1. Tuesday 15 November Leeds Met Students’ Union Training Event

2. Welcome! Lewis Coakley Higher Education Union Development Officer

3. Background to the NUS Student Skills Award Four years policy from National Conference Evidence from the NUS/CBI Report Evidence that suggests there is a mismatch between what employers want and what skills students have Demand from students’ unions and students generally on the ground We believe there is a demand for national consistency Duke of Edinburgh versus Degree Awards

4. Who is the Award for? It records and accredits extra-curricular activity which will include: Societies Sports clubs Course reps Representative work Part-time or paid employment Volunteering Student media RAG Campaigners

5. The Skills Framework Seven CBI Skill Areas (we’re aware of all the others…) Self Management Team Working Problem Solving Application of IT Communications Application of Numeracy Business and Customer Awareness Two Additional Areas Leadership ‘Specialist Skills’

6. Interested Parties? Private Sector: Endsleigh, Santander, CBI, RBS, BPP, Lloyds Banking Group, Ernst & Young, City & Guilds Public Sector: UUK, QAA, PROSPECTS Third Sector: Volunteering England, NCCPE, ASDAN Government: Number 10 Policy Unit, HEFCE, HEAR *lots of interest from smaller private sector organisations and television companies

7. One definition of employability “a set of achievements, - skills, understandings and personal attributes – that make graduates more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations, which benefits themselves, the workforce, the community and the economy” HEA definition of employability

8. Understanding the Context Global higher education system 137M enrolled in universities around the world. You’re not competing with Leeds and Manchester, you’re competing with Sydney, UMass and Taipei Parents have clocked onto this… ‘helicopter parents’ used to do your washing. Now they apply for jobs and negotiate for you…

9. Jobs Fair in China

10. Context Generation ‘Y’ & “the war for talent” Most recruiters don’t care about your degree Banks don’t want maths grads – they want people who can build relationships – the outsource the maths the Malaysia

11. Context Graduate premium 1995 £400,000 Graduate premium 2010 £160,000 Graduate premium 2011 £100,000 Graduate premium 2012 (English and History – men) £0 Difference between what students want and the jobs available… Media jobs 2010: Channel 4: 2, BBC: 4

12. Context Most recruiters don’t care about your degree Banks don’t want maths grads – they want people who can build relationships – the outsource the maths the Malaysia

13. Employability Statistics 79% of students go to university to get a better job 60% of students go to university because they love learning new things 49% of students are clear about employability skills 69% of students want a nationally recognised skills award 66% of students want more support in developing employability skills Source: CBI/NUS Report “Working Towards Your Future”

14. Employability Statistics 78% of employers responding to the CBI Future Fit Report said that employability skills was one of the most important factors when recruiting graduates, along with positive attitude (72%) and relevant work experience/industrial placement (54%) Source: CBI Future Fit Report March 2009 According to one report, employers are satisfied with the graduates they recruit 80% being very satisfied or satisfied. Source CBI Future Fit Report March 2009

15. Employability Statistics 56% of graduates expect to be in a management role within three years of starting work 38% of graduates are dissatisfied with career advancement in their current organisation The three top priorities for graduates are interesting work (33%), high salary (32%), career advancement (24%) Source: Generation Y “What Graduates Think About Work”

16. What are Employers Saying? Discussions between big graduate recruiters show interesting things: “we’re only interested in gold award holders”

17. What are Employers Saying? Discussions between big graduate recruiters show interesting things: “we’d value paid internships above volunteering, any day”

18. What are Employers Saying? Discussions between big graduate recruiters show interesting things: “I get 2,000 applicants for 30 jobs. All students with 11 A*s at GCSE and 4 A*s at A-Level, a 1 st Class Degree and bags of volunteering under there belt. How do I choose? Gut instinct.”

19. What are Employers Saying? Discussions between big graduate recruiters show interesting things: “We’re moving away from skill based assessment and looking more for attitude, ‘you can teach skills, but you can’t teach character”

20. What are Employers Saying? Discussions between big graduate recruiters show interesting things: “We want to know what students are bad at as well as what they’re good at, give me a system that tells me that, and I’ll be happy; we know our graduates aren’t perfect!”

21. What are Employers Saying? Discussions between big graduate recruiters show interesting things: “we only recruit a small fraction of the graduates that are available. Far more go into small and medium sized enterprises and other less prominent companies in the third sector or voluntary sector”

22. Possibilities for the Website Functionality we’ll be looking to introduce when we upscale the project for NUS Digital: Volunteer map of Britain Demographics Impact Region, mission group, university Jobs Bank PROSPECTS – allowing employers to search for skilled graduates Posting Jobs – central website for students and graduates Opportunity Bank Do-It – search for volunteer opportunities

23. Thanks! Lewis.coakley@nus.org.uk