what can job search look like in the future? carole still coventry university london campus 1 11 dec...
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What can job search look like in the future?
Carole Still
Coventry University London Campus
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11 Dec 2013
Digital innovation in job search – enabling tools for the furthest from work
Coming up…
1. Current toolbox test
2. National Grid case study
3. The Perfect Storm (of exclusion)
4. Employability – “Triangular tensions”
5. A better tool for the future
2wwwOEStandard.org
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Current Toolbox Test Q.1What are A-levels for?
“The purpose of A-levels is to prepare people for university”
wwwOEStandard.org
Michael GoveSecretary of State for EducationJuly 2010 - Festival of Education speech
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“A good grade in English GCSE proves that a person possesses good communication skills”
wwwOEStandard.org
In conversation with an ex Secretary of State for EducationDec 2012
Current Toolbox Test Q.2 What is a good proxy for a person’s communication skills?
5wwwOEStandard.org
Current Toolbox Test Q.3What 3 things do these 2 people* have in common?
* and many othersin Government and opposition
1) Passionate about improving outcomes for young people
2) Conviction that academic grades = employability
6wwwOEStandard.org
Current Toolbox Test Q.4What do employers want/need grades to be capable of?
A proxy for workplace effectivness(a.k.a. “Employability”)
7wwwOEStandard.org
Current Toolbox Test Q.5Are GCSEs, A-levels, degrees etc. good proxies for employability?
No!… but it’s the only convenient, recognised and
quantitative tool employers have at their disposal
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National Grid
wwwOEStandard.org
9000 Applicants
38Vacancies
We can’t even read 9000 CVs!
So (reluctantly) grade-based screening it is
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The Perfect Storm (of exclusion)
wwwOEStandard.org
Grade inflation
“We already embed employability in our
curriculum”
25 years of CBI surveys (saying the same thing)
You get what you measure, but who measures employability?
Lack of tools beyond grades - which aren’t fit for purpose
Career academics teaching work skills
➜ Youth disengage from a game they don’t feel able to
play or feel isnot relevant
to their life chances
10wwwOEStandard.org
100% Employers - We need it
75% Universities - Not our job82% Employers - It’s your job
96% Educationalists - We give it18% Students - We get it
Employability - Triangular Tensions
CBI / UUK Future Fit (2009)
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Future toolbox must:
wwwOEStandard.org
• Be Employer led and defined
• Be Compatible with academic practice
• Have Buy-in from, and responsibility shared by:
• Students and young job seekers• Academia• Employers
• Solve the “GCSE as proxy” problem
• Provide Fresh opportunity for young job seekers & those furthest from the market
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Open Employability Standard
wwwOEStandard.org
1. Define Employability
2. Train & Assess Employability
3. Hire Employability
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1. Define Employability
Competing employability taxonomies everywhere but… “There is no generally accepted skills taxonomy”
– EU Commission report, 2011
"Break down skills into smaller parts until they are no longer disagreed on“
- Proposal from JISC CETIS conference,
2005 wwwOEStandard.org
Crowd source a superset 2 levels deeper than CBI list of employability skills
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2. Train & Assess Employability
• Learning outcomes & assessment criteria• Tutors and trainers can train 2 levels down• Not a single grade, but a “vector” of grades
wwwOEStandard.org
3. Hire Employability
wwwOEStandard.org
If employers are open enough to make their role weightings public, then applicants can self-select which roles to apply for.
e.g. A ‘pass’ for KPMG, but a fail for McDonalds”
oestandard.org/demo
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No more job description clichés!
“Self-motivated, problem solving team-player, who is dynamic
and results oriented …..”
wwwOEStandard.org
Employers decide the weighting of each role specific employability skills screen applicants accordingly.
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What can we create?
wwwOEStandard.org
“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills.”
A flexible, public domain taxonomy of employability skills created by employers and used by teachers,students/job-seekers, and employers alike.
Quantifying the “unquantifiable” is hard … but it’s not rocket science!
Thank You
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And exercise the “best of your energies and skills” at:
www.oestandard.org