Four-stage developmental model
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Four-stage developmental model

Employability skills develop throughout the lifetime

In our research, we saw evidence that employability skills are malleable over the lifetime and can be developed and strengthened over four distinct stages. Though some interviewees believed that some of the skills were fixed and could not be improved through practice but for each still, we found examples of employers or educators who were sucessfully supporting learners in strengthening employability skills.

Seedling (small)
1. Preparatory Level
Build employability skills awareness.
2. Foundational Level
Establish basic employability skills knowledge and skills.
3. Apprentice Level
Establish applied employability skills competence
Illustration of a plant with flower in bloom
4. Work-Ready Level
Build applied employability skills competence

People develop employability skills long before they enter the workforce, but—according to many educators and employers interviewed—college-age and early-career technicians often don’t appear to appreciate the critical importance of these skills and have had limited experience with them. To address this gap, educators and employers call for a greater focus on employability skills during middle school and high school, as well as continuing to develop these skills in the postsecondary years. They want educators to convey the importance of these skills for all kinds of careers, but particularly technician careers that sometimes are perceived—incorrectly—as not requiring skills such as writing, speaking, and negotiating with team members.

Many of the development techniques discussed in this chapter focus on approaches that interviewees from college and industry recommended for use in secondary-level academic courses, career technical education classes, dual enrollment courses, informal education activities, student clubs, and youth employment programs. However, these approaches may be used by college instructors and managers at any point in a technician’s career to raise basic awareness of the importance of employability skills.

The most relevant literature concerning building basis awareness of the importance of employability skills comes from the K-12 applied research into 21st-century skills and social- emotional learning. The term “21st century” captures the skill sets young people need to develop today to prepare for future jobs and lives in which demands are constantly changing. Frameworks of 21st century skills usually include the employability skills of collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and problem solving. The literature on social-emotional learning includes related readiness skills and mindsets. For example, the skill set of emotional regulation prepares for effective interpersonal/teamwork skills, the growth mindset prepares for lifelong learning skills, and the skill set of self-regulated learning prepares for work ethic.