Joanne Raybould and Victoria Sheedy
Joanne Raybould is Graduate Employment and Training Coordinator and Victoria Sheedy is Marketing Assistant, both at Graduate Advantage, Birmingham, UK.
Abstract Purpose – To discuss employability and skills requirements for graduates from a graduate recruiter’s point of view. Design/methodology/approach – To look at key graduate recruitment organisations and explain what skills programmes are available to graduates. Also looks at continued development and what employers may be able to do in the future to improve skills? Findings – There are transferable skills that employers like to see in a graduate and these can vary according to type of role; also, in general, graduates are keen to develop their skills further. There are organisations to help graduates improve these employability skills like Graduate Advantage and higher education institutions. Originality/value – Of value to employers looking to recruit graduates, who need to be aware of what types of programmes are available to graduates. It is valuable to graduates, who need to look at their own skills and improve their employability. Keywords Graduates, Skills, Employment Paper type Viewpoint
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´ t is something of a cliche for businesses to note the importance of their ‘‘human resource’’, i.e. their people. But, what is expected from this resource? What skills are required, particularly from graduates entering employment?
This article explores some of these questions and reports on the action that is being taken in some areas to support business requirements.
The skills required
The emphasis on skills required by employers varies depending on the type of job role to be carried out within an organisation. However there has been some consensus of opinion on the importance of ‘‘transferable’’ or ‘‘employability’’ skills for employees, particularly for those in management positions.