Career guidance, employers and unemployed workers

1. Career guidance, employers and unemployed workers David Devins (PRI, Leeds Met) Tristram Hooley (iCeGS, Derby)

2. Unemployment • Unemployment has returned to the political agenda. • What is government’s role?

3. Active labour market interventions* * Typology derived from Bonoli (2010)

4. Policy choices Work first? Education first? Work and learning?

5. Supply and demand Career guidance seeks to act on both of these Labour market demand Labour market supply Stimulating employer demand Upskilling individuals

6. What is career guidance? “Career guidance refers to services and activities intended to assist individuals, of any age and at any point throughout their lives, to make educational, training and occupational choices and to manage their careers.”* May be face-to-face or at a distance. Includes career information provision, assessment and self-assessment tools, counselling interviews, career education programmes, work taster programmes, work search programmes, and transition services. * OECD (2004)

7. Career guidance Workers/Unemployed workers Employers Action spaces

8. Recruitment Influencing the labour market Workforce development Community engagement Redundancy

9. Career development Organisational development Action space for career guidance in employment employer human resource management career guidance

10. Recruitment Influencing the labour market Workforce development Community engagement Redundancy

11. Influencing the labour market • Providing labour market intelligence • Informing the development of local education and training provision • Promoting your workplace/raising the profile of your sector

12. Influencing the labour market Source: Call for Evidence (Employers n=86 Intermediaries n=64)

13. Making it work “‘Working with schools and universities to encourage young people to consider careers in engineering. Providing information about career choices, qualifications required etc. This has helped to break down perceptions of engineering as a "blue collar" career, and raise awareness of professional opportunities within the industry’. (Employer 79)”

14. Recruitment Influencing the labour market Workforce development Community engagement Redundancy

15. Recruitment • Working with agencies that support the unemployed • Involvement in local programmes for job seekers • Working with Next Step/Skills Development Scotland/Careers Wales • Providing information about job opportunities through advertising/recruitment fairs • Providing work placements, volunteering opportunities or internships

16. Recruitment

17. Making it work • For employers • ‘Relationships have been built up with school leavers (through work placements) who have then returned during holiday time and eventually into more formal work placements and the full time employment following further education courses’. (74) • For employees and job seekers • ‘Properly structured work placements which give the student experience and a real taste of a potential career. It is important to provide as much variety of task and function to allow the student to identify with a particular part of the work that appeal to them if they are to consider a career in your industry/with your company’. (Employer 38)

18. Recruitment Influencing the labour market Workforce development Community engagement Redundancy

19. Workforce development • Providing induction programmes for new employees • Implementing an employee appraisal/development process • Working with unionlearn • Providing career development programmes • Partnership working with external career guidance providers • Providing mentoring programmes • Providing performance coaching

20. Workforce Development

21. Making it work • For employers • ‘We have a comprehensive Learning and Development programme which includes specific line management training... All staff have monthly one to one support from their line manager and a performance review process with a six monthly review. We have Action Learning Sets established for our managers to support them with operational/day to day issues. We don't offer our staff careers guidance as such but we are always looking at the skill sets of our employees to ensure that they are developing and take into consideration their careers aspirations’ (Employer No 7) • For individuals • ‘Person centred career guidance can have a significant impact on the young person and can really help with self-awareness, decision making and transition (Employer 8)

22. Recruitment Influencing the labour market Workforce development Community engagement Redundancy

23. Redundancy • Provision of outplacement services • Providing training and redeployment advice

24. Redundancy

25. Making it work • ‘Where and how employers can access career guidance is an issue as many career services no longer prioritise employers given the constraints on budgets - support for employers is closest to gathering LMI and preparing for a future workforce or helping with redundancy - not really working with those IN the workforce (Intermediary 25)

26. Recruitment Influencing the labour market Workforce development Community engagement Redundancy

27. Community engagement • Facilitating/brokering engagement between employers and Community Groups that support unemployed people • Working with employers on community based employability programmes

28. Community Engagement

29. Making it work • For employers • ‘By engaging with communities, colleges and job centre plus clients, the organisation are supporting communities..... It shows that the service is quality and the reputation of the employer is solid, that we continually receive high numbers of applications for vacancies within the sector. By supporting jobseekers into the roles of the sector we are providing knowledgeable staff. (Employer 24) • For individuals • ‘‘Employers can provide insights into specific sectors, roles or work experience/job opportunities as they work within the field. They can provide good insights into the selection process and possibly application strategies for their particular organisation or possibly sector’ (Intermediary 44).

30. Towards 2012 and beyond • Develop the evidence base associated with the relationship between employers, career guidance and job seekers • Find new ways of engaging intermediaries, employers and individuals in career development • Demonstrate the value through evidence and process • Form partnerships where complementarity and synergies can be realised • Develop frameworks to combine employment and learning • Raise employer/individual ambition, realise potential and reconcile interests for the benefit of both (and society more generally)

31. References • Bonoli, G. (2010). The Political Economy of Active Labour Market Policy. Edinburgh: Dissemination and Dialogue Centre. http://www.socialpolicy.ed.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/39268/REC-WP_0110_Bonoli.pdf • OECD (2004). Career Guidance: A Handbook for Policy Makers. Paris: OECD.