1 Employer role: What does good employer support look like and where is it happening? David Massey, UK Commission for Employment & Skills Andrew Murphy, Director of Sales, Avanta Ian Smith, Network for Skills Carole Still, Simply Business Skills

What does good employer practice look like and where is it happening? David Massey UK Commission for Employment and Skills

Youth unemployment

Structural barriers A shift in the composition of jobs in the labour market The emphasis on experience and the death of the “Saturday Job” Recruitment methods and a reliance on word of mouth recruitment

So what does good employer practice look like? Recruitment of young people including recruitment methods Offering work experience Providing apprenticeships / non-graduate routes into work more generally

Recruitment Base: all UK employers

Recruitment Why haven’t employers recruited young people? No young people applied Young applicants lack experience Change recruitment practices

Work experience Despite importance to employers only a quarter offer work experience Employer barriers: No suitable roles No-one’s asked us Lack of time and resources Employer benefits Recruitment method Management/mentoring skills of existing staff CSR/reputational benefits + knock on effect on staff

Quality work experience Traditional view of work experience: 2 week full-time placements Part of the “no suitable roles” is the perception of the traditional work experience. Instead we need to think of work experience in its broadest sense. Work experience can include: Visits to local businesses / site visits Mock interviews and feedback Mentoring Solving a real life challenge or puzzle Full-time placements Enterprise competitions Pitching / bidding for real contracts All of these can cross-over. For example a high quality full-time placement might include solving a real life challenge, mentoring and mock interviews

Apprenticeships

Reasons why employers don’t engage Base: all employers not offering apprenticeships Perceived structural barriers Actively choosing not to Low awareness / passive disengagement

Further reading UKCES – The youth employment challenge UKCES – Scaling the youth employment challenge CIPD – Employers are from mars, young people are from venus

Contact details

What Employers Want... 8 th May Andrew Murphy Director of Sales

Employer Challenges... Conflicting Government incentives What provider to choose – 100+ private providers per region – 5+ Colleges per region – Local Authority service provision – Work Programme Providers – WP Sub Contractors Identifying tangible evidence of success Improving their engagement of new employees Retaining and Developing staff...

Employers Want.... You to understand their business – ONA Identify their Universal training requirements – TNA Single point of contact Single solution for Recruitment and Staff Development Programmes built for them or their industry

Master Vendor Model HospitalityRetailW&D Employer Model Recruitment Pre Employment Training Apprenticeships Staff retention Direct Delivery Supply Chain Partner Region Direct Delivery Supply Chain Avanta Region Direct Delivery Supply Chain Avanta Region

Relationship Mapping NAM RAM ERM HR Director Regional Manager Branch Manager AvantaEmployer

Competency modelling - introduction Iain Smith Network for Skills The Employer’s Perspective

Competency modelling - introduction Loads of unemployed, NEETs, etc School performance is variable School leavers are often nowhere near prepared enough for the work place Lots of new and different types of schools and academies Context

Competency modelling - introduction The Government really isn’t in a place to help But adds to the problem by changing everything all the time Questions 1: Are whim, assumption and TV celebrities real ingredients for success? 2:Which credible brand would launch a product before they have gone through many stages of creation? We say this is employer led……but good employer support needs good Government behaviour too Made worse

Competency modelling - introduction Employers spend £billions on training their workforce They also engage in Government driven schemes…but this can be hard work Many run great employability programmes: - TfL, BP, BT, EON…. Lots of us engaged with Diplomas Many have engaged with UTCs But: You can’t change everything all the time and be surprised that employers struggle to understand / engage / do what the Government says it wants (today) Despite this … employers have stepped up….and did ages ago

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