Career Management Skills and Employability

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Career Management Skills and Employability

• Denise Keighley
• Careers Adviser
• Tel [phone]
• denise.keighley_at_northumbria.ac.uk

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By the end of this session you will be able to

• Understand how career management skills can help
  you set and achieve career goals and improve your
  employability
• Understand the transferability of research skills
  into other working environments
• Understand some features of the labour market for
  researchers
• Know where to look for more help in progressing
  your career plans

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Format of session

• Career Management Skills
• The Changing World of Work
• Employability
• Skills of a researcher
• Generating Career Options
• Further help and resources

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Career planning
Self awareness
Opportunity awareness
Action planning
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Career Management Skills

• Reflection
• Commercial Acumen
• Self Analysis
• Occupational Awareness
• Decision Making
• Networking
• Self Presentation and Promotion
• Goal Setting and Action Planning

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The future of work

• The labour market and career paths
• To be employed is to be at risk to be
  employable is to be secure
• Peter Hawkins The Art of
  Building Windmills

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Employability

• Employability is about equipping yourself with
  the key skills, achievements and personal
  attributes that will make you more likely to gain
  employment and be successful in your chosen career

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The changing world of work

• de-layering, outsourcing, downsizing
• mergers and acquisitions
• from manufacturing to service industries
• customer driven
• global markets and organisations
• impact of IT and E-commerce
• SMEs growing in importance
• self employment and portfolio working
• more flexible workforces
• different psychological contract
• demographics

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What do University Researchers do?
Researcher
List the skills and activities that are part of
your day-to-day work
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Problem solving
Understanding complex ideas
Managing projects
Instructing others
Giving opinions
Researcher
Self management
Developing new ideas
Managing information
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Skills of Researchers

• Project management
• -Financial management
• -Managing people
• -Planning
• -Proposal writing
• -Quality Issues
• -Information/document
• Management
• Business/management skills

• Research skills
• -Context
• -Strategic
• -Research concepts
• -Methods
• -Dissemination
• Personal and interpersonal
• -Communication

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Key skills employers desire

• Communication -Verbal, written, interpersonal
• Problem solving
• Team working
• Commercial acumen/business awareness
• Initiative
• Adaptability/flexibility
• Organisational
• IT

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What employers say. The benefits of recruiting
people with academic research experience

• Analytical thinkers, good report writing, ability
  to work independently
• High academic profile advantageous when
  presenting CVs to prospective clients
• Intellectual approach, good communication
  presentation skills

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The Job Market for Researchers

• How do employers view researchers?
• Research demonstrates a high level of skills
  which translate into a wide range of sectors
• Learn how to convince people

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Opportunities to develop skills

• Research Council Graduate Schools www.grad.ac.uk
• Conferences
• Departmental committees and societies
• Social activities
• Work experience
• Professional bodies

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A career in academic researchIncreasing your
chances

• Publications
• Research and project funding
• Teaching experience
• Project management
• Quality assessment
• Understanding HE issues
• Networking

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Who employs researchers

• Government departments
• Specialist research centres
• Market research organisations
• Political think tanks
• Trade Unions
• Local authorities
• Independent consultancies
• Industry

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Generating career options

• Think about your preferences careers service
  support
• Talk to people in interesting jobs- professional
  contacts database /your network
• Reflect on previous jobs/experience
• Look for trends in the labour market
• Create a job clip file

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Making Decisions

• Do you have a realistic career path?
• If not what are your priorities?
• What constraint must you consider?
• Look at the list of employment sectors and select
  those you would consider working in?

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Networking

• Build a picture of your own network of
  friends,current and former colleagues and
  employers, family, business contacts, suppliers,
  researchers in your field..
• List their careers and highlight any that may be
  able to support you

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Networking

• Information your contacts can give you
• - what their job involves
• - what motivates them
• - how they got the job
• - Advice for your success
• - Changes to the job/future developments
• - Skills needed
• - The future direction of their career

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Resources

• www.prospects.ac.uk graduate careers information
  site
• www.hesda.org.uk/subjects/rs/rs_links.html
• case studies of former academic researchers
• www.shef.ac.uk/gmpcrs/ project supporting
  research staff
• http//www.careers.strath.ac.uk/jobsearchguide/ind
  ex.htm a guide to academic and non-academic job
  resources
• www.windmillsprogramme.com Career management
  strategies. Peter Hawkins The Art of Building
  Windmills

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Career websites for positions in Academia

• www.jobs.ac.uk Official site advertising academic
  posts
• www.hero.ac.uk/niss/ the UK academic communities
  own information site with links to academic
  research vacancies viacommon room
• www.thes.co.uk Times Higher Education Supplement
  site
• www.chronicle.com US version of the Times Higher
  Education Supplement
• www.higher-ed.org/jobs.html Job resources in
  Higher Education. US links

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Other sources of vacancies

• New Statesmen
• The Guardian
• Social science information gateway
  www.sosig.ac.uk/gv/
• Nextwave www.nextwave.org/uk/
• New Scientist
• Nature

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Devising your Career management strategy

• What do I want to achieve in the short term?
• What do I want to achieve in the long term?
• What immediate action is needed?
• What long term steps do I need to take to achieve
  my goals?