Labor Market Insights

I have worked with over two dozen post-secondary institutions regarding graduate employment outcomes, graduate employability and skills assessment of university graduates. I also speak frequently on the effects of artificial intelligence on the labour market.

In 2013 I worked with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology on a big data research project that linked several data sources together in order to create a holistic picture of the graduate outcomes for its 85,000 students.  It included two cohorts of student surveys, surveys with employers, federally collected data from graduate employment in the Graduate Destination Survey, and labour market information from the Australian Bureau of Statistics Labour Force survey. It was the most comprehensive analysis of skills and graduate employability that had ever been undertaken in Australia.  We were able to use the results to understand trends in the country’s labour market in occupations as well as uncover gaps in skills and employer expectations.

And the best part was that I presented the results in the Green Brain, the most interesting lecture hall at RMIT (and that’s saying something, because the campus is unbelievable).  The results were also presented at the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia, Fremantle, Western Australia as well as the Canadian Institutional Research and Planning Association, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

I've always been interested in using novel data collection methodologies to get insights that have not been historically possible.  In 2014, I worked with the University of Regina to develop some novel data collection methodology to better understand the student experience of first year students: how they were spending their time, what difficulties they were having adjusting to university life, and how they were faring academically.  We collected data by three unique methods, including text message, online surveys and in an online forum to compare the relative success of the data collection methodologies.  We asked students to share insights throughout the week, including what they were doing and who they were with and as a result were able to provide significant insight into the experiences of students to help with retention of new students and to help the university decide what programs to invest in.  

The results were presented at the Association for Institutional Research Forum in Orlando, Florida, and the Canadian Institutional Research and Planning Association conference in Hamilton, Ontario.