FUTURE TALENTED Spring Term 2019 - Issue 2 | Page 21

EMPLOYABILITY
RESILIENCE PROACTIVITY PROBLEM SOLVING communication CREATIVITY LEADERSHIP ADAPTABILITY
46 % 49 % 52 % 54 % 42 % 46 % 61 %
Figure 1: Proportion of employers considering each of the seven skills as having become more important over the past 10 years
12 %
9 %
19 %
11 %
17 %
16 % 16 %
22 % 30 %
Figure 2: Proportion of employers ranking each of the employability skills as the most important now
20 %
20 %
27 %
35 %
20 %
Figure 3: Employers' views on which of the seven skills will become extremely important in the next 10 years
Skills gaps in the workforce
When it comes to current skills gaps,
employers indicate a clear deficit in
work readiness among candidates
applying for jobs in their organisations:
30% highlighted a lack of demonstrable
leadership skills, followed by resilience
(25%) and proactivity (24%).
“I don’t know any young person in
education that is taught about the
importance of leadership,” commented
businesswoman Baroness Karen Brady,
chair of the LifeSkills Advisory Council.
Tellingly, leadership and proactivity
were also the biggest concerns among
educators. Communication is the only
area in which more than 50% of
educators feel school leavers possess
the skills needed for work. Just 18% feel
their own institution is “very effective”
at developing employability skills.
Learned skills or natural
abilities?
Employers and educators concur that
the seven employability skills can be
developed through training and work
experience, particularly communication
and problem solving.
While creativity is more commonly
perceived by educators as an innate
ability (only 36% of employers think it
can be enhanced through training, as
reflected in their offerings), 91% of
educators feel that it can be
developed through education.
However, more than a third lack
confidence in doing so. Qualitative
research with educators suggests
this is because they associate
creativity with the arts and do not
see it as a skill to be fostered across
all subject areas.
Almost a third of educators also
express a lack of confidence in their
ability to develop proactivity (31%) and
leadership (30%) in their students;
employers feel similarly that proactivity
and resilience are the most difficult to
develop through training and
experience, after creativity.
A strong call was made by educators
to build the evidence base on whether
and how key employability skills could
be taught in the classroom, how these
can be accredited and whether they are
genuinely transferable.
These findings therefore raise
important questions about how the gap
in leadership, proactivity and other skills
can be met and highlight the need for
solutions to the question of how
employability skills can be taught
effectively in schools and workplaces.
Experts interviewed echoed this
need and emphasised the importance
of a resilient and adaptable workforce.
As CEO of Founders4Schools Sherry
Coutu explained: “Being able to deal
with high levels of ambiguity is
important, both for our mental health
and for our productivity as a nation.”
QUICK
• Problem solving, creativity and
leadership and adaptability are the most
important of the seven employability
skills to today’s employers.
ABOUT BARCLAYS LIFESKILLS • There is a current disconnect between
the emphasis placed on leadership
skills by employers and educators.
LifeSkills, created with Barclays, helps young people get the
skills and experiences they need to enter the world of
work. barclayslifeskills.com Read the full survey findings at
bit.ly/HowEmployableIsTheUK • Educators require an evidence
base around whether and how key
employability skills can be taught
in schools.
FUTURE TALENT // 21