[lg policy] A common language to help youth employability

[Harold Schiffman]

A common language to help youth employability

By Lizzie Crowley, Skills Policy Adviser at the CIPD

*National Careers Week *(4–9 March) aims to underscore the importance of
quality careers education in schools and colleges across the UK. Careers
guidance is crucial for young people as transitioning from education into
the labour market can be a daunting prospect. Ensuring they are equipped
with the right skills, knowledge and experience to succeed in today’s fast
changing world has never been more important.

What then are the skills employers are looking for? Increasingly,
recruitment is being built on behaviour and strengths, with employers
attracted to broader ‘employability’ skills. Employers do this with the
expectation that prospective employees will then have to train for the more
job-specific skills that their organisation needs. These ‘employability’
skills include communication, literacy and numeracy, attitude, resilience
and collaboration, in addition to digital skills, project management,
financial understanding and critical thinking. It is important that young
people looking to enter the labour market can demonstrate these kinds of
skills.

The lack of a common language and framework on how to describe and develop
these skills is proving an obstacle for employers and educators. Given the
significant number of stakeholders involved (ranging from schools, training
providers, qualification bodies, government agencies, employers and
recruitment agencies), this is not a straightforward fix. At the CIPD, we
have brought together Enabling Enterprise, The Gatsby Foundation, the
Careers and Enterprise Company and BITC to launch the Essential Skills
Taskforce. The group aims to achieve a recognised and broad employability
framework – agreed and acted upon by both employers and education
providers.

*So what role can HR professionals play?*

HR professionals can have an enormous impact on the employability of young
people. With the knowledge and insight obtained from an HR career,
practitioners can support young people in several ways to successfully
transition from education to the workplace:

   - By becoming an Enterprise Adviser: Senior business volunteers are
   matched with a school or college to provide local labour market insight and
   advice on how to connect to other local employers. CIPD members interested
   in volunteering can register their interest at
   cipdenterpriseadvisers.co.uk <http://www.cipdenterpriseadvisers.co.uk/>.
   - Acknowledging and promoting the business benefits of providing advice
   and support to young people entering the workforce.
   - Ensuring quality and beneficial work experience and volunteering
   opportunities which offer effective insight into your industry.
   - Using your knowledge and experience to help young people prepare for
   the recruitment process. This could be through assisting with CV writing,
   interview techniques and job searching.
   - Reviewing your recruitment process to ensure that it is accessible and
   as youth friendly as possible.
   - Contact local schools and colleges to help bridge the gap between
   education and business – allowing your organisation to reach new talent
   pools.


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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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