What is Employability?

For the ELSIE team, ‘employability’ is distinct from employment: it is a life-long process where the individual’s knowledge, skills, capabilities, needs and/or desires are continuously being re-evaluated through a process of reflection. 

Employability can be thought of as ‘…a set of achievements, understandings and personal attributes that make individuals more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations’ (ESECT 2005 based on a definition from Peter Sewell, UCLan).

Increasingly, having a degree does not guarantee students a graduate job – students need to be able to market themselves effectively and be able to articulate to potential employers the wealth of skills and attributes that they have developed and/or possess. Students not only need to possess certain qualities, they must have a good insight into what these qualities are and how they can be transferred from one context to another. To do this, students have to actively engage in the process of self-reflection and evaluation. The S.S.E.E model, above, exemplifies one of the fundamental elements of the ELSIE course: the importance of self-awareness.