Employability Framework

How do I start the employ-ability process?
The 6-step process is easy to follow and easy to start. Click here to get started. Once you have reviewed the 6-step process, information on the Student Starter kit and the employ-ability profile tool can be found here.

Getting started: the 6-step employ-ability process

1.  Register your cohort with the Developing Employ-ability initiative Registration is very quick and can be done here;
2. Incorporate the tool as either an assessment item, required reading or class activity. If it is a required task, ask students to upload the front page of their profile reports as proof of completion. Instructions on how to add to add the Employ-ability Self-assessment tool to your learning management system or student portal can be found here. Find out more about the tool and the Student Starter Kit here;
3. Identify employability touchpoints within your module/unit. These are places where employability thinking can be made explicit. Here are some examples:
   • For a teamwork activity or assignment, add this group resource; Creating a high-achieving group – Developing Employability
   • For a placement or industry visit, add this careers panel resource; Careers panel: How did you get here? – Developing Employability
   • For a reflection, add this critical reflection resource; Assessing reflective writing – Developing Employability
   • For a mock job application, add this cover letter resource. Writing a cover letter – Developing Employability
4. Upload the online self-assessment tool, which takes 15-20 minutes. Students receive their profile report straight away. Most employ-ability resources are included as embedded links, which students can access at any time. The tool is part of the Student Starter Kit, which students will find here;
   • You can view a sample report here.
   • You can create your own personalised profile by following this link. Where it asks for a student number, please write ‘test’.
5. Pass on the process to a lecturer who will teach at least some of the students in the following semester. Encourage the lecturer to adopt the employ-ability process with their class and ensure that the process is now embedded within your unit or module.
6. Encourage students to reflect on, review and re-create their profiles each semester. They can look back over previous profile reports at any time to see how their thinking has changed.

How to use the resources with students 

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Resources
How to use the Developing Employ-ability resources
Employ-ability thinking is developed and sustained within existing classes and curricula using a 6-step process. Developed by educators, for educators, the tool and resources can be uploaded to a learning management system (LMS) or downloaded for printing.

The tool and resources are free of charge to the higher education community.

Students begin by creating a personalised employability profile report using an online self-assessment tool. They can return to the student website to use the resources and create new profiles as often as they wish.

Integrate the profile tool and resources in multiple ways:

1. Include the tool as a required reading;
2. Integrate the resources into an assessment task: for example, as a guided reflection before and after a work placement;
3. Integrate the resources into class activities: for example, to help students manage a team-based assignment;
4. Use the educator guides to create a career-related workshop.

The resources and personalised employability profile report are grounded in social cognitive theory and underpinned by a validated measure. Resources are shared using a Creative Common license. Aggregated profiles can be created for whole cohorts, and educators are encouraged to collaborate in scholarship and research arising from the Initiative.

Follow the 6-step process to get started!

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Starter kit and ED tool
The starter kit, self-assessment tool and resources form part of a supported 10-step process to embed employ-ability thinking into the curriculum. Please review the 10-step process as you begin to plan.

Employ-ability student starter kit
The Employ-ability Student Starter Kit is an online resource which features a personalised employability profile tool alongside developmental resources on topics as diverse as teamwork, cover letters and networking.
By the end of April 2018, each student resource will have accompanying educator notes and an educator guide containing practical tips and contextual information. You can see an example here.
Every student resource is self-contained and includes sufficient information for agentic students to complete the resource on their own. Student resources also include a ‘make it count’ box which prompts students to transfer their learning into an employability outcome such as a new piece of evidence for their portfolio, a new statement for their CVs, or a commitment to action.
Personalised career profile
The first step in the student starter kit is for students to create a personalised Employ-ability profile using the online Employ-ability self-assessment tool.  Students receive their pdf profile report straight away, and the profile highlights their level of confidence at that point in time. Students can re-create and look back at previous personalised profiles as often as they like; most employ-ability resources are included as embedded links. You can view a sample report here, and instructions for upload to your learning management system are here.
Employ-ability thinking uses a 10-step process and the student-facing Literacies for Life (L4L) model to engage students in the development of their future lives and work. The validated measure underpinning the self-assessment tool is grounded in social cognitive theory. You will find a brief description of the theoretical background here.

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FAQ
What is Employ-ability?
Employ-ability is the ability to create and sustain meaningful work across the career lifespan (Bennett, 2017). Students need to learn how to manage this aspect of their work and learning before they graduate.
What is the Developing Employ-ability initiative?
The Developing Employ-ability Initiative engages with 25 higher education institutions and more than 1,000 scholars internationally. The Initiative is led by Professor Dawn Bennett at Curtin University in Western Australia. The Initiative welcomes new members including researchers, educators, careers and equity practitioners and policy makers.
What is employ-ability thinking?
Employ-ability thinking engages students as partners in their development. As a metacognitive approach to employability or career development learning, the approach aligns employability with both the purpose of higher education and the future of work.
Employ-ability thinking:
• Engages students in their cognitive and social development as capable and informed individuals, professionals and social citizens; and
• Prompts students to understand why they think the way they think, how to critique and learn the unfamiliar, and how their values, beliefs and assumptions can inform and be informed by their learning, lives and careers.
Every student should learn to engage in employability thinking. This can be achieved within the curriculum and without the need additional time, expertise and resources.
How do I develop employ-ability with my students?
Learn about employ-ability thinking and how to get started here.
I’m interested in the Employ-ability self-assessment tool, but I would like to see the instrument before my students use it. Is this possible?
Of Course! You can test the student self-assessment tool by using the word ‘test’ when asked for your student number and cohort code.
If you’d like to see a sample personalised profile report that the students receive you can find it here.
I’m not able to register to the educator site – what can I do?
If you are having issues registering our website, please get in touch with us at [email protected]
I have great resources. Can I contribute?
Yes! Please share your ideas at any time. Each resource is trialled and refined for effectiveness and pedagogical rigour. The resources range from 10-minute tools through to semester-long careers research tasks, and some tools are combined to create resource sets which tackle a distinct topic.
Do you have resources that would assist Secondary School students?
We are currently working on a version of the tool for high school students and hope to make this a reality in 2020. In the meantime, all our resources are free for use with any cohort.
What are the Literacies for Life?
The six Literacies for Life combine to enhance employability and inform personal and professional development. The literacies, shown below together with their broad categories, are comprised some 135 items with multiple overlapping elements. Literacies help students to organise and understand their thinking. They should not be read as isolated constructs.
Basic literacy
Developing disciplinary skills, practices and knowledge
Communicating and interacting with other people
Using digital technologies for work and learning
Rhetorical literacy
Solving problems
Making informed decisions
Managing goals, tasks and deadlines
Personal and critical literacy
Being responsible for personal development and learning
Putting the theory into practice
Believing in myself and my abilities
Emotional literacy
Managing emotions
Being aware of other people’s feelings
Helping other people
Occupational literacy
Making informed career decisions
Aligning career options with personal values and interests
Creating an alternative career plan
Ethical, cultural and social literacy
Behaving ethically and responsibly
Being a global citizen
Being culturally aware
Why is this free?
The intent of the Developing Employ-ability Initiative is to offer a developmental resource that is accessible to all students. As such, it is online, free and formative. Employ-ability teaching resources have been developed by multiple scholars over many years. All contributors agree to share their resources under a Creative Commons license. The Developing Employability Initiative has also received funding from the Australian Government.
Am I allowed to use the resources?
The resources and online tool are available to all higher education educators and students. There is no charge for their use.
Can I access student data?
Students choose whether to include their responses to the online self-assessment tool in a dataset for educational research. We have strict ethical protocols around the security of this data. Please contact us if you would like more information. Please also refer to our ethical considerations.
Where is digital literacy?
We define digital literacy as “the ability to identify and use technology confidently, creatively and critically to meet the demands and challenges of life, learning and work in a digital society” (Coldwell-Neilson, 2018).
Being digitally literate implies having skills and capabilities across several domains, including the ability to
• use technology;
• find, use and critically evaluate information;
• curate data and media sources;
• communicate, collaborate and participate in online environments;
• manage your online identity as well as your personal security and privacy; and
• create online content, not just consume it.
Digital literacy is woven through the Literacies for Life resources. Click here for more information.
Can students opt out of including their responses in the research database?
Yes. At the end of the profile tool, students receive an information sheet and consent form. They decide whether to include their responses in the database. Opting out does not impact students’ access to any of the tools and resources.
Are students identifiable?
No. Students use their student number as their unique identifier so that they can retrieve and revisit previous profiles at any time. To ensure students’ anonymity, student numbers are removed from the database prior to analysis.
How do I add the Employ-ability Self-assessment tool to my learning management system or student portal?
You can find information on how to add the Employ-ability Self-assessment tool to your learning management system or student portal here.
How do I add the self-assessment tool as an assessment item using Turnitin?
You can set up a Turnitin submission and request that students submit the cover page only of their final self-assessment profile PDF. This cover page will display their student number but not their anonymous results.
1. Create a Turnitin Submission point in the Workshop materials folder
2. Set it to accept all file types. This is important as if not set to all file types it will not accept images.
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