Understanding Host Employer Expectations
· Students must start any placement with some understanding of host employer expectations.
· ‘Host employer expectations’ include how students will dress, behave and learn in their workplace as well as students having the right attitude. Additionally, what employers expect from employees and new entrants to the workplace should underpin student preparation for placement.
· A significant survey of Australian employers has identified eight employability skills sought by a range of employers.* The employability skills are self-management, initiative and enterprise, learning, communication, teamwork, planning and organising, problem solving, technology.
· These eight skills are included in the employment related skills that students are being encouraged to identify as having demonstrated in their school, workplace, community and enterprise activities. Further, students are encouraged to document these in their Employment Related Skills Logbook.
· Employment related skills are relevant to all students expecting to undertake paid (and/or voluntary work) in the future. These skills are also highly relevant to other areas of living.
· Students who regularly use their Employment Related Skills Logbook are likely to be developing a good grasp of the nine employment related skills identified in the Logbook. The additional employment related skill is cross-cultural understanding. Students will also be increasingly aware of the preferred personal attributes also identified by Australian employers in the survey referred to above. These are included in the Logbook.
· Students should also be learning to articulate various elements of each of the employment related skills, using examples provided in the Logbook and guidance from teachers. The elements are documented in Vocational Learning in the relevant KLA booklets (2005). See Section 5.1 Employment related skills and their elements. This section also lists the personal attributes.
· Many Regions and individual schools and TAFE NSW institutes have well documented activities and programs to prepare students, often involving input from Local Community Partnerships and the local community. You may wish to access examples that have been locally developed, some of which include student activities to highlight host employer expectations. See: https://detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/directorates/vet_schools/1_vl/worplace/wkpl.htm
Other powerful activities to highlight current and emerging employer expectations include:
· inviting a host employer who is an engaging speaker to talk with students about What employers expect. This may include some expectations that may surprise students and some expectations that may be different from some years ago.
· inviting one of the coordinators from the Local Community Partnership to draw on their experiences and relate the expectations of local host employers
· inviting an ex-student or young person whose work involves recruiting employees to talk about their own experiences
· inviting lively insights from a current student that can have real impact on their peers
· drawing on relevant business and industry organisations, publications and resources on the internet
· for students planning to complete tertiary qualifications, drawing on what employers look for on tertiary education internet sites can inform the focus for workplace learning choices of more academic students
· global searches of what employers want as students are already participants in a global education and employment market.
For consideration:
Increasingly, the focus on employer expectations should be balanced by consideration of the expectations of Generation Y and beyond, particularly in view of the predicted shrinking national labour market and the growing trend towards trans-national portable skills for workers in a global environment.
* Two peak employer organisations, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) and the Business Council of Australia (BCA) published in 2002 Employability Skills for the Future, a joint report based on collaborative research undertaken on behalf of the two organisations and funded by the Australian Government’s Department of Science and Training (DEST).
Preparing Students For Workplace Learning - Understanding Host Employer Expectations
Version 1, November 2005 2