FUTURE TALENTED Summer Term 2019 - Issue 3 | Page 22

Gatsby Benchmarks 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Understanding the employer mindset Recognising why businesses work with schools will help careers leaders to forge positive relationships, writes ISE chief research officer Tristram Hooley. ncounters with employers (the goal of Gatsby Benchmark 5) have been shown to boost students’ chances of finding employment and the salaries they receive. Such benefits create a strong rationale for schools to reach out to employers. However, much less has been said about the advantages employers gain from working with schools. It is useful for careers leaders to unders tand and ar ticulate the se in order to encourage businesses to work with them and so forge mutually favourable relationships. E Recruiting talented people and building a pipeline It will come as little surprise to teachers that businesses are keen to future-proof their talent pipelines and are aware that there are worrying skills shortages. UK STEM businesses, in particular, continue to highlight science-skills shortages. In January, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry warned that skills gaps must be addressed for the UK to m a i nt a i n i t s wo r l d - l e a d i n g p o s i t i o n for medicines and vaccines research and development. According to the Department for Education’s Employer Skills Survey 2017, the overall number of skills shortage vacancies has grown from 91,000 in 2011 to 226,000 in 2017. Some of the highes t densi ties of skills-shortage vacancies can be found in construction, utilities, transport , manufacturing and information/communication. Two key types of skills were identified as lacking: technical and practical skills (specific skills required to perform the 22 // EMPLOYABILITY