The Key to Employability: Using a theoretical model for developing my graduate employability

The CareerEDGE – The Key to Employability Model:

Prior to beginning my placement, and also throughout my placement I will need to consider some sort of academic graduate employability model. This model will be used to understand what important aspects an individual needs to develop to become ‘employable’. As seen in this blog, the module is called ‘Careers in Sport’, therefore my aims throughout my module and placement is to gain industry based experience in a career in sport and develop my understanding of what factors develop employability, which will help me to develop into a very promising candidate for my dream sporting career. When looking at employability from an overall perspective, Hillage and Pollard (1998) suggest that, in simple terms, employability is about 'being capable of getting and keeping fulfilling work. More comprehensively employability is the capability to move self-sufficiently within the labour market to realise potential through sustainable employment'. Therefore its essential for myself to understand about what makes me employable, and what components I need to develop to achieve this definition.

           Therefore throughout my placement I will use Pool and Sewell’s, 2007 ‘CareerEDGE – The Key to Employability Model’. This model reflects an assertion that each component is absolutely essential and one missing element will considerably reduce a graduate’s employability. The model portrayed in Figure 1 (shown below) illustrates the essential components of employability and also suggests the direction of interaction between the various elements. The “CareerEDGE” model is used as an aid to remember the five components on the lower tier of the model. It is suggested that providing students with opportunities for them to access and develop everything on this lower tier and essentially, for reflecting on and evaluating these experiences, will result in development of higher levels of self-efficacy, self-confidence and self-esteem – the crucial links to employability (Pool and Sewell, 2007).

The original model detailed in Figure 1 identifies all the components and suggests the direction of interaction which develops 'employability'. From this, Figure 2 evolved (shown below), with a “key” like symbol image. This pictorial version of the model is a useful, practical way of explaining the concept of employability and indicates that it is the “key” to choosing and securing occupations in which the graduate has the opportunity to achieve satisfaction and success (Pool and Sewell, 2007). Therefore I will use both of these figures shown in this post to track my progress to developing my employability. I will need to ensure that I’m working through each stage of the figures, whether that’s ‘emotional intelligence or reflection and evaluation, and I will provide evidence and critical analysis of using the CareerEDGE model throughout my placement blog.

Graduate Prospects (2005/6:17) identified two-thirds of graduate vacancies are open to graduates of any discipline, which implies that for the remaining third, subject-specific knowledge, understanding and skills are still of vital importance. Therefore it’s essential to recognise that employers will judge graduates on the basis of how successfully they have completed their degree course (i.e. their degree classification) perhaps because this is often the sole measure available to them. However, even though the subject-specific knowledge, understanding and skills are still extremely important in many cases, these alone are unlikely to secure a graduate occupations in which they can be satisfied and successful. Therefore developing additional employability skills such as ‘emotional intelligence and self-reflection’ are vital elements to developing overall employability, which therefore are factors which I'm aiming to develop in great deal.

References:

Graduate Prospects (2005/6), Prospects Directory Salary and Vacancy Survey, Graduate Market Trends (Winter), Graduate Prospects, Manchester, p. 11-17.
Hillage, J., Pollard, E. (1998). Employability: Developing a framework for policy analysis. Available: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130401151715/http://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/RB85.pdf. Last accessed 1st February 2015.
Pool, L.D., Sewell, P. (2007). The key to employability: developing a practical model of graduate employability . Education + Training. 49 (4), p278-281.