DCS 233: Effective career planning for Communication Systems students

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DCS 233 Effective career planning for
Communication Systems students

• Paul Blackmore
• Director
• Centre for Employability, Enterprise Careers

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Effective career planning for Communication
Systems students

• Workshop I (1012pm, Fylde LT3, 26.02.07)
• Identifying career management employability
  skills
• elements of career planning
• graduate labour market and careers today
• skills qualities sought by opportunity
  providers

• Workshop II (4-6pm, GF LT3, 01.03.07)
• Effective applications
• application forms and electronic application
  processes
• CV writing covering letters
• interviews assessment centres

• Workshop III (4-6pm, GF LT3, 08.03.07)
• Starting points strategies
• Networking - discovering hidden opportunities
• Sources of career information opportunities
• Action planning - next steps

• Workshop IV (4-6pm, GF LT3, 15.03.07)
• Assessment Centres Commercial Awareness
• Business games and guest employer

Workshop V Workshop III (4-6pm, GF LT3,
22.03.07) Interview skills, review assignment
details
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Which of these people have technical degrees?

• Neil Armstrong
• Jimmy Carter
• Alfred Hitchcock
• Cindy Crawford
• Yasser Arafat
• Kevin Webster
• Rowan Atkinson

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Broad aims learning outcomes

• Aims
• To provide the opportunity for you to acquire
  skills and awareness that will assist in
  implementing career decisions, gaining employment
  and further study
• Learning outcomes by the end of the workshops
  you should be able to
• Demonstrate awareness of your own skills,
  motivations and personal and career development
  needs and an ability to promote these (self
  awareness)
• Identify and investigate the range of career
  opportunities available and relevant to you
  through work and postgraduate study (opportunity
  awareness).
• Make career related decisions taking into account
  personal priorities and constraints (decision
  learning).
• Demonstrate the ability to apply and plan
  effectively for jobs and other opportunities
  (transition learning).

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Workshop 1 Identifying career management
employability skills

• Aim
• The session is designed to enable you to develop
  an awareness of their skills, abilities and
  recognise their importance in the world of work
  and postgraduate study.
• Learning outcomes
• By the end of the session you should be able
  to
• understand the main elements of career planning
  and how they interrelate
• understand the skills that are being sought by
  graduate opportunity providers
• recognise your own skills and attributes of value
  to opportunity providers
• recognise your strengths and weaknesses
• identify areas for personal development and
  further action

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Workshop 1 self-audit of personal career
management skills
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New formula for career success
"degree transferable skills work experience
career management skills (Porrer, 1997)
Commercial Awareness!
Employers increasingly demand that graduates
should possess higher level generic skills at
'entry level
"The single most important reason cited for jobs
becoming more complex and demanding was the need
to take more responsibility at an early stage of
their career - largely as a result of
de-layering and the reduced scope for new
graduates to receive long induction programmes,
or detailed supervision in their work.
(Blunkett, DfEE, 2000a, p46)
Employers want oven-ready and self-basting
graduates AGR Chief Executive
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Personal profile...

• Head runner for editorial staff, United
  Newspapers (Sunday Express)
• Toolroom Engineer (SME - aerospace / HV
  switchgear industry)
• Toolroom Supervisor (SME - HV switchgear
  industry)
• B.Eng.(Hons) Manufacturing Systems Engineering
• B.Sc. (Hons)Information Science
• Business Intelligence Officer, RD, Corus PLC
• Customer Services Engineer, RD, Corus PLC
• Freelancing - Information brokerage consultancy
• Librarian(!) - Arts Photography library,
  FE/HEI College
• Institutional Intranet Webmaster, FE/HEI
  College
• Corporate Liaison Manager, FE/HEI College
• Senior Manager - Director, LU Careers Service
• Freelance author - networked knowledge
  management
• MEd in Networked Collaborative Learning
• PG Careers Guidance
• Pt II Certificate in Learning Teaching in HE

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Elements of career planning
Structured self reflection
Taking action
Researching opportunities
(risk management)
Information

Making decisions
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Elements of career planning
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Making informed decisions...
Knowledge
Qualifications
Structured self-reflection
Opportunity research
Skills
Skills
Attitude (traits/qualities)
Culture (environment)
Aspirations (salary,prof. training)
Prospects / LMI
Information?
Decision making
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Elements of career planning
Taking action
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Informed decisions Vs uninformed decisions

• PhD - Tim
• HR - wrong course
• MSc students - Milkround interviews
• Reuters - BA Music graduate

Worst enemy of career planning...
stereotyping, procrastination, assuming etc.
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Graduates Employability

• The Skills for Graduates in the 21st Century
  report

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The changing world of work

• Delayering
• Outsourcing
• Partnerships and alliances
• Technology implications

• The new employers SMEs
• 3.8 million businesses vs 7,000 large
• Self-employment
• 2-3 of UK graduates
• Underemployment
• 350,000 grads p.a. (Postgrads!)
• Growth of the service sector

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How people are employed

• Disappearing career ladders
• Changing loyalties
• Customer focus

• Multi-skilling
• Adaptability
• Working in new structures

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Prospects for engineering / IT graduates
vacancies

• Accountancy and professional services firms
  continued to recruit the largest numbers of
  graduates in 2006, with investment banks and fund
  managers close behind
• More than three in five employers concerned about
  lack of applicants with the necessary skills
• Predicted increase in median starting salary, to
  almost 23,500 in 2007

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Prospects engineering / IT graduates

• Salaries for new graduates 06
• Engineering/Computer/IT-related 22,000
• National median salary (large employers) Source
  AGR 02/07
• 22,953 (2006) 23,431 (expected for 2007)
• 20,000 (2006) NorthWest

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Vacancies
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Salaries for chartered technical graduates

• Professionally qualified engineers?
• Chartered Engineers - 53,100
• Incorporated Engineers - 40,500
• Engineering Technicians - 33,800

Source Engineering Technology Board, 2005
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Professional routes

• Chartered Engineers - deal with the progress of
  technology through innovation, creativity
  change. Develop apply new technologies, promote
  advanced designs and design methods, introduce
  new and more efficient production techniques and
  construction concepts and pioneer new engineering
  services and management methods. Likely to lead
  projects and play key management role in their
  organisations.
• Incorporated Engineers - more concerned with
  maintaining and managing applications of today's
  technology at the highest efficiency. They need a
  detailed understanding of their recognised field
  of technology so that they can exercise
  independent technical judgement and management in
  it. Their role is just as creative as that of
  Chartered Engineers, but the creativity is
  applied in a different context managing systems
  and processes in a way that keeps on getting the
  best out of them and improving them. A key
  management role in an organisation.

http//www.engc.org.uk
Source Engineering Council (UK), 2001
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SMEs size isnt everything

• Small Medium-sized Enterprises
• Micro 0-9 Small 10-49 Medium 50-249
• 3.7 million businesses in UK
• Only 7,000 employ over 250 people
• Only 5 grad. vacancies provided by blue-chips
• Predicted increase by 2010 of another 1m SMEs 2
  million additional jobs to be created in SMEs
• Increased trend for growing non-graduate jobs
• Reduced recruitment budgets / time, limit
  visibility
• of SME vacancies compared to blue-chip jobs

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What employers wantthe top 25 attributes
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What employers wantthe top 25 attributes

• Employers ratings for
• Importance Satisfaction
• Willingness to learn 93 83
• Commitment 88 74
• Dependability/reliability 88 73
• Self-motivation 88 74
• Team work 87 70
• Communication skills (oral) 87 62
• Co-operation 86 77
• Communication skills (written) 85 57
• Drive/energy 84 73
• Self management 84 64
• Desire to achieve / motivation 84 76
• Problem solving ability 84 63
• Employer Satisfaction Summary
• Quality in Higher Education Project

• Employers ratings for
• Importance Satisfaction
• Analytic ability 83 67
• Flexibility 83 73
• Initiative 83 64
• Can summarise key issues 82 60
• Logical argument 82 66
• Adaptability (intellectual) 81 70
• Numeracy 81 71
• Adaptability (organisational) 80 67
• Can cope with pressure/stress 80 64
• Time management 80 58
• Rapid conceptualisation of issues 79 65
• Enquiry and research skills 79 68
• Self confidence 78 69

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Skills you have gained from studying your degree

• Researching
• Sifting, selecting relevant material
• Seeing the wood for the trees
• Analysing
• Working with others
• Synthesising material
• Formulating, arguing, presenting a case, in
  writing and orally
• Critical evaluation

• Self organisation
• Absorbing and retaining information
• Producing to deadlines
• Initiative, autonomy, independence (working
  alone)
• Creativity, independent-mindedness
• Flexibility (various approaches and aspects to a
  topic)
• Originality, opinion

Degree skills profiles - http//www.heacademy.ac.u
k/4761.htm
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What can I do next?

• Start talking to people
• Read-up on different occupations
• Are any pre-requisite PG qualifications
  required?
• - which courses will fit your learning style?
• Use Prospects Planner to generate initial ideas

Available in on campus network and Careers
Service (print-outs free!)
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What can I do next?
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Which of these people have technical degrees?

• Neil Armstrong
• Jimmy Carter
• Alfred Hitchcock
• Cindy Crawford
• Yasser Arafat
• Kevin Webster
• Rowan Atkinson

• Aeronautical engineering, Purdue University
• Electrical engineering, Georgia Institute of
  Tech.
• Mechanics, School of Eng. Navigation, London.
• Chemical engineering, Northwestern University
• Civil engineering, University of Cairo
• MVB Motors, Coronation Street, English o level,
  Weatherfield Comprehensive School
• Electrical engineering, M/c Oxford University