Employer Enquiry Handling

Introduction 
This guidance and accompanying tool are designed for employer engagement colleagues to review, assess and improve how they handle incoming employer enquiries about T Levels.

Research shows that around 60% of people who have a poor first experience with an organisation never return. The same is true for employers. An unanswered call, slow response or inconsistent message can mean a missed opportunity for a student. Effective enquiry handling builds confidence, encourages repeat engagement and supports the delivery of high-quality industry placements.

Guidance  
As employer engagement colleagues, you play a vital role in promoting T Levels and helping employers understand the range of ways they can get involved, from short work tasters and skills projects to simulated activities and full industry placements.

You are the first point of contact for employers, so it is important that your systems and processes make engagement easy, accurate and consistent. How you capture, respond to and follow up enquiries shapes an employer’s view of your organisation and influences whether they choose to stay involved.

This Employer enquiry handling tool provides a practical framework to review and improve these processes. It is based on four cornerstones of effective employer engagement:

• Customer focus
Understand employers’ needs and make it easy for them to engage.
• Clarity and accuracy
Provide reliable, concise information that builds confidence.
• Collaboration and coordination
Ensure teams work together so employers experience one joined-up organisation.
• Continuous improvement
Use data and feedback to refine your approach and keep employers warm between placements.

At the centre of all four sits the principle of sell the student, not the course. Every interaction should highlight the skills, enthusiasm and value your students can bring.

Using this tool 
The downloadable Employer enquiry handling resource can be used individually or as a team activity to identify strengths and areas for improvement. It contains four action-planning sections covering:

1. Recording and tracking employer enquiries
How you capture and share information across teams, including integrating any recording systems for tracking industry placements.
2. Responding to employer enquiries
Ensuring every employer receives a prompt, professional and student-centred response.
3. Providing information and guidance to employers
Tailoring information to meet the needs of different sectors and businesses.
4. Following up and closing employer enquiries
Maintaining relationships, collecting feedback and keeping employers warm for future opportunities.

You can adapt the tool to suit your organisation’s context and use it to promote a consistent, cross-provider approach. Review your approach at least once a year, or more frequently if there are significant changes in your systems, staffing or T Level delivery.

Recording engagement data
Capturing information consistently is an important part of effective enquiry handling. Use a shared system or spreadsheet to record employer contact details, enquiry type, stage of engagement and next actions. Where possible, link this information with any system your organisation uses to track industry placements. This will help ensure that employer and student data are joined up, avoid duplication and provide clearer insight into engagement across the whole T Level journey.

Partner resources
For a broader, strategic view of how employers experience your organisation, use this resource alongside Developing your customer journey.