as
• the capacity to reason about emotions, and of
  emotions to enhance thinking. It includes the
  abilities to accurately perceive emotions, access
  and generate emotions so as to assist thought, to
  understand emotions and emotional knowledge, and
  to reflectively regulate emotions so as to
  promote emotional and intellectual growth.

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Model Components

• Career Development Learning
• DOTS model

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Model Components

• Experience Work and Life
• Work experience (graduates with work experience
  are more likely to secure employment than
  graduates without).
• Benefits of work experience.
• Importance of wider life experience too
  (particularly for mature students).

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Model Components

• Reflection and Evaluation
• Providing students with the opportunities to gain
  the necessary skills, knowledge, understanding
  and attributes is obviously important, but so too
  is providing opportunities for reflection on and
  evaluation of the learning experiences that have
  taken place.
• Personal Development Planning.

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Model Components

• Self-efficacy
• Self-confidence
• Self-esteem

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CareerEDGE a new model of graduate employability
Dacre Pool Sewell (2007)
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References

• Bennett, N Dunne, E Carré , C (1999).
  Patterns of core and generic skills provision in
  higher education, Higher Education, Vol 37, pp
  71-93.
• Dacre Pool, L Sewell, P (2007). The Key to
  Employability. Developing a practical model of
  graduate employability. Education Training,
  Vol 49, No 4, pp 277-289.
• Goleman, D (1998). Working with emotional
  intelligence. Bloomsbury, London.
• Hillage, J Pollard, E (1998). Employability
  Developing a Framework for Policy Analysis.
  Research Brief No 85. London, Department for
  Education and Employment.
• Knight, P Yorke, M (2004). Learning,
  Curriculum and Employability in Higher Education,
  RoutledgeFalmer, London.
• Mayer, J D, Salovey, P Caruso, D R (2004).
  Emotional Intelligence Theory, Findings and
  Implications. Psychological Inquiry, Vol 15, No
  3, pp 197-215.
• Pascale, R (1995). In search of the new
  employment contract, Human Resources,
  November/December, pp 21-6. Cited in Rothwell, A
  Arnold, J (2007), Self-perceived employability
  development and validation of a scale. Personnel
  Review, Vol 36, No1, pp 23-41.
• Rajan, A Van Eupen, P Chapple, K Lane, D
  (2000). Employability Bridging the Gap Between
  Rhetoric and Reality, First Report Employers
  Perspective, Create Consultancy/Professional
  Development Foundation, London. Cited in
  Rothwell, A Arnold, J (2007), Self-perceived
  employability development and validation of a
  scale. Personnel Review, Vol 36, No1, pp 23-41.
• The Pedagogy for Employability Group (2004).
  Pedagogy for Employability.