employability
Occupational Skill – Employability
The technological advancement in recent years is creating extensive changes in the social, economic, and even occupational world. The increase in the number of business opportunities and high job turnover, together with computerization and automation processes, are breaking down the "job security" that existed and blurring the boundaries between concepts such as "work", "parenting" and "leisure hours".
Fugate, M., Kinicki, A. J., & Ashforth, B.E. (2004).
Moreover, the traditional concept of "career" that relied on long-term work in a limited number of organizations is changing conceptually and raises the need to change the unwritten "work contract" between the employer and the employee. As part of this change, the concept of "employability" emerges, which has been in literature for many years, and is now ignited and regaining popularity. By definition, "employability" is "the ability to be employed, while maintaining the workplace" Hillage, J., & Pollard, E. (1998).
The question arises on what does the ability to be employed depend?
How do employers decide whom to employ?
And what are the qualities required of an employee today in the market?
Possible answers can be found in an experiment conducted by researchers Piopiunik, Schwerdt, et al. (2018). 579 human resource managers from companies in Germany participated in this experiment. During the experiment, each of the managers was simultaneously presented with two resumes similar in their characteristics (two students/two graduates). At the end of the reading, the managers were asked to choose which of the candidates they would invite for a job interview.
The results of the study showed that managers looked at cognitive areas such as GPA, proficiency in English, and knowledge of an additional language. It was also found that social issues were examined, such as volunteer activity and participation in any team sport - in order to examine the ability to work in a team and combine multiple roles.
It can be said that the findings of the experiment go hand in hand with technological development and the blurring of boundaries between traditional roles, and show that managers today are looking for an employee who demonstrates the ability to hold and advance in several areas simultaneously.
From the employee's perspective, employability is based on three main factors:
- Knowledge: The knowledge a person holds. General, professional, social
- Skills: The way a person uses this knowledge. These skills are divided into three levels:
Basic abilities - Basic skills and essential personal qualities such as reliability and integrity.
Intermediate abilities - such as specific occupational skills (at all levels), interpersonal communication skills, problem solving, motivation, and initiative.
Advanced abilities - involve skills that help and contribute to the organizational system-teamwork skills, self-management, commercial awareness, etc.
- Attitudes: The context within which a person sees their work. (Work environment and employment conditions)
When combining the perspectives and emphasis employers place versus employees, the basic definition of employability is considered too narrow and passive because it does not address the integration and presentation of factors (knowledge, skills, and attitudes) to employers.
As a result, the term "employability" has been expanded to "occupational adaptability" which allows the worker to identify with multiple roles and skills, while emphasizing the ability to present these skills. This definition makes the concept of employability active and suitable for a market full of changes.
In summary,
In a broad view, having skills will often not be enough. The main examination of employers is on the ability to signal skill - self-publication, marketing, and self-presentation of the employee. Many times, gaps are discovered between possession of skills and abilities and the ability to present during an interview, and as a result, potential employees with low employability but high skills are "missed" or employees with high presentation ability but poor skills are accepted. We must continue to update the employee recruitment process so that there is a match between the employee's ability and the job requirements in the most complete way.
By: Daniel Danino
Fugate, M., Kinicki, A. J., &Ashforth, B. E. (2004). Employability: A psycho-social construct, its dimensions, and applications. Journal of Vocational behavior, 65(1), 14-38.
Hillage, J., & Pollard, E. (1998). Employability: developing a framework for policy analysis. London: DfEE.
Piopiunik, M., Schwerdt, G., Simon, L., & Woessmann, L. (2018). Skills, Signals, and Employability: An Experimental Investigation.
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