Understanding the Labour Market Today

TUTOR’S NAME HERE

Understanding the Labour Market Today

Unit1: The Changing World Of Work

Unit 2: The Skills Employers Need

Unit 3: The Concept of Career Pathways

Learning Objectives

• There are three units:

• Unit 1 The Changing World of Work considers labour market trends with respect to demand and supply mismatches, technological change, international mobility and the emergence of new career pathways.

• Unit 2 The Skills that Employers Need. Notes that employers can be rigid in their thinking. To overcome this candidates have to emphasise their interpersonal skills and to differentiate themselves from their competition. Two exercises will help your training group to consider the recruitment challenge from the perspective of an employer.

• Unit 3 presents a Careers Pathway framework for your training group to consider. It lays particular emphasis on planning, resilience, flexibility, hard work and having an innovative mindset. Two exercises will focus each individual on understanding his/her own make-up as a vital first step to enhancing their strengths and ameliorating their weaknesses. A case study presents a number of short videos of employees in various sectors in Northern Ireland explaining how they got to where they are in their careers.

Unit 1 (U.1)

The Changing World Of Work

• Labour Market Trends - Demand/Supply mismatches

o Changes in the pattern of demand

o Demand can surge then weaken

o Usually a lag between supply meeting demand

o Phenomenon of over-qualified manual workers (often graduates) and the growing socio-economic exclusion of the unskilled and under-educated

o Many employers undervalue their people assets

U.1 The Changing World Of Work

• Think about which labour market supply and demand mismatches you are aware of. Emphasise that change in the pattern of demand is particularly fast-paced in some sectors (e.g.: financial services) and some countries (e.g.: UK). Make the point that surges in demand don’t always sustain. Cite construction booms as an example. Also the ‘dotcom’ bubble of 2000/2001 as another. Educators have to adapt to change in the labour market and inevitably this takes time.

• These changes have social consequences some of which have yet to be revealed and understood: the disaffection of underemployed highly educated graduates on the one hand and the social exclusion of the unskilled under-educated on the other.

• All of this is further complicated by the tendency among many employers not to appreciate the asset value of their workforce and employees generally.

• Labour Market Trends – technological change

o Disruptive technologies: media (citizen journalism); printing; retail; advertising

o Ubiquity of free information has seriously devalued much of what used to be valuable intellectual property

o In many economies in EU new or evolved sectors have emerged

U.1

The Changing World Of Work

• Think about new technologies or business models that have displaced once profitable product providers. Examples you might want to considerare Airbnb and Uber.

• Furthermore think about how the internet has helped to devalue intellectual property – internet users expect high grade information to be provided for free.

• Consider examples of sectors in the EU which have been subject to great change: Lifestyle/personal services; biomedical; agri-food; renewables; ICT; leisure tourism.

• Labour Market Trends – international mobility

o In EU free movement of labour has led to large shifts of populations of young, fit often very well educated workers from low-wage regions to high-wage regions – this has changed the expectations of employers in some sectors; has led to skills shortages in new ‘supplier’ regions and over-supply in new ‘host’ regions

o Ease of movement (air travel) and communication (internet; mobile telecomms) has changed how business is transacted

o Competition for jobs in some sectors in some labour markets has now increased

U.1The Changing World Of Work

• Consider the effects in your local labour market of in or out migration - Is your region losing skilled people or is it hosting an influx of new people hoping to find employment?

• Competition in the labour market increases those seeking to secure employment have to become more competitive in their behaviours. Demonstrating an understanding of how to ’work’ the new systems of transacting business (such as e-commerce; e-marketing; social media) can be important.

• New career structures:

o Pluri-activity – holding down more than one job at a time and expectation of having many jobs over time

o Emergence of unpaid internships and zero-hour contracts

o Career advice in schools is an issue - Schools can be too grades obsessed and not up-to-date with respect to labour market trends and what employers need

o Rigidity of the educational system in responding to changes in the world of work

o Cultural message that everybody can be what they want to be

o Too little early constructive challenge with children/young people with respect to what they might do in the future

U.1The Changing World Of Work (cont)

• Few people today can expect to stay in the one career for life or with the one employer for more than a few years. Careers will be journeys marked by changes in direction, periods of stop/go. Careers will be increasingly kaleidoscopic. In some countries zero hour contracts and unpaid internships present a further challenge for people trying to make a career.

• Remember that everyone can be what they want to be and to follow their dreams. However is it unrealistic to believe that ‘Everyone can be a winner’

• Could it be that proposing that ‘Everyone can be a winner’ will not prepare the young people for the Darwinian realities of today’s EU Labour Markets?

Unit 2 (U. 2) The Skills Employers Need

• The intention of Unit 2 is to focus on the perspective of employers. Employers are the buyers and they have a lot of choice. What are they looking to buy? By understanding their needs prospective employees can increase their chances of getting ‘that job’.

o Importance of STEM (Science Technology Engineering Maths) - greatest demand, highest wages

o Employers are often very precise as to what they think they want

o But sometimes employers are too rigid – can expect too much too quickly

U. 2 The Skills Employers Need

• Some interesting facts to remember is that:

• - Demand is greatest and wages are highest in Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths–based disciplines (STEM).

• - Employers tend to be very precise in what they think they want but they can also be too rigid & expect too much.

o Interpersonal ‘people’ skills

o Confidence (but not too casual)

o A commercial understanding : for example, that deadlines are deadlines with financial implications if they are not met

o An understanding of professional etiquette

o Good written and spoken language

o Numerate

o Evidence of good judgement, of common-sense, of capability to take the initiative, of ability to think independently

o Evidence of ability to work with others and take instruction

U. 2 The Skills Employers Need

The ‘ideal’ candidate?

• Think about the question ‘what constitutes the ideal candidate for a job?’

• Consider these points:

• The importance of interpersonal skills and demonstrable confidence;

• Evidence of appropriate competences;

• Evidence of an ability to make good judgements, to demonstrate common sense;

• Evidence of being able to work both on one’s own initiative and as part of a group as well as under instruction when appropriative.

o Graduates can often sell themselves poorly by not seeming to understand the employer

o At interview:

They need to demonstrate that they understand what the employer is looking for

They need to show evidence that they have done research on the employer and the job

They need to show that they have those competences

U. 2 The Skills Employers Need

• Exercise: Identify and rate skills that employers require for different jobs (10 minutes)

Marketing executive

Policy researcher

Administrator

ETC

ETC

ETC

U. 2 The Skills Employers Need

• Exercise: Write a Job Description from the perspective of an employer (20 minutes)

U. 2 The Skills Employers Need

Unit 3 (U. 3)

The Concept of Career Pathways

• This final unit, Unit 3 presents a practical ‘what’ and ‘how’ perspective for your audience with respect to their preparing themselves for their career journey.

• The concept here is that a career maybe a series of destinations rather than a single place.

• Today’s graduates need to scope out pathway options and prepare themselves for what will be a journey with challenges, changes of direction and some unforeseen destinations.

oToo often pupils/students make subject choices without clear rationaleoThis can carry through into decision making with respect to employment and wider lifeoFor humanities graduates to develop successful careers in the current labour market they will have to be INNOVATIVE

U. 3

The Concept of Career Pathways

• Too often the subject choices which have led humanities graduates to where they are today were not thought through.

• This approach can no longer be an option if one wants to secure gainful and rewarding employment in the future.

• Because the labour market in the EU is so challenging for humanities graduates, they more than almost any other group need to be innovative in their approach to ‘breaking through’.

The responsibility to map your journey lies in YOUR hands

Things to think about…..

There are jobs!There are careers!

oIn almost all EU jurisdictions there are, if one looks in the right places.

oThey may not be the ‘dream jobs’ that graduates may have expected to secure after graduation.

oBut careers today are about progression along pathways along which there may be some less attractive destinations. The important thing for graduates competing in tight labour markets to demonstrate is their preparedness to work hard and to be flexible.

o Even within sectors that don’t appear to be growing retirees are leaving on an ongoing basis and some of those will need to be replaced – however such jobs are difficult to predict and some may not be advertised externally.

oSo sometimes submitting speculative CV’s for employers to keep on file can be a good approach so that organisations know that there is a pool of potential new recruits whom they can make contact with when they need to.

oJob hunting graduates should also lodge their CV’s with recruitment agencies as these are increasingly used by employers to source replacement staff.

It is important to demonstrate that you are sociable and work well with people.

Outside activities (sports; hobbies; volunteering) are important!

oRemember: beyond qualifications it is the ‘real you’ which will determine whether or not you get the job.

oYou should assume that they will be competing with others with qualifications at broadly the same level and that therefore it is the other differentiators which will decide whether or not one is selected for interview.

Working life is like a journey – it needs planning…

Are you going in the right direction?

• Be prepared for obstacles – overcoming blockages, some deliberate and others unintentional barriers.

• This is a normal part of making a modern career.

• The skill that all seeking to carve out a rewarding life in our complex, hyper-competitive world, need is resilience.

• Always keep in mind the importance of a positive attitude and learning from failure.

• If one fails it is for a reason – try to identify that/those reason(s) are for you individually.

• Being flexible and being prepared to change route is also essential.

• ‘The harder you work, the luckier you get’ – so many of today’s successful people were knocked back, discouraged by others, but they picked themselves up and kept trying – they just didn’t give up!

• There are three essential human factors that differentiate the successful and self-fulfilled from the unhappy under-achievers – resilience, flexibility and hard work.

• The 'innovator mindset‘

o Reflect – understand your own make-up

o Positive Attitude – see failure as a form of helpful feedback; be prepared for some who will be negative for the sake of it

o Flexibility – be prepared to change route to destination or change the destination

o Resilience

o Scanning

o Analysing

o Deciding

o Acting

U. 3

The Concept of Career Pathways

• All of us will gain in our lives if we adopt an ‘innovator mindset’ i.e. to understand yourself, be positive, be flexible and be resilient.

• Thereafter one should scan for opportunity, analyse what one sees, clarify one’s decision options and then, critically, act. It is indecisiveness that so often neuters ambition.

• The 'innovator mindset‘

o See value in doing (rather than doing nothing) – life skills: sports, volunteering, part-time work, caring –from all of these experiences value can be mined

o Research

o Listen

o Value third party advice – collaborate where possible

o Its YOUR responsibility

o Time is a precious, finite resource – don’t waste it & have a sense of the value which you would like to place on your time

U. 3

The Concept of Career Pathways

• It is always better to be seen as someone who does rather than someone who does nothing.

• Furthermore it is of great importance not just of researching options but also of listening to the perspective of others and of being open to collaborating with others. Ask have any in your group who have been recent students benefitted from group study. Finish by stressing that time is not an infinite resource – ‘procrastination is the thief of time’.

• Exercise: ‘Mapping Me’

U. 3

The Concept of Career Pathways

• ‘Mapping Me’ is a very powerful exercise to help people better understand themselves – the central proposition here being that self-awareness is the first step on the path to fulfilment and success.

• Exercise: Compare the career path you thought you would have been on at 12, 18 and now (20 minutes)

U. 3

The Concept of Career Pathways

• CASE STUDY: Research different careers (what do they involve? How did employees get to where they are now?)

• http://www.newrycareers.com/

U. 3

The Concept of Career Pathways

• As a concluding task it would be a useful exercise to write down what career path you thought you would have been on now back when they were 12 years old and when they were 18.

• What path do they actually think they are on now? You should hold onto this also for review in years to come. What it will demonstrate is how almost inevitability they will have had to adapt. If they expect to have to adapt then it won’t be a destabilising shock when it has to happen.