Please spare us 10 to 15 minutes of your time to complete it so that we can try to make sure that any changes to the skills agenda represent the needs of businesses like yours. To show our appreciation, we will enter those who complete this survey into a prize draw to win a case of wine or a donation of £100 to a charity nominated by the winner.
For more information on this or any other aspect of the FPB's research programme, please email thomas.parry@fpb.org or call 01565 634467.
Q1 At what educational level do you recruit? (please select all that apply)   School-leavers without qualifications School-leavers with 5 good GCSEs School-leavers with A-levels College-leavers with NVQ 2 or 3 Graduates Postgraduates/those with professional qualifications (ACCA,PGCE etc.) Do not recruit Q2 Where do you look for applicants? (please select one only)   Local area Regionally Nationally Locally, but have to look nationally for staff with higher skills Q3 Why do you not recruit? (please select all that apply)   Family business Too small/sole-trader Cannot find anyone suitable Costs too much Business has not grown to such a level Other Do not know   Other reason for not recruiting: Q4 Why can you not find anyone suitable? Q5 How important are the following basic skills when recruiting staff? (please select one per row; if you do not use a skill, select 'irrelevant')   Crucial   Important   Useful   Unimportant   Irrelevant   Literacy           Numeracy           English language communication           Basic ICT (Word, email etc.)         Q6 How would you rate the ability of the current labour force to provide these skills? (please select one only)   Very good Good Average Poor Very poor Do not know

Q7 How important are the following employability attributes when recruiting staff? (please select one per row; if you do not use a skill, select 'irrelevant')   Crucial   Important   Useful   Unimportant   Irrelevant   Teamworking skills           Interpersonal skills           Work ethic/professionalism           Presentation skills           Willingness to learn           Driving skills         Q8 How would you rate the ability of the current labour force to provide these attributes? (please select one only)   Very good Good Average Poor Very poor Do not know Q9 How important are the following job-specific attributes when recruiting staff? (please select one per row; if you do not use a skill, select 'irrelevant')   Crucial   Important   Useful   Unimportant   Irrelevant   Health and safety           Machine-operating skills           Craft skills           Customer service, sales and marketing skills           Specialist ICT skills           Other non-graduate level job-specific skills           Other skill(s) required: Q10 How would you rate the ability of the current labour force to provide these job-specific skills? (please select one only)   Very good Good Average Poor Very poor Do not know

Q11 How important are the following higher-level attributes when recruiting staff? (please select one per row; if you do not use a skill, select 'irrelevant')   Crucial   Important   Useful   Unimportant   Irrelevant   Graduate level Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM)           Foreign language skills           Creativity/innovation           Critical thinking           Analytical skills         Q12 How would you rate the ability of the current labour force to provide these high-level skills? (please select one only)   Very good Good Average Poor Very poor Do not know Q13 What effect has poor skill levels had on your business? Q14 Why do you not recruit graduates or postgraduates? (please tick all that apply)   We do not required staff with these skills We require technical/craft skills, not those provided by universities They are too costly to employ They do not have the correct employability skills (attitude, work ethic etc.) Large corporations get all of the talented graduates Graduates are not interested in working for companies such as ours Other   Other reason: