Are graduates ready for work? New CMI research

As many young people head off to university for the first time, a new CMI report has highlighted the continued importance of graduating ‘ready for hire’ in the post-pandemic work landscape.

Work-ready Graduates: Building Employability Skills for a Hybrid World brings together new research and up-to-date feedback from academics in higher education institutions (HEIs), UK businesses and undergraduate students.

Among the key findings:

• All students need to develop employability and career management skills.
• Nearly 80% of employers believe graduates aren’t work-ready on entering the employment market.
• There are 11 skills that would boost graduate employability… but only 27% of students can confidently demonstrate them.
• Students on non-business related courses say university equips them with just two of the 11 key employability skills.
• Employability skills must be underpinned with general career management support, something currently lacking – with only 28% of students completely confident about how to search for jobs; 25% completely confident about applying for a job; and a mere 18% completely confident about how to write a CV.
• Meanwhile, just under one-third (29%) of students do not believe their university offers support in developing career management skills.
• Students need to stand out in a digital and hybrid world, but only 41% of non-business students have a LinkedIn account and just 29% of all students are interested in showing their qualifications via digital badging.
• CMI is calling on government and universities to recognise the value of these core skills and embed them – as well as career management skills – in all skills and training provision.

In more detail

The report identifies 11 key employability skills that employers agree are critical in equipping graduates to progress in the workplace. These are: team-working; critical thinking and problem-solving; communication; self management; flexibility and adaptability; initiative and self-direction; digital skills; resilience; emotional intelligence; innovation and creativity and entrepreneurial skills.

However, CMI found just over one in four (27%) of students are completely confident they can demonstrate these skills, while nearly 80% of employers believe graduates do not arrive in the work-place with the skills they need to be work-ready.

CMI recommends the following actions to enhance employability:

• Provide all students access to core employability skills, regardless of their degree course.
• Ensure students are able to measure and track their employability skills gain.
• Ensure students can showcase their employability skills in an increasingly digital workplace.
• Use existing and emerging national and regional networks to connect students and employers.