1. ACCE – EAD Fellowship Meeting | April 4, 2017
Employability Skills: essential for success
ACCE – EAD Fellowship Meeting | April 4, 2017

2. INTRODUCTIONS
Why do you care about employability skills? What do you need to know about employability skills?

3. Tightening labor market Technological change Globalization
CHANGING WORLD
Tightening labor market
Technological change
Globalization
Demographic change
Environmental sustainability
Urbanization
Increasing inequality
Political uncertainty
Source: Pearson/Nesta

4. OUR CHALLENGE
“Today, because of rapid economic and social change, schools have to prepare students for jobs that have not yet been created, technologies that have not yet been invented, and problems that we don’t yet know will arise.”
Andreas Schleicher
OECD Education Directorate

6. Employability skills Definition
Skills that are necessary for success in the labor market at all employment levels and in all sectors. This may include, but is not limited to, skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, self-direction, communication, and collaboration. Employability skills can be acquired in a variety of ways, including military service, work experiences and community service, as well as traditional education. When integrated with technical and/or academic content, employability skills complete the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to succeed in the workplace and society.
Jobs for the Future
The general skills necessary for success in the labor market at all employment levels and in all industry sectors.

7. What’s in a name? "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet….."
William Shakespeare

8. Source: YouthForce NOLA

9. EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS 4 C’s SOFT SKILLS 21st CENTURY SKILLS
WORKFORCE READINESS SKILLS
EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS
4 C’s
SOFT SKILLS
21st CENTURY SKILLS
DEEPER LEARNING

10. DEEPER LEARNING

11. WHY Employability skills matter
Skills needed most in the workplace have changed.
Employers and workers are at odds about worker preparedness.
Fewer young people are working.
Employers have demands.
Learners need to build sustainable careers.

12. Changes in what jobs Require

13. PERFORMANCE Gaps

14. low Labor Force participation

15. EVIDENCE OF NEED
Source: The Conference Board, Partnership for 21st Century Skills, Corporate Voices for Working Families, and Society for Human Resource Management. (2006). Retrieved from:

16. EMPLOYERS WANT EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS

17. The labor market is getting tighter
“Race against the machine” published
First KBI
Note: Shaded areas represent recessions.
Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics, CBO

18. Employability skills—or technical skills?
According to a recent survey by CareerBuilder, 77% of employers believe that soft skills—or employability skills—are just as important as hard skills.
Top skills employers in listed in the survey include:
Strong work ethic (73%)
Dependable (73%)
Positive Attitude (72%)
Self motivated (66%)
Team oriented (60%)
Organization and ability to manage multiple priorities (57%)

19. Building sustainable careers
Employability skills also help with:
Entering or re-entering the workforce
Managing workplace and daily life
Pursuing further education
Succeeding at complex knowledge work including technology
Planning ad managing a professional career pathway.

20. ASSESSMENT “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it”
William Thomson, Lord Kelvin
"What gets measured gets done.”
Tom Peters*
Author of In Search of Excellence
But….
“Not everything that counts can be counted. Not everything that can be counted, counts.”
Albert Einstein
*and many other management gurus

21. assessments Assessment remains challenging:
Competing terminologies and frameworks makes developing assessments difficult
Assessments must meet standards of quality for reliability, validity, fairness, authenticity, cost, practicality, scalability, privacy and consequence
Are employability skills malleable competencies or fixed traits?
Are employability skills domain-specific or transferable skills?
Can assessments be developmental rather than “high-stakes”?
How does the influence of private test developers effect assessment strategies?
These skills can be assessed – but not always using bubble tests.

22. SOLUTIONS
“We need a broader conversation about how we learn to work. It’s changed in fundamental ways.”
Ron Painter
CEO, National Association of Workforce Boards

23. Opportunities to strengthen these skills:
solutions
Opportunities to strengthen these skills:
Workplace
Formal and Informal training
Apprenticeships/ Internships
Work-based learning
Formal School-Based Learning
2 and 4 year schools
Career and tech-ed
ABE
Community-Based Learning
CBOs
Workforce development
Self-Directed Learning
On-line
Professional organizations
Institutional Settings
Military training
Mental health services

25. EMPLOYER INVOLVEMENT IN TALENT PIPELINE
Where does the employer meet the learner?
Enters the pre-employment pool?
Recognizes educational opportunities?
Enrolls in school or training program?
Becomes interested in/aware or employment opportunities?
Engages with employers?
Becomes an employee?

26. EDUPLOYMENT FEEDBACK LOOP
Curriculum Designed
Student Learns
Learner becomes employed
Employee demonstrates skill
Employer evaluates skill
Feedback to curriculum designer

27. Big Takeaways
Employability skills—by any name—are increasing in importance and less stable than originally believed
Multiple names confuses the marketplace.
Assessing and measuring them—in a formative way—remains a challenge
Many solutions exist (training, work experience, enrichment activities, etc.) but need universal belief in integrating these skills into all offerings.
Education, business, government, and community partners all need to collaborate – all have roles to play.
Educational technology will play a significant role going forward

28. Resources
Are They Really Ready to Work Empowering Adults to Thrive at Work: Personal Success Skills for 21st Century Jobs: personal-success-skills-21st-century-jobs The Employability Skills Framework: National Network’s Common Employability Skills: content/uploads/2015/05/Common_Employability_Skills pdf Occupational Information Network (O*NET): Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21): MHA Labs:

29. VIDEO: “Building Employability Skills – for School – Jobs – Life”
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30. Mary V.L. Wright mwright@jff.org
TEL FAX
88 Broad Street, 8th Floor, Boston, MA (HQ)
122 C Street, NW, Suite 650, Washington, DC 20001
505 14th Street, Suite 340, Oakland, CA 94612

31. ACQUIRING THESE SKILLS

32. ACQUIRING THESE SKILLS

33. ACQUIRING THESE SKILLS

34. ACQUIRING THESE SKILLS

35. What employers are saying
Source: Manpower Group, 10th Annual Talent Shortage Survey (2015). Retrieved from: