ERIC ED391086: Getting Unemployed Adults into Jobs. Does Jobsearch Training Add Value to "Training for Work"? Report 273.

100 Pages·1994·1.7 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
CE 070 701
ED 391 086
Atkinson, John
AUTHOR
Getting Unemployed Adults into Jobs. Does Jobsearch
TITLE
Training Add Value to "Training for Work"? Report
273.
Sussex Univ., Brighton (England). Inst. of Manpower
INSTITUTION
Studies.
Employment Dept., London (England).
SPONS AGENCY
ISBN-1-85184-198-9
REPORT NO
PUB DATE
94
NOTE
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Adult Education; *Adult Programs; Educational Policy;
DESCRIPTORS
*Education Work Relationship; *Employment Services;
Foreign Countries; *Job Search Methods; Outcomes of
Education; Participant Characteristics; *Program
Effectiveness; Tables (Data); Training;
*Unemployment
*United Kingdom
IDENTIFIERS
ABSTRACT
The effectiveness of Iraining for Work, which is the
United Kingdom's main public program for helping long-term unemployed
adults find jobs, was examined through interviews with training
managers in 8 training and enterprise councils (TECs), 53 training
providers, and 374 individuals who had joined Training for Work in
spring/summer 1993 and left to seek work. It was discovered that,
although the TECs recognized the importance of job search training in
achieving positive job outcomes after Training for Work, they
of job search
generally left decisions regarding the nature and scop
training to local providers. According to the training providers,
participaits received an average of 9 days of job search training
(approximately 97. of the available training days), with 3 days
centered on self-preservation skills. However, of every 10
participants, only 4 received job search training and 3 did not want
it. Approximately half of job search training recipients credited it
with improving their confidence and having a marked effect on the
intensity and scope of their job search. The job search success rate
after leaving Training for Work averaged 32% for those who had
received job search training versus 26% for all leavers. (Includes 49
tables/figures.) (MN)
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GETTING
UNEMPLOYED ADULTS
INTO JOBS
Atkinson
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GETFING UNEMPLOYED
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Other titles from IMS:
Jobsearch: Modelling Behaviour and Improving Practice,
J Atkinson. IMS Report 260, 1994. ISBN 1-85184-184-9
Changing Policies Towards Young Workers,
M Thompson, J Atkinson, C Simkin. IMS Report 243, 1993.
ISBN 1-85184-171-7
The Costs of Getting a Job, J Atkinson, J Hillage.
IMS Report 236, 1993. ISBN 1-85184-159-8
GEUING UNEMPLOYED
ADULTS INTO JOBS
Does Jobsearch Training add
Value to 'Training for Work'?
John Atkinson
Published by:
INSTITUTE OF MANPOWER STUDIES
at the University of Sussex
Mantell Building
Falmer
Brighton BN1 9RF
UK
Tel. [phone]
Fax [phone]
Crown Copyright © 1994
form by any means - graphic,
No part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any
taping or information storage or
electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording,
Employment Department.
retrieval systems - without prior permission in writing from the
and not necessarily those of the
The views expressed in this report are those of the authors
Employment Department.
the British Library
A catalogue record for this publication is available from
ISBN 1-85184-198-9
Printed in Great Britain by Microgen UK L.td
6
The Institute of Manpower Studies
The Institute of Manpower Studies is an independent, international
centre of research and consultancy in human resource issues. It has
close working contacts with employers in the manufacturing, service
and public sectors, government departments, agencies, professional
and employee bodies, and foundations. Since it was established over
20 years ago the Institute has been a focus of knowledge and practical
experience in employment and training policy, the operation of labour
markets and human resource planning and development. IMS is a
not-for-profit organisation which has a multidisciplinary staff of over
50. IMS expertise is available to all organisations through research,
consultancy, training and publications.
help bring about sustainable improvements in
IMS aims
to
employment policy and human resource management. IMS achieves
this by increasing the understanding and improving the practice of
key decision makers in policy bodies and employing organisations.
In Autumn 1994 the Institute changes its name to The Institute for
Employment Studies (IES), this name better reflecting the full range of
the Institute's activities and involvement.
VIP
Contents
1
Executive Summary
Introduction and Summary
3
3
1.1 Research aims and objectives
3
4
1.2 Research design and methodology
1.3 Stunmary of main findings
5
10
The TECs
2.
2.1 Characteristics of the TECs
10
12
2.2 Strategic aims of Training for Work
2.3 Managing the delivery of jobsearch training
13
15
2.4 Best practice in jobsearch
16
2.5 Relations with the Employment Service
17
2.6 Alternatives to open market jobsearch
17
2.7 Summary
19
The Training Providers
3.
3.1 Characteristics of the providers
19
21
3.2 Access to jobsearch training
23
3.3 Jobsearch training provision
24
3.4 Characteristics of jobsearch training
3.5 Provider general perspectives on jobsearch training
34
40
3.6 Summary
Individual Participants in Training for Work
41
4.
41
4.1 Participant sample characteristics
4.2 Do Training for Work participants need jobsearch
44
training?
4.3 Provision of jobsearch training during Training for Work 48
54
4.4 What jobsearch training was received?
4.5 What do jobsearch training recipients think about it?
65
66
4.6 Summary
68
Getting a Job after Training for Work
5.
68
5.1 What happened after Training for Work?
70
5.2 Jobsearch training and job finding
78
5.3 Jobsearch training in context
83
5.4 Summary
vii
Policy Implications
85
6.
6.1 A blueprint for effective jobsearch training
85
6.2 Selection criteria for jobsearch training
87
6.3 The high road to job entry
88
6.4 Contractual sticks and funding carrots
89
Executive Summary
TECs recognised the importance of jobsearch training in achieving
positive job outcomes after Training for Work, but it had not
generally been a critical priority in introducing Training for Work. All
they
the TECs adopted a 'hands off' approach to jobsearch training:
required training providers to supply it, but did not specify how
much or what kind of training should be supplied, or who should get
emphasis
it. In any case, the better performing TEC, placed greater
transfer of individuals off
on establishing routes for the direct
Training for Work into employment, rather than the open external
labour market.
the
Although arrangements for referral to Training for Work through
Employment Service were working well, TECs had not assimilated
much of the Employment Service's Jobclub experience in jobsearch
training.
Providers had generally been left to their own devices in determining
high
what provision to offer and to whom. They claimed that a very
that
proportion of participants had access to jobsearch training, and
about 85 per cent of participants actually received it. Reluctance
for non-receipt. Only
among participants was cited as the main reason
demand for jobsearch training
a third of them recognised any strong
thought that it improved the
among the participants, but almost all
chances of getting a job.
The average volume of jobsearch training they claimed to give was
training
nine days per trainee, or about nine per cent of the available
days, and the main element (three days) centred on self-presentation
skills.
Past Training for Work participants tell a different story. We estimate
that for every ten of our Training for Work participants, four received
jobsearch training, three did not want it (or would probably not have
gained much from having been offered it), and the other three would
but
have liked to have received it, and would have benefited from it,
remember getting
were not given the chance. In addition, recipients
rather less jobsearch training than the providers suggest: nearly two
out of every five had had less than a week.
Recipients confirm the emphasis on presentation skills and on formal
methods of vacancy hunting, but their former jobsearch efforts
suggest that vacancy finding, and application of informal routes to
jobs were their most prevalent weaknesses. Nevertheless, about half
of those receiving it said that their training had made them more
confident in looking for work. Further, the jobsearch training they
1
Getting Unemployed Adults into Jobs