Job readiness or employability has long been a concern for companies. According to a 2011 survey by CBI/EDI, many companies found school and college leavers lack important employability skills, with 69% saying they have inadequate business and customer awareness, and over half (55%) experiencing weaknesses in school leavers' personal-management skills.
Ten years ago Deloitte decided to intervene with practical help. The Deloitte employability course addresses the skills gap by providing training directly relevant to work based situations and providing students with a nationally recognised Deloitte/Pearson qualification.
To date the programme has trained over 600 college tutors, and more than 20,000 students have completed the course.
The ultimate measure of success with any employability programme is in its ability to get people into jobs or, understanding the job market better, to decide to enhance their educational qualifications for a higher level job in the future.
A review of the programme last year showed that 89% of students who completed the Deloitte course went on to full-time employment, or full-time education at a higher level.
Heather Hancock, managing partner, talent and brand at Deloitte, said: "As an employer ourselves, and listening to the experiences and concerns of our thousands of clients, we felt we could and should do something practical to tackle the concern about young people's readiness for work.
"Deloitte has invested heavily in creating the Employability Skills Programme and we're very proud to have already supported so many thousands of young people. The course makes a difference. It gives young people, often from disadvantaged backgrounds, an understanding of what will be expected of them in the workplace and the skills they need to succeed and prosper in the workplace."
We could see the potential to help more young people, especially as the job market gets tougher, but to achieve that needed the right partner in the education sector. We're delighted that Pearson, with their outstanding global reputation in education, share our vision. Our new partnering relationship means we can spread the benefits of Deloitte Employability even more widely"
Rod Bristow, president of Pearson UK, added: "We live in a knowledge economy where having the right skills and understanding is vital if you want to be successful in your chosen career. Our partnership with Deloitte will mean that even more people will now have the opportunity to learn the vital workplace skills that businesses tell us that they want their employees to have. We are really excited to be working with Deloitte to provide a recognised BTEC qualification that will help people make progress in their lives."
The Deloitte Employability Skills Programme is different from many other courses in that it utilises an experiential approach to learning.
The key objectives of the employability skills course are:
- To build the self-esteem and self-awareness of learners;
- To enable learners to experience the reality of life in the work place;
- To develop the attitudes and behaviours required in the workplace; and
- To develop learners' interpersonal skills, written and verbal communication skills and team working skills.