TopicUk Business Magazine

Online employability skills platform sees 1,600% uplift during pandemic

The Editor -
  • 2.6 million people at risk of being unemployed in 2021
  • ONS reports redundancy rate in Q3 of 2020 11.2 per 1000 employees
  • 1,600% increase in demand for employability skills training

Shortlist.Me – a platform that enables users to boost their employability skills in an experiential learning environment – has revealed that it has experienced a massive surge in demand as the UK job market is decimated by pandemic fallout, and redundancies are rife.

The Office of National Statistics has reported that the redundancy rate in Q3 of 2020 was at 11.2 per 1000 employees, just shy of the peak redundancy rate of 12.4 in early 2009 — after the financial crash the previous year. Experts warn also that the worst is yet to come, with 2.6 million set to be unemployed in 2021.

Shortlist.Me also carried out its own research, surveying 3,000 platform users – comprising students in Further and Higher Education establishments.

Of those surveyed, 76% stated that they felt ready to tackle an interview and 77% stated they felt prepared to complete a virtual assessment, after finishing an online, employer-led mock process.

David Dewey, founder at Shortlist.Me commented “Those looking to re-enter the workforce — when competition is higher than ever before — are wanting to develop essential employability skills, such as interview confidence, self-presentation, and appealing to employer requirements.

“The fact that over 2,200 students reported that our tech helped them feel more prepared for an interview evidences the vital role experiential learning – delivered by digital tools – has to play in not only securing graduate jobs, but the UK’s wider return-to-work and redeployment programme.”

It is those industries where the workforce is less likely to be experienced in rigorous interview settings that have been hardest hit, such as the hospitality sector.

The very nature of Shortlist.Me allows for more diversity and inclusiveness to be brought through to the job market, by training users to demonstrate their skillset to potential employers, therefore allowing the economy to tap into this talent.

Technology such as this will help the UK in its long road to recovery, by bridging the disconnect between employers, candidates, and careers services.