HELPING the workforce of the future ensure they are equipped with the basic skills they need to impress potential employers is forming an integral part of Northampton College’s plans to get students workplace ready.
With businesses and organisations repeatedly saying when surveyed that school and college leavers lack basic employability skills the college is ensuring students put themselves at the front of the queue by being as prepared as possible when it comes to applications and interviews.
Principal of Northampton College, Pat Brennan-Barrett, said: “We know from speaking to businesses across the county that employers are continually frustrated at the lack of basic skills young people have when they are first looking for work.
“Part of the responsibility for changing that falls on us and we are working hard to ensure our students stand out from their peers when it comes to employability skills. We want our students to be the people employers remember, we want them to be the people employers have confidence and we want them to the people ready to step in and hit the ground running in the workplace.”
Communications, teamwork and problem solving have been highlighted as three areas where job hunters struggle and the college is putting in place an action plan to help students master these skills and boost their own job prospects.
Producing regular blogs, presentations and written assignments is helping to boost students’ confidence when it comes to communicating, either via email, face-to-face or over the phone while a focus on group sessions is helping to improve teamwork and ways of working collaboratively to solve a problem.
Other skills gaps noted by employers include a lack of planning, poor self-management and a lack of understanding of technology.
Pat Brennan-Barrett added: “Put simply, having employability skills can help you get a job. They can also help you stay in a job and work your way to the top.
“If you land a job interview, the chances are you’ll be asked questions about your job-specific skills and your employability skills. We want our students to be able to answer those questions knowledgeably and confidently and we are working with them to prepare them.
“It’s a tough environment out there and competition is fierce. To get a job you have to stand out and by having these basic skills, coupled with work experience, our students will give themselves the best possible chance of gaining employment. It should also help employers who will have new staff ready to hit the ground running and make a real difference in the workplace.”
For more information on courses available at Northampton College visit www.northamptoncollege.ac.uk