Developing Student Employability Skills

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Developing Student Employability Skills

• Paul Chin, Della Grice, Tina Overton

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Overview

• Introduce Employability
• Describe Employability Resource Pack
• Explore how the resources could be implemented
  within a department
• Answer any questions about the pack or more
  general employability issues

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Why Employability Skills?

• The embedding of key or core skills within the
  curriculum is well developed within many
  departments
• Employability skills include key skills BUT have
  an emphasis on relating skills beyond the
  academic setting to an employment context
• In order to secure suitable employment students
  also need help developing the skills to actively
  market themselves

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Why worry about employability skills?

• Our students get jobs!
• Not all students take up careers in subject
• Therefore still need to develop skills
• Employers increasingly look for transferable
  skills

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Whats in it for students?

• In an increasingly competitive graduate market
• Forward planning can maximise what students gain
  from their degree
• Increase student awareness of employers
  requirements
• Review their current skills and match to
  employers needs
• Plan to develop skills further
• Develop an excellent CV
• Make the most of tutors careers service

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Resources from LTSN

• A resource pack of activities designed
  specifically for the physical sciences
• A structured resource with a Tutors guide and
  assessment scheme for each activity
• Flexible implementation as whole module or
  individual activities
• A variety of activities that encourage students
  to evaluate own skills, plan for development, and
  consider wider issues relating to employment and
  professionalism

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Overview of the five stages

• The structured sections of the resource pack
• Starting out ? What are employers looking for?
• Developing skills ? What skills do I need to
  develop?
• Achieving results ? How can I sell myself?
• Being professional ? How will I act in a
  professional environment?
• Finding information ? How can the careers
  service support me?

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Starting out

• Employability quiz
• encourages students to think about different
  options, plan ahead and make contact with the
  careers service
• Card sort
• helps students consider career options and to
  prioritise the actions needed
• Career quiz
• focuses on which career options they might
  consider
• Skills audit
• enables students to evaluate their current level
  of skills and identify future opportunities for
  development

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Card sort exercise
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Developing skills

• Evaluation of visual aids exercise
• helps to identify good practice
• Oral presentations
• in a variety of styles
• Producing short reports
• using employment based topics
• Press briefings
• presents an unfamiliar scenario to students who
  must prepare a press release

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Achieving results

• CV evaluation exercise
• students to work in small groups to critique
  samples and each others CVs
• Interview preparation
• many students are unaware of the information they
  should find out about a company prior to
  interview
• Applying for one of several vacancies
• preparation of CV and outlines how to match the
  skills they have to those required
• Interviews
• All students are interviewed and form part of an
  interview panel

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Finding information and being professional

• Careers service
• Making the most of the facilities the careers
  service offers
• Take away guide
• provides useful hints and acts as a reminder
  about forward planning
• Ethical dilemmas
• combine group work with considered thinking
• Professional bodies
• students are asked to explore what professional
  bodies have to offer
• Reflective log
• asks students to consider how they have developed
  through the module

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Advantages

• Good graduate employment prospects may enhance
  departmental recruitment
• Students who are planning ahead are likely to be
  more focussed when choosing options or free
  electives
• Those unable to secure a work placement may need
  more help in relating their skills beyond
  academia
• Many of the activities incorporate some form of
  personal development planning (PDP)

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What next?

• Resource Pack
• Draft version now available, final version soon,
  printed and electronic
• Practice Guide
• Briefing Papers Toolkits
• Employability, PDPs
• Implementation visits
• Help in implementing resources within department
• Workshop for students
• Contact us
• Ltsn-psc_at_hull.ac.uk
• www.physsci.ltsn.ac.uk

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Implementation visits

• Offer departmental staff/student visits
• Large number of requests (about 20 so far)
• Involves careers service
• Student feedback is excellent
• Embedded in the curriculum?