Lee Ridoutt, Chris Selby Smith, Kevin Hummel, Christina Cheang look at how employers value and use qualifications in their business decisions. Their research indicates clear differences in the value placed on and use made of qualifications by employers for different groups of workers and occupations. Qualifications are considered more important for higher-level occupations and employers...

Lee Ridoutt, Kevin Hummel, Ralph Dutneal and Chris Selby Smith identify the relationship between requirements of particular jobs and, in the opinion of employers, formal qualifications. A large number of competencies were identified by employers as required for jobs to be performed well. Generally, this was significantly in excess of those needed to obtain a...