Work experience as a gateway to talent in the UK: Assessing business views Dr Joan Wilson 21 July 2016 London Conference on Employer Engagement in Education and Training 2016

About the National Centre A network of university and business leaders, and representatives from public policy, with a common goal of improving collaboration decisions across the UK Enable leaders/representatives to share knowledge in exclusive events and provide them with evidence to enhance collaboration Broad research remit - on the talent and skills side this has included looking at work experience at the undergraduate stage and links to social mobility.

Outline of the talk What does research tell us about work experience? Surveying business members only Aims of our survey Steps to developing and getting responses to our survey Survey results Where next?

What does research tell us about work experience? Undergraduates Do not always participate in work experience opportunities. Reasons include: -financial pressures -‘soft skills’ and the application/selection processes -networks Businesses Work experience used as a recruitment tool Offers occur in sectors of employment growth; unrelated to discipline Work experience recruitment at earlier study stages Use of relevant work experience for choosing job applicants (see, for example, the CBI/Pearson 2015 survey)

Why a survey of business members? Issues of double-counting with university records of offers → initial focus on businesses → capture numbers of students taken on for work experience Explore employer work experience practices and processes and the student participation picture → employer awareness of relationship to student access/participation? → business views on work experience as an enabler of social mobility ‘Social mobility is about where a person ends up in life compared to where they started….it is about the movement of a person from one social class to another’ ‘Relative’ social mobility considers ‘whether the opportunity to move up through society is equal for everyone….It shows how fair a society is and whether opportunities for people to succeed are equal’ (Source: House of Lords Paper 120, April 2016, pp. 18)

Aims of our survey To understand better business work experience practices and processes To consider implications: - for access to work experience for undergraduates - for the talent supply pipeline and efficient talent allocation for businesses To look into issues of widening participation

Steps to developing and getting responses to our survey Step 1: Setting out the key areas to cover in the survey Opportunities offered Reasons and benefits Recruitment channels and processes Accessing talent - challenges and opportunities

Steps to developing and getting responses to our survey Step 2: Compiling the survey Looking at existing surveys for ideas generation e.g. FSB, CBI, NCUB surveys Adapting questions and developing new ones Issues to consider: number and length of questions; response options; wording of questions

Steps to developing and getting responses to our survey Step 3: Sending the survey out Based largely on NCUB business member contacts ed out to 58 businesses over December 2015 to March 2016: 51 members and 7 non- member contacts Targeted human resource specialists

Steps to developing and getting responses to our survey Step 4: Getting responses Number of responders/non-responders by membership status Responses received following:MembersNon-membersTotal Initial * st reminder nd reminder s rd reminder s th reminder s 101 External responders (not ed) 11 Total responders Total non-responders * We received 3 responses the same day as the initial was sent out, 2 from members and 1 from a non-member.

Caveats and Contributions Caveats: Small scale: small sample size, limited sectors, regions and business sizes, therefore limited validity Contributions: Employers side, testing ground for these kinds of questions, first time of asking

Survey results: About work experience opportunities Number of undergraduates taken on for work experience in 2015

Survey results: About work experience opportunities Work experience durations for undergraduates in 2015

Survey results: About work experience opportunities Work experience status In the last 6 months In the last 6 months to a year In the last 1 to 2 years Longer than 2 years ago We have not done this Total With prior work experience in your business With prior work experience from elsewhere Without prior work experience Recruitment offer timingNumber of responses During their work experience and while still a student 21 After they had finished their higher education course 12 Not applicable 1 Total 34 Last recruitment of a university undergraduate into a longer-term paid role Recruitment of university undergraduates with prior work experience with the business: when the recruitment offer typically happened

Survey results: About the reasons for offering and taking work experience Reasons for offering work experience to university undergraduates

Survey results: About the reasons for offering and taking work experience Benefits of work experience for university undergraduates

Survey results: About recruitment for work experience posts Channels used to find undergraduates for work experience in 2015

Survey results: About recruitment for work experience posts Best channel for finding undergraduates for work experience (by number of respondents)

Survey results: About recruitment for work experience posts Recruiting undergraduates for work experience: importance of each factor

Survey results: About challenges and opportunities in accessing talent Problems in recruiting university undergraduates for work experience in (choosing all that apply from the list) ProblemNumber of responses Not enough time, capacity and monetary resources7 Subject knowledge of students not fitting with the roles6 Difficulties in recruiting and retaining work experience students as future employees 6 Not enough access to the talent pool of students from disadvantaged backgrounds 7 Competition from other businesses for the same skills and talent 13 No problems13

Survey results: About recruitment for work experience posts Business rankings of sector-led actions for improving access to undergraduates for work experience

Open responses Businesses were invited to write about any additional reflections on the matter of work experience for their business: “Internships are our pipeline onto our graduate programmes and it is key to ensure that we have a diverse pipeline” “All businesses should try to offer placements to undergraduates as a matter of social responsibility” “One of the points that hasn't been covered is the role that universities and particularly academic departments should play in supporting both students and employers with work experience”

Where next? Publication of a report: available on the National Centre websitereport Possible next steps: -Look in more detail at work experience recruitment processes -Collect information from universities on student access and participation

THANK YOU!