Professionalising the employability sector

26 Jun 2013

Through the Growth and Innovation and Fund, the Commission has invested to create the Institute of Employability Professionals (IEP), which represents the people working across the employability sector.

The sector provides employment-related services that help job seekers of all ages into sustained employment. Specifically, the sector prepares young people for the world of work through the provision of work experiences and helps unemployed adults into sustainable employment through a range of interventions including the Work Programme.

It is known that some 20,000 employability professionals are employed in Welfare to Work alone, while tens of thousands more are to be found working for a wider array of public, private and third sector organisations including work-based training providers, education business partnerships, schools, colleges, universities and business.

With 2.5m people unemployed in the UK, the IEP’s creation comes at a critical time. The body aims to:

• increase the skills of those already working within it;
• provide career pathways which maximise the value of those skills within the sector; and
• increase the visibility and attractiveness of the sector to new recruits.

The IEP currently has over 2,000 members who provide employment-related services, promote work-based learning and support employability skills for both adults and young people. By the end of 2013 it is expected membership will have risen to over 4,000.

The IEP in action: Working Links: Raising the game through qualifications and professional recognition

Working Links is a leading provider of employment-related services, delivering programmes to help unemployed people, people with convictions, people with disabilities and young people. Founded in 2000, it has helped more than 250,000 people move into the workplace and is currently the only provider delivering the government’s Work Programme in England, Scotland and Wales.

Working Links has always been committed to investing in the professional development of its staff, and helped to design the Employment-Related Services qualification (ERS), launched in 2011. Through the ERS framework, practitioners can gain a recognised, sector-specific, Level 3 qualification, tailored to particular job roles.

In 2012, Working Links piloted in-house delivery of the ERS qualification with 12 high-potential personal consultants nominated by their managers. The four-month programme, led by Working Links’ own accredited Learning and Development team, saw the dozen consultants take part in face to face sessions, work-based learning and remote learning.
On successful completion of the award, participants were given membership of the IEP.

Feedback from participants proved positive with most saying it focused them on providing enhanced customer service and improving productivity, and was a more challenging programme of learning than similar qualifications.

Managers also reported improved performance levels, increased customer satisfaction, a better understanding of the industry and its context; greater compliance; and increased confidence, resulting in more sharing of practice with colleagues.

Working Links’ Director of People and Talent Clare Davey said: “The ERS has not just been about improving performance within the business, critical as that is. It has been an essential part of our wider work around professionalisation through our support of the IEP. I think the industry has taken a major step forward in finally creating a professional framework that will increase performance, give our people the recognition they deserve and raise the status of the sector as a whole.”

Working Links is now hoping to roll out the ERS qualification across the whole business in order to improve frontline performance, create a culture of continuous learning, and develop more consistent working that helps both staff development and career progression.


To read more about the work of the IEP, please visit www.iemployability.org