Exploring the challenges of equipping graduates with relevant

employability skills within the financial sector

Background:
This assessment will assess the challenge that graduates face when trying to gain
employment, within the financial sector or services. Employability can be
defined as a set of achievements, - skills, understandings and personal
attributes that make graduates more likely to gain employment and be
successful in their chosen occupations, which benefits themselves, the
workforce, the community and the economy (HEA,2014). It can be inferred from
this definition that to gain employment a person needs to fit the criteria of the
job specification and also that needs to be demonstrated from the outset, their
abilities and skills. Also that employment doesnt just benefit the employee or
employer but also the economy. As a higher rate of employed also helps to boost
and help the economy grow. A way in which this can be achieved is by providing
university students the provisions needed to help show their employability, it
can be considered a major part of the degree as it will give students an edge over
others applying for the same job. In 2013, it was reported that 38%, (roughly
12,000) of the population where graduates (ONS,2014) In consideration, this is a
high percentage of the work force, which has made it more challenging for
graduates to obtain job.

Current Research and Issues:
According to a High Fliers report, 2014, predicted that graduate vacancies in
2014, within the business or industry sector aim to recruit over 18,000
graduates. With the financial sector, including investment banking, accounting
and banking and finance recruiting just over 7000 graduates. In consideration,
this is not a large amount of jobs to the amount of people with a degree. As not
only do graduates, straight out of university have to compete with each other but
also graduates trying to find other work. This then leads back to the fact that
students need to progress their skills to give them an edge over others
competing for the same job. Also a report by the BBC in 2013, reported, The
Association of Graduate Recruiter (AGR) annual summer survey shows that
leading UK employers are receiving an average of 85 applications per job. Also
in the summer of 2013 there was a fall of 4% in graduate vacancies and the
worst industry hit was the banking and financial sector (BBC news,2013).
However, the article continues to suggests that graduates may have too high of
an expectation when they finish their degree and lack the right skills needed to
obtain their dream job. The advice that is offered by an employer in the article is
to be competitive and strategic in your approach to applications - and keep
persevering (BBC news,2013). It is clear that every employer wants someone
who will go the extra mile and is driven to succeed in whatever industry they are
in.

In other research conducted The Guardian published an article on 10 things
every graduate should know before they start job hunting
(T.deGrunwald,2012). One point that is made in the article, that a good way to
achieve a graduate job is by completing internships, whether they are paid or
not. This is a good way for students to gain experience and to build their CVs to
show employers that are right for a job. Many universities include units which
help students find placements or teach them skills needed to be able to progress
to achieve what employers are looking for in a candidate. Another major point
that the article makes is that too many students aim to achieve graduate
placements within large firms as soon as they leave, without taking into account
SMEs, where there are a huge amount of graduate jobs available. The amount of
SMEs that were part of the financial or insurance sector made up 27.5% of all
SMEs within the UK (FSB,2013). This may not seem a lot by comparison but it is
still an option that many graduates may need to consider more.

Implication for Employers:
There are many implications on employers and within the financial sector in
general. For example employers are now looking for a broad range of skills they
want their employees to have and are able to prove before they start within the
company. Such as they will be looking for candidates that have the following
attributes: understanding and adapting to change, innovation, communication
and enthusiasm (Target jobs,2014). These are only basic requirements but many
graduates may not portray this within an interview. If there is a skills shortage
than it is up to the employer to absorb the cost of training new staff to become
more efficient within the company. For example, an accountancy firm may have
to train new graduate employees on the accounting systems they use. This will
require time and increase the firms cost, in order to achieve a more productive
workforce. This may be a major concern for firms as the money and time spent
could have been allocated to another area of the business. In turn, this could be
why many graduates find themselves unsuccessful when trying to gain
employment, as they do not have to necessary skills that employers require and
too costly for the firm to higher.

However, many employers, such as RBS, offer internships for graduates and
students, for them to gain experience in the working environment. According to
rate my placement,2014 32% of graduate job vacancies are expected to be filled
by students who have previously worked for organisations. Internships cost
increasing less than a permanent place as they are set up for the purpose of
training and the amount of wages paid to the intern are a lot less or even non-
existent, if the company is a charity for example.

Implications for Higher Education Institutions:
Many universities offer students the chance to gain and perfect their
employability skills. The CBI is supporting a nationally recognised record
of employability skills. It claims two thirds of students like the idea too and says
a growing number of colleges and universities already have their own local
schemes.(The Gurdian,2011). The CBI is a huge corporation that employ around
a third of private sector workers, so for them to support a proposal for more
employability skills to be taught within university will have a big implications for
HEI. Also within todays society, it is no longer enough to only have a degree;
students need to be taught more. "Some universities are embedding
employability skills throughout their courses. We want to challenge other
universities to do more." (J.Forthgrill,2011). An implication for universities could
be that they will not only just compete on the grades achieved by students but
also practical ones that can be applied in the working environment that
employers are looking for. Universities are being encouraged to teach more skills
and how students can apply their attributes for when they complete their degree.

According to John Denham, labour MP, almost 50% of new graduates, and a
third of those who graduated five years ago, dont work in graduate jobs. Theyre
in debt and theyve not fulfilled the reason they went to Uni in the first place.
This implication could mean that many people may choose not to go to
university anymore, at the risk of not attaining a job within the industry that
they want. Also people may deem it as a waste of time by going to university and
ending up within a job they could have achieved getting by not having a degree.

Recommendations and Conclusion:
In terms of recommendations, more clearly needs to be done to improve the
balance of what employers expect and what HEIs can provide. Therefore, it
would be a valid expectation for employers to work closer with universities and
collages. John Denham came up with the labour proposal to bring the two closer
together and after this report was published he received e-mails from small to
larger firms, such as Jaguar contacting him in support of this programme. Many
universities already pride themselves on being an employability university, such
as Southampton Solent University.

Recommendations for employers could be for them to offer more internship if
they are seeking to take on gradates after university. This would also be useful,
as it would give students an idea of what is going to be expected of them in a
working environment. KPMG are an example of this as they seek out to help
graduates and undergraduates through internships and training schemes they
offer.

In conclusion, it is key for both HEIs and employers to work together in
achieving a more efficient future workforce. Many universities are taking this
problem on board, as they are trying to reduce the skills gap and skills shortage,
that current graduates are having trouble with. If all HEIs introduce some skills
based units into their curriculum then the overall outcome will produce a highly
skilled workforce and in turn a stronger economy.











References
Coughlan, S. (2013). Graduate jobs '85 applicants each'. [online] BBC
News. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-23247176
[Accessed 2 May. 2014].
Denham, J. (2014). Employer backed courses can boost graduate
employability. [online] NCUB. Available at:
http://www.ncub.co.uk/join-the-debate/employer-backed-courses-can-
boost-graduate-employability.html [Accessed 2 May. 2014].
Fsb.org.uk, (2013). Small Business Statistics. [online] Available at:
http://www.fsb.org.uk/stats [Accessed 2 May. 2014].
Grunwald, T. (2012). 10 things every graduate should know before they
start job hunting. [online] the Guardian. Available at:
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2012/jun/01/graduate-job-hunting
[Accessed 2 May. 2014].
Littlemore, S. (2011). CBI pushes for students to gain 'employability' skills.
[online] the Guardian. Available at:
http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-
network/2011/may/16/cbi-students-gain-employability-skills [Accessed
3 May. 2014].
Office of National Statistics, (2013). Graduates in the UK Labour Market
2013. [online] Available at:
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171776_337841.pdf [Accessed 1 May.
2014].
Ratemyplacement.co.uk, (2014). Rate My Placement - Guides on helping
you find a placement or internship. [online] Available at:
http://www.ratemyplacement.co.uk/internships#prefer [Accessed 2
May. 2014].
Targetjobs.co.uk, (2014). Key skills for graduate accountancy jobs :
TARGETjobs. [online] Available at: http://targetjobs.co.uk/career-
sectors/accountancy-and-financial-management/295990-wanted-the-
skills-accountancy-recruiters-are-seeking-reward-a-top [Accessed 2
May. 2014].
Targetjobs.co.uk, (2014). The top 10 skills that'll get you a job when you
graduate : TARGETjobs. [online] Available at:
http://targetjobs.co.uk/careers-advice/career-planning/273051-the-top-
10-skills-thatll-get-you-a-job-when-you-graduate [Accessed 2 May.
2014].
The graduate market 2014. (2014). 1st ed. [ebook] London: High Fliers
Research Limited, p.11. Available at:
http://www.highfliers.co.uk/download/GMReport14.pdf [Accessed 2 May.
2014].
The Higher Education Academy, (2014). Employability. [online] Available
at: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/employability [Accessed 1 May. 2014].