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WORK PLACEMENT YEAR GIVES GRADUATES A BUSINESS EDGE
Students who spend a year working in industry during their degree course have the edge when it comes to getting a job, new research has revealed.
Business bosses want potential new recruits with eight key ‘Employment Competencies’ to help them succeed in the workplace.
The results of a two-year study into graduate employability, involving eight educational institutions in four European countries, were unveiled by experts from Aston Business School in Birmingham, at an international conference at the University of Vienna in Austria.
The eight key Employment Competencies took into account the views of graduates and employers in the UK, Austria, Romania and Slovenia.
They were: Communication Skills, Teamwork and Relationship Building, Self and Time Management, Seeing the Bigger Picture through Innovation, Influencing and Persuading Abilities, Problem Solving, Leadership, and Presentation Skills.
Dr Jane Andrews, Research Fellow at Aston Business School, led the UK part of the project on behalf of Aston Business School and Matthew Boulton College.
She said the Employment Competencies were essential for graduate success in an increasingly global work environment.
“By identifying these eight key areas of employability as those a graduate really needs, we can help them to make a successful transition to the workplace,” she said.
“The Employability Competencies were remarkably similar across all four EU countries, despite big differences in social and economic disparities.”
She added: “It is clear work placements give undergraduates an advantage when they are looking for their first job.”
Dr Helen Higson, Associate Dean of Aston Business School and Pro-Vice Chancellor for International Relations of Aston University, was also involved in the research, which was funded by the European-wide Leonardo Programme.
She said: “The requirement for graduates to possess high quality, transferable ‘employability’ skills is becoming increasingly important.
“These Employability Competencies could have enormous benefit to the EU economy as a whole and I have no doubt that the project findings will have a far-reaching impact on management education in Europe, and will be helpful to education policy makers, funders and employers alike.”
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