Research
Beyond the CV: Why the Skills England Framework is the Map Gen Z Needs
3 November 2026
Written by: Frankie Brookton, Founder, inyourroots®
The transition from education to employment has rarely felt more disconnected. For many 16 to 25 year olds in Essex, Hertfordshire and Suffolk, the traditional hiring process is a wall built of credentials they haven't had the chance to earn. At the same time, local small businesses (SMEs) are struggling to find talent, often overlooking brilliant young people because their potential doesn't fit into a standard CV format.
This is the connection gap. In October 2026, Skills England published the Employability Skills Framework, led by Deputy Chief Executive Gemma Marsh. It is more than just a list of competencies. It is a shared language designed to bridge the gap between how young people live and how employers hire.
At inyourroots®, we believe this framework is the most significant step forward in UK skills policy in a decade, providing a clear route for Gen Z to turn everyday experience into career opportunity.
The paradox of the first job
The fundamental problem with entry-level hiring is a paradox: you need experience to get a job, but you need a job to get experience.
Gemma Marsh highlights that young people consistently develop valuable capabilities through study, caring responsibilities, sports, volunteering and hobbies. Yet, they often lack the language to explain how those life skills translate to a workplace. Employers, particularly SMEs without large HR departments, find it difficult to identify potential in candidates who have limited employment history.
The Skills England framework identifies 13 key employability skills. It provides a practical translation resource for what these skills mean at the start of a career, how they are developed in everyday life and how employers can assess them during recruitment.
The 13 Pillars of the Employability Skills Framework
To understand how this serves Gen Z, we have to look at the 13 skills not as academic targets, but as workplace realities.
1. Planning and organising
This is defined as managing time and tasks to get things done. For a young person, this isn't just about using a calendar. It is about balancing school deadlines, organising a community fundraiser or managing family responsibilities.
When a young person cares for a sibling or an elderly relative, they are performing high-level prioritisation and task management. The framework encourages employers to ask about these real-world scenarios rather than just looking for "Project Management" on a CV.
2. Adapting
In a rapidly changing economy, the ability to adjust to change or feedback is vital. Gen Z has navigated a pandemic, shifts in educational delivery and the rise of AI. The framework recognises that moving schools, responding to coaching in sports or handling a change in routine are all evidence of adaptability.
3. Working with others
Collaboration is about achieving a shared outcome. Whether it is a group project, a drama production or a team sport, young people are constantly negotiating and collaborating. The framework helps employers see that a candidate who plays their part in a team sport is already showing the inclusive, respectful behaviours needed in a modern team culture.
4. Listening
Understanding information and perspectives is a core employability skill. In a first job, this looks like following instructions and checking understanding before moving on. The framework maps this to everyday activities like following safety briefings in workshops or responding to coaching in the arts.
5. Speaking
Effective communication is about more than just talking. It is about conveying information clearly to different audiences. A young person who has presented a school project or explained a task to a new club member is demonstrating the foundational speaking skills required in retail, hospitality or office environments.
6. Leadership
Leadership at age 18 isn't about being a CEO. It is about taking initiative, supporting others and being a positive role model. The framework identifies that captaining a sports team or leading a school council are direct evidence of leadership potential.
7. Learning and investigating
This is the curiosity to find out more and the drive to develop new skills. In an AI-enabled workplace, the ability to learn is more important than static knowledge. Gen Z, as digital natives, are constantly investigating new tools and information. The framework validates this curiosity as a professional asset.
8. Creating
Creativity in the workplace is about generating ideas and finding new ways to do things. This isn't limited to the "creative industries." A young person who finds a better way to organise a club’s social media or suggests a new idea for a fundraiser is demonstrating workplace creativity.
9. Problem solving and decision making
Employers consistently cite problem solving as a top priority. The framework maps this to handling challenges in group activities or making choices in project-based learning. It encourages employers to ask candidates about a time something didn't go to plan and how they recovered.
10. Numeracy
Workplace numeracy is the practical application of numbers, from handling cash to understanding data. The framework connects school-level maths to real-world tasks like budgeting for a trip or tracking scores in a competition.
11. Digital literacy
Digital literacy is no longer a separate skill; it is the environment in which all other skills operate. The framework focuses on using technology effectively and responsibly. For Gen Z, this means moving beyond being a consumer of tech to being a professional user who can evaluate outputs and maintain human oversight.
12. Reading
In a workplace context, reading is about understanding and acting on written information. The framework links this to following written instructions, reading schedules or understanding safety notices.
13. Writing
Professional writing is about conveying meaning clearly in digital and physical formats. Whether it is an email to a tutor or a report for a youth project, these are the foundations of professional correspondence.
Skills England's Employability Skills Framework contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
The AI dimension: human oversight in a tech-driven world
One of the most forward-thinking aspects of the Skills England framework is how it embeds AI-enabled capabilities throughout. The world of work is changing, and the framework reflects this by focusing on "using technology effectively while applying critical thinking and judgement."
The focus is not simply on using AI tools, but on using them responsibly. This means:
- Evaluating AI outputs for accuracy.
- Maintaining human oversight over automated tasks.
- Combining technical capability with teamwork and sound judgement.
For Gen Z, this is a powerful shift. It moves the conversation away from "AI replacing jobs" to "young people as the responsible pilots of AI tools."
Why the framework matters for local SMEs
For the 100,000 SMEs across Essex, Hertfordshire and Suffolk, recruitment is a high-stakes decision. A single bad hire can disrupt a small team. Traditionally, SMEs have relied on CVs and experience as a proxy for safety. However, this often leads to a talent shortage because the pool of "experienced" candidates is small and expensive.
The Employability Skills Framework provides SMEs with a way to reduce hiring risk by assessing potential. By using the "shared language" of the 13 skills, a local shop, cafe or construction firm can identify the reliability and problem-solving skills in a young person who has never had a formal job but has balanced a heavy caring load at home.
It allows businesses to ask better questions:
Instead of:
"Tell me about your last job,"
Ask:
"Tell me about a time you had to organise something for other people."
This shift in questioning opens up a vast, untapped pool of local talent.
How inyourroots® integrates the framework
At inyourroots®, our mission is to close the connection gap using exactly this logic. Our career companion, Budi, guides 16 to 25 year olds through a strengths-based journey that maps directly to the Skills England framework.
Budi identifies 28 character strengths and helps young people translate those strengths into the language of the 13 employability skills. For example:
- A young person who identifies "Zest" and "Social Intelligence" in Budi is guided to see how those strengths manifest as Teamwork and Communication in the workplace.
- A student who shows "Perspective" and "Judgment" is shown how those relate to Critical Thinking and Problem Solving in an AI-enabled environment.
We provide the bridge. We help young people build a "Greenhouse" of Skill Seeds, where they collect real-world evidence of these 13 skills. When they are ready to meet local employers, they aren't just presenting a blank CV; they are presenting a verified profile of what they can actually do.
A new era for careers education
For schools and colleges, the framework provides a vital tool for meeting the Gatsby Benchmarks.
- Benchmark 2 (LMI): The framework helps students understand the skills local employers are actually looking for right now.
- Benchmark 4 (Curriculum Linking): Teachers can show how a history project is an exercise in Planning, Investigating and Critical Thinking, making the curriculum feel relevant to the students' future.
- Benchmark 5 (Employer Encounters): When students meet employers, the framework gives them the confidence to speak a language the employer understands.
Conclusion: opportunity over credentials
Gemma Marsh's goal for Skills England is simple: to ensure that opportunity does not depend on whether you have had a job before, but on what you are capable of achieving.
At inyourroots®, we share that vision. By adopting the Employability Skills Framework, we can move away from a system that penalises young people for their lack of history and start rewarding them for their potential.
Whether you are a young person looking for your first chance, an employer looking for your next team member or an educator supporting the next generation, this framework is the map we have been waiting for.
The CV is a wall. It is time we all started building the bridge.