Enterprise and employability skills

 

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The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) defines employability as follows:

"...the possession by an individual of the qualities and competences required to meet the changing needs of employers and customers and thereby help to realise his or her aspirations and potential in work".

The "qualities and competences" identified by the CBI include the following:

  • Values and attitudes compatible with the work - including a desire to learn, to apply that learning, to improve and to take advantage of change.
  • Basic skills (literacy and numeracy).
  • Key skills (communication, application of number, information technology, improving one's own learning and performance, working with others, problem solving, etc.) sufficient for the needs of the work.
  • Other generic skills that are becoming increasingly 'key', such as modern language and customer-service skills.
  • Up-to-date job-specific skills.
  • The ability to manage one's own career1.

Recent curriculum changes - particularly in secondary education - emphasise work-related learning and enterprise education in response to the demands from employers for the future workforce to have more employability skills. The new curriculum also provides many opportunities for employers to work with schools and colleges to help prepare young people for life.

Read more about the changes to the curriculum in the following sections:

Work experience is one aspect of work related learning and is a very popular and useful way in which employers can help students to develop their enterprise and employability skills. There are currently around 300,000 work experience placements each year. There are many other ways in which employers can help:

Visit our Careers Advice section to see how employers can get involved in careers information, advice and guidance.

 

1Based on In search of employability, CBI 1998



FURTHER INFO