1. For Employers (Recruiters and Human Resource Developers)

What are the implications for employers of the changes taking place in UK higher education, changes which are enabling more and more students to develop and apply practical, work related skills during their study so that they are ready on graduation to take their place in the world of work? What does this mean for people's life long learning capability? What sort of investment am I as an employer making in graduate recruitment and staff development? Is student work placement more valuable than before? Can I recruit graduates from a wider selection of subjects? How do I manage risk in recruiting people with backgrounds different to current staff?

Competency based recruitment and human resource development have become embedded in recent years as good practice amongst employers in the public and private sectors. There are now parallel initiatives within higher education to help students develop employability skills, to raise their self awareness of these skills and to articulate and apply them to their benefit and to the benefit of employers. Increasingly, students are learning and applying work related skills during higher education, through study, work experience and extra curricular activities.

A high percentage of UK graduates choose professional roles that bear no direct relation to the subject studied at university. For them, it is a high priority to be able to demonstrate they have sound personal transferable skills of value to employers. Even for those that embark on subject related careers, there are likely to be radical job changes from time to time in the future. So for all students, employability matters.

Student employability profiles have now been developed which offer insights into the skills students are likely to have developed with degrees in particular subjects. This can help employers improve the return on their investment in graduate recruitment, work placement and staff training and development.

Employers have identified the attributes they seek in the graduates they recruit. The qualities or attributes used here have been identified and categorised by employer members of the Policy Forum of the Council for Industry and Higher Education. They are the key components they have observed in those individuals who can transform organisations and add value early in their careers (see the report Graduates Work by Professor Lee Harvey, CIHE 2001) and comprise:

• Cognitive Skills/Brainpower: The ability to identify and solve problems; work with information and handle a mass of diverse data, assess risk and draw conclusions.
• Generic Competencies: High-level and transferable key skills such as the ability to work with others in a team, communicate, persuade and have interpersonal sensitivity.
• Personal Capabilities: The ability and desire to learn for oneself and improve one's self awareness and performance. To be a self starter (creativity, decisiveness, initiative) and to finish the job (flexibility, adaptability, tolerance to stress).
• Technical Ability: For example, having the knowledge and experience of working with relevant modern laboratory equipment.
• Business and / or Organisation Awareness: An appreciation of how businesses operate through having had (preferably relevant) work experience.
• Practical Elements - Vocational Courses: Critical evaluation of the outcomes of professional practice; reflect and review own practice; participate in and review quality control processes and risk management.

2. Philosophy - Employability Skills

The employability skills that can be gained by studying Philosophy as identified by the QAA Subject Benchmark Statements are:

• General philosophical skills such as accurately identifying underlying issues in all kinds of debate.
• Logical thinking and presentation in the analysis and formulation of complex and controversial problems.
• Sensitivity in interpretation of thoughts and ideas drawn from both history and current trends.
• Clarity and rigour in the critical assessment of arguments presented in such thoughts and ideas.
• Ability to use and criticise specialised philosophical terminology.
• Ability to abstract, analyse and construct sound arguments and to identify logical inconsistency.
• Ability to recognise methodological errors, rhetorical devices, unexamined conventional wisdom, unnoticed assumptions, vagueness and superficiality.
• Ability to move between general and appropriately detailed discussion, providing examples to support or challenge a position, and distinguishing relevant and irrelevant considerations.
• Ability to consider unfamiliar ideas and ways of thinking, and to examine critically pre-suppositions and methods within the discipline itself.
• The ability to adapt and transfer the critical methods of the discipline to a variety of working environments.
• The ability to comprehend and develop intricate concepts in an open ended way which involves an understanding of purpose and consequences.
• The ability to work with and in relation to others through the presentation of ideas and information and the collective negotiation of solutions.
• The ability to understand, interrogate and apply a variety of theoretical positions and weigh the importance of alternative perspectives.
• The ability to handle information and argument in a critical and self reflective manner.
• Ability to conduct arguments about matters of the highest moment without recourse to insult or susceptibility to take offense.
• Willingness to evaluate opposing arguments, to formulate and consider the best arguments for different views and to identify the weakest elements of the most persuasive view.
• Honesty in recognising the force of the conclusions warranted by a careful assessment of pertinent arguments.
• Ability to cross traditional subject boundaries, examining the limitations and virtues of other disciplines and practices, and recognising philosophical doctrines in unfamiliar places
• Ability to apply philosophical skills and techniques to issues arising outside the academy.
• Develop the ability to reflect clearly and critically on oral and written sources, employing powers of imagination as well as analysis.
• To construct convincing arguments in the evaluation of information.
• Develop skills in Information Technology - word-processing, e-mail and WWW, information search and retrieval, using online computer resources to identify and access relevant information/ material.
• The study of Philosophy fosters the development of a range of personal attributes that are important in the world of work and that will strengthen the graduate's ability to engage in lifelong learning, and contribute to the wider community. These include:
  • Self motivation.
  • Ability to work autonomously.
  • Time and priority management skills.
  • Developing a flexible and adaptable mind to face new situations and manage change.
  • Ability to think creatively, self-critically and independently.

What should employers do?

An individual student may identify examples of their own skills development from this list of possible skills. These examples may then be mapped against the employers' list of qualities and attributes above, providing evidence of value to employers. Students who do this will be better prepared to make a good account of themselves in CVs and at interview for graduate jobs and work placements.

For a figurative demonstration of the Philosophy Student Employability profile, please see the philosophy template.