[Sub ID 4841] Resume 2.0 competency based framework for enterprise skills (City of Playford)

Submission ID: 4841
Organisation name: City of Playford
Contact name: Mrs Roxanne Withers
State: SA
Contact email: rwithers@playford.sa.gov.au
Contact number: 0882560263

Which priority group of the Try, Test and Learn Fund does your idea support?
Young carers, Young parents, Young students at risk of long-term unemployment

What need or issue are you trying to address?
The New Work Order report series (Foundation for Young Australians) showed that the way we work will be increasingly affected by three global economic forces: automation, globalisation and collaboration and for young people to capitalise on the opportunities and navigate the challenges they need a set of transferrable enterprise skills.

In the City of Playford, youth unemployment rates are among the highest in the nation with 18.3% of the labour force aged 15 to 24 years classed as unemployed, compared to 12.8% in Greater Adelaide. Young people express the increasing challenge of “not being able to get a job without experience but how do you get the experience without a job” particularly when experiencing additional barriers associated with disability; cultural & linguistic background; poor literacy & numeracy.

Council’s pathway to employment & volunteer program engages with many young people who appear to have few skills or experience based on what is initially presented. However, upon further investigation we are often surprised that through their volunteer involvement they have a breadth of skills and demonstrable experience required for work but really struggle to articulate this to an employer. The New Work Mindset report also found that “most young people are skilled for more jobs that they or potential employers, actually realise”.

What is your idea?
To assist young people to enhance their employability through the development of a credible work profile (Resume 2.0) based on transferable ‘enterprise skills’ gained through volunteering and work experience. The profile will be linked to the new ‘clusters’ of work identified in ‘The New Work Mindset’ report produced by The Foundation for Young Australians. This report talks about needing to ‘’shift our focus from jobs to skills to prepare young people for the future of work” as well as “employers reporting a mismatch in the skills of young people are learning and those industry requires”.

The credibility would be derived from the development of a competency based framework which will identify what skills and experiences were demonstrated in the workplace to reflect the enterprise skills. It would be presented in a simplified way so that both young people and the volunteer organisation benefit from the experience. It would be co-designed with young people, employers and volunteer organisations to ensure a two way approach managing industry expectations and understanding the needs of young people navigating the ‘world of work’. The long term goal is to prototype an app or online platform to capture the information and transfer it straight into either a digital or printable resume (which could be similar to a student transcript).

The additional benefits will include up-skilling volunteer involving organisations to be more ‘youth friendly’ leading to increased community participation; reduce red tape as the profile could be transferred across organisations with the inclusion of additional information for example police checks, record of training to and establish a work history over a number of volunteer employers.