Employability Skills Framework

Employability Skills are general skills that are necessary for success in the labor market at all employment levels and in all sectors. The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 includes employability skills as a key component of workplace preparation activities for education and training programs.

Graphical representation of the Employability Skills Framework.

The Employability Skills Framework describes a set of nine key skills, organized in three broad categories: Applied Knowledge, Effective Relationships, and Workplace Skills.

Background

The Employability Skills Framework was developed in 2012 with funding from the U.S. Department of Education to advance a unifying set of employability skills that span the workforce development and education sectors. Framework development was guided by career and technical education, adult education, workforce development, and business stakeholders. The resources below were designed to support implementation of the Employability Skills Framework across education and training programs.

Resources

Source Matrix
Illustrates how the Employability Skills Framework aligns with selected employability skills resources, including the sources used to develop the framework.

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Instruction Planning Tool
Provides a tool for reflecting on the extent to which employability skills are currently integrated into education and training programs and identifying opportunities to further emphasize skills where there are gaps.

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Interviewing for Employability Skills
Provides a list of sample interview questions aligned to the Employability Skills Framework for use by employers and educators to help job candidates describe their employability skills in an employment interview.

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Assessment Selection Tool
Describes criteria for selecting an employability skill
assessment and provides a worksheet for
comparing assessment resources to the selection
criteria.

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Using the Resources

To get started, view the Overview of the Employability Skills Framework Resources for examples of how different audiences (educators, employers, and administrators) can use these resources to integrate employability skills into education and training settings.