If you understand what employers want and why they often find it hard to work with higher education, you are more likely to be successful in engaging them.
This section identifies some of the main barriers to engaging employers, how these barriers can be removed and some ways of engaging employers. A recent study by the University of Plymouth offers some insight into this and makes some practical recommendations.
This section summarises:
Additionally, a case study (below) highlights the perspective of employers in Devon and Cornwall.
"There are cultural disparities and the diversity of expectations between stakeholders ... employers may be suspicious of the edcuational sector and irritated by what seems to them to be overly lengthy processes" Foskett, 2003
Research by the University of Plymouth (2008) revealed that many organisations have never considered working with higher education institutions and concludes that institutions need to be clearer about what is on offer and how this can be accessed, including improving their marketing and awareness raising activities.
Case Study: The Employer Perspective in Somerset, Devon and Cornwall
These findings illustrate some of the common reasons why employers don't engage with higher education.
Understanding and addressing these is key to engaging employers:
Many employers have a perception that higher education lacks relevance to the real world; negative personal experiences of learning at school; an unwillingness to admit or recognise personal skills needs; not seeing the need or value of learning as part of business improvement; an unwillingness to pay for learning; a strong preference for informal learning on the job; unrealistic expectations of quick wins from learning; concerns over outdated curricula
There is a relatively low level of marketing to employers from higher education, especially in comparison with other providers
Educational institutions are large organisations and can be disorganised in responding to external enquiries
Lack of time; financial costs of courses; problems of organising attendance in shift work or own time, including cover for staff on courses; costs of supporting students in the workforce, including the time needed for planning and reviewing on the job learning; the demands of learners may be thought to conflict with other workers and cause logistical problems such as organising cover while staff are on study leave
Employers and higher education can lack a common language or understanding; employers look for skills and business performance, higher education institutions deliver qualifications; the technical language of learning, assessment and qualifications may be of putting; education can be inflexible and too slow in responding to employer needs, because of complicated or bureaucratic internal systems
Employers may want to access specific knowledge or skills learning rather than a whole qualification; they often want this immediately to meet specific needs; of course, these expectations may be unrealistic as higher education can’t be all things to everyone.
"Employer engagement requires four key elements; attention, interest, desire and action." The AIDA Principle
Tell the employer immediately and precisely 'what's in for them'. Tell them about the benefits of working with you, being realistic about what they can gain. If you are seeking something from them, tell them what they will get in exchange. Don't expect employers to create artificial situations to meet your academic needs.
Once you have engaged an employer, keep their interest. Be very clear about what you want from them and how this relates to the everyday practical nature of their business. Ensure your expectations are realistic; that institutional bureaucracy isn’t going to get in the way of your working relationship; that you contact employers at the right time of year. It’s no use setting up student projects with employers if they want the students to start immediately and the students can’t start for another three months. Remember, employers don’t work in academic terms.
There are lots of benefits for employers in working with you. Not least, the opportunity to access prospective student and graduate employees, on a short or long term basis. To engage employers use language and terminology that they understand. Think about their needs first while you work out how to solve any logistical problems and make sure that it is clear to employers what value they will get from their investment.
Make sure employers know what they need to do next or, indeed, what you are going to do next. Don’t rely on employers to make the first move but make sure that for those employers who do want to make contact it is clear how they can do this. One of the biggest barriers for employers is not knowing who to contact in institutions, or finding that their enquiry is passed from department to department.
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