Driving innovation and diversity

in the assessment world

Stephen Isherwood
Chief Executive
The big picture
The apprentice levy effect

Sector Graduates Apprentices Interns

Overall - % increase 2% 24% 8%
Overall - volume 14,367 3,195 4,820

Accounting -2.40% 17.20% 5.60%

Banking 24.80% 73.20% 12.20%
Construction 9.50% 41.80% 13.30%
EEI 10.90% 26.00% 11.10%
FMCG 14.00% 40.00% 10.30%
IT 18.70% 6.60% 13.90%
Law -6.10% n/a 6.00%
Public 3.60% 0.80% 27.10%
Retail -9.10% 52.60% 0.20%
 Demand for higher level skills

Source: cedefop
 It’s all about productivity

blogs.ft.com
HE Green Paper
Higher education providers need to
provide degrees with lasting value to
their recipients. This will mean providers
being open to involving employers and
learned societies representing
professions in curriculum design. It will
also mean teaching students the
transferrable work readiness skills that
businesses need, including collaborative
teamwork and the development of a
positive work ethic, so that they can
contribute more effectively to our efforts
to boost the productivity of the UK
economy
 Apprentice levy

“Under investment in skills is harming our

productivity and the economy. UK productivity
lags behind other major OECD countries, which
is holding back economic growth, wages and
living standards in the UK. UK GDP per hour
worked is 17% lower than the average for the
rest of the G7 and about 30% lower than the US
and Germany”
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Only half measure the value of graduates

50.3%
Overall
47.7%
Accountancy or professional 100.0%
services firm 80.0%
65.4%
Law firms
35.3%
62.4%
Banking or financial services
62.5%
60.0%
Retail
50.0%
49.9%
IT/Telecoms
50.0%
45.5%
Public sector 2014-15
33.3%
44.4% 2013-14
Engineering or industrial
28.6%

Sources: AGR 2015 Annual Survey, AGR 2014 Summer Survey

 Vacancies unfilled – in a recession!

Percentage of graduate recruiters with unfilled vacancies

Source: AGR Winter Surveys
Why?
 Did you know…

75% of AGR
employer members
don’t stipulate a
degree discipline
 The skills gap

Sources: CBI Education and Skills Survey 2014; Prospects and Work Ready Graduates, 2015. Exact wording of
categories varies between surveys e.g. top green bar is “self-management/resilience” in CBI survey.
 Millennials get to work

Student life Employee life

• The student as • The employer as
consumer consumer
• Clear tasks • Ambiguous tasks
• Flexitime • Working week
• Quest for • Quest for
perfection efficiency
• Peers • Hierarchies
 The traditional model

Graduated with a 1st or 2:1 240,000 (HESA)

24% have AAB+ 57,600 (UCAS)
Minus 14% going to further study 49,600 (DLHE)
10% want professional services 4,900 (Trendence)
Professional services vacancies 5,300 (AGR)
Shortfall 500
Selection

“GPAs are worthless as a

criteria for hiring, and test
scores are worthless — no
correlation at all”
Laszlo Bock, Senior Vice President of People
Operations, Google
Future employees could be less work-ready

Source: UKCES 2015 “The Death of the Saturday Job”.

Assessment link to on-job performance

Overall 66.3%
Energy, water or utility company 87.5%
Law 84.6%
Retail 83.3%
FMCG 81.8%
Banking/financial services 78.6%
Public 76.9%
Construction… 72.7%
Accountancy or professional… 57.1%
IT/Telecoms 45.5%
Engineering or industrial company 39.1%
Use of cut-off criteria is mostly static

100%
90%
80%
Share of employers using this

76.0% 75.1% 74.2% 77%

70% 73.2%

60%
50%
40%
30% 27.8% 28.4% 30.3% 29.1%
26.5%
20%
10%
0%
2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15
2.1 degree classification Relevant work experience
Specific degree subject 2.2 degree classification
Graduates from particular universities 1st degree classification

Source: AGR 2015 Annual Survey, AGR Summer Surveys

Changes in selection

Source: AGR’s 2015 Winter Review. Averages are listed above.

 Use of video interviewing is still rising

IT/Telecoms 55%
Accountancy or professional services 50%
FMCG 46%
Consulting or business services 40%
Public 39%
Law 35%
Retail 27%
Banking/financial services 25%
Energy, water or utility company 25%
Engineering or industrial company 21%
Construction consultancy/company 8.3%
Overall (2014-15) 29.8%
Overall (2013-14) 21.2%
Overall (2012-13) 15.1%
Overall (2011-12) 6.3%
Can do or love to do?
Diversity
 3 in 5 firms are addressing diversity

88.1%
Gender
62.8%
68.6%
Ethnicity
43.9%
47.2%
Disability
29.1%
31.4%
Sexuality
23.0%
25.8%
Socio-economic background
36.5%
3.8%
Other
1.4%
Monitor
11.3% Strategy to address
None
21.6%
 Social mobility

• Remove academic criteria

• Blind CVs
– No personal details
– School details
– University details
– Grades
• Contextualised data
• Unconscious bias training
Contextualised data
 41.6% of graduate hires are female

Overall 38.7%
41.6%
Law firms 54.6%
53.8%
Retail 53.5%
56.8%
FMCG companies 50.0%
53.2%
Public sector 49.6%
59.4%
Accountancy or professional… 38.3%
40.0%
Banking or financial services 35.2%
40.9%
Energy, water or utility company 34.7%
30.3%
IT/Telecoms company 28.4%
34.8%
26.7% 2009-10
Construction company or… 27.5% 2013-14
Engineering or Industrial company 15.8%
23.8% 58.7% in
talent pool
Source: AGR 2015 Annual Survey, 2010 Winter Survey
Attraction or selection?
Fewer 18 yr olds for the next 5 years
The future…