22.6% of British Adults attain a bachelor’s degree or above and a further 900,000 students graduate each year.
Some from the dreaming spires of Oxford and Cambridge, or the famous labs at Imperial College, the political hotbed that is LSE, the global powerhouses that make up the Russell Group and others from less prestigious but no less important institutions.
Given the competitive landscape that makes up the higher education system in the UK how does an individual standout?
Employers constantly report that students are unprepared to join the workforce, pointing at the lack of integration of in-demand skills into the curriculum, lack of career preparation and the concentration on the theoretical rather than the practical.
Interestingly, it was not the elite institutions rather the old Polytechnic system that historically focused on ‘employer ready’ by driving summer work placements and year long industry experience as an integral part of any qualification.
Career preparation for students is essential to all universities, institutions play an important role in helping their students navigate the world of work and drive them towards their desired professional paths. Effective career preparation provides students with the necessary skills, knowledge, and expertise for success in their future job roles.
We also cannot underestimate the importance of AI on their future careers. Mark Carney stated in 2016, when he was Governor of the Bank of England ‘That up to 15 million British jobs could be replaced by robots’. He argued that the brunt of the change would fall on the professional services industry.
It does not take a genius to realise that within professional services it will be the more mundane junior tasks that will more easily be automated.
Why is this relevant to graduates and the requirement to be employer ready?
AI has and will continue to alter those junior roles; it will require individuals in those roles to adapt to the technology and think differently.
Graduates will need a different set of skills and a different mindset to be attractive to potential employers, to gain employment and be successful in those roles.
Professional services companies will look for students that are equipped to become strategic thinkers and leaders, that have the potential ability to have a grander perspective, a complete world view of business.
Educational Institutions need to help students to identify different strategies within management-related roles, thus boosting their employability prospects and understanding social culture within organisations.
One of the cogs that students will need to develop is a better understanding of themselves. The student’s self-awareness, their emotional intelligence, their emotional energy and chains of ritual and behaviour.
This will require a change in the mindset of the students, and the skills and competencies that they require. It means the need for different expertise, different talents, and training.
A more emotionally intelligent mindset.
