ANNABELLE CROSS Senior Careers Consultant University of Leeds

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ANNABELLE CROSSSenior Careers
ConsultantUniversity of Leeds

• Employability Making the Psychology Graduate a
  Strong Competitor in the Job Market

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How the Careers Centre at the University of Leeds
works

• Advice, guidance information
• Faculty and departmental activity to enhance
  student employability
• A Learning Teaching Department
• Support Work Placements across the University
• Work closely with local, national and
  international employers who target the University
  of Leeds and facilitate departmental links
• Support students and graduates who wish to start
  their own business

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Few questions for you.

• Psychology is the most popular degree
  subject with nearly 9,000 students graduating
  from first degrees in 2007.
• Third
• In 2007, how many students were studying
  Psychology?
• Over 40,000
• According to the BPS, how many established
  career paths are there? Can you name them?
• 8 Clinical Counselling Educational
  Forensic Health Occupational Sport Exercise
  Teaching Research.
• How many Psychology graduates will go on to
  become Chartered Psychologists?
• Approximately ten to fifteen percent of
  graduates will eventually become a chartered
  psychologist

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What were the Psychology graduates from 2007
doing in early 2008? (Source HESA DLHE 2006/07)

• Who responded?
• Men 1545
• Women 7385
• Total in survey 8935
• (Total number graduating 11390)

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What did they do?

• In UK employment 58.3
• In overseas employment 1.4
• Working and studying 10.7
• Studying in the UK for a higher degree 7.6
• Studying in the UK for a teaching qualification
  4.4
• Undertaking other further study or training in
  the UK 3.2
• Undertaking further study or training overseas
  0.1
• Believed to be unemployed 5.6
• Not available for employment, study or training
  4.8
• Other 3.9

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What type of Work did they go into?

• Arts, design, culture, media and sports 1.4
• Business and financial 8.1
• Commercial, industrial and public sector Managers
  7.6
• Education 4.9
• Engineering 0.2
• Health 2.3
• Information technology 0.8
• Legal 0.4
• Marketing, sales and advertising 4.2

• Scientific research, analysis and Development
  0.3
• Social and welfare 13.5
• Other professional and technical jobs 4.0
• Numerical clerks and cashiers 2.5
• Other clerical and secretarial jobs 15.4
• Retail catering, waiting and bar staff 11.6
• Other jobs 22.7
• Unknown jobs 0.1

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Detailed breakdown for Social and Welfare

• Counsellors 0.7
• Education/learning support worker 1.8
• Housing and welfare officers 2.5
• Other jobs in social and welfare 0.5
• Psychologists 3.4
• Social workers 1.8
• Youth and community workers 2.9

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The Psychology Degree and Graduates (1)

• Psychology degrees develop many of the
  transferable skills which all graduate employers
  require, for example communication numeracy
  information technology independent learning and
  the ability to work in teams.
• Psychology courses accredited by the British
  Psychological Society (BPS) contain substantial
  teaching on statistics and research methodology,
  as well as scientific methods.

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The Psychology Degree and Graduates (2)

• Psychology students are therefore able to
  understand and manipulate both quantitative and
  qualitative data, use computers and problem solve
  effectively.
• Consequently, psychology graduates are well
  placed to move into research or numeracy-based
  careers such as market research, academia and
  accounting.
• Psychology students also develop many of the
  skills of humanities graduates, such as critical
  thinking and essay/report writing.

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The Psychology Degree and Graduates (3)

• Only a small proportion of psychology
  undergraduates progress to be chartered
  psychologists (10-15).
• If they want to move into this area of work, it
  is vital they undertake as much work experience
  as possible whilst on their undergraduate degree.
• Placements in clinical psychology can be
  notoriously difficult to access but any relevant
  paid or voluntary work can be beneficial, e.g.
  working with children or adults with learning
  difficulties mentoring befriending working in
  care homes or with those who are mentally
  distressed.

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EMPLOYERS RATING OF THE IMPORTANCE OF SKILLS
QUALITIES IN GRADUATES by Randall S. Hansen,
Ph.D. and Katharine Hansen

• Flexibility/Adaptability/ Managing Multiple
  Priorities
• Planning/Organising
• Multicultural Sensitivity/Awareness.
• Analytical/Research Skills
• Computer/Technical Literacy

• Interpersonal Abilities
• Communication Skills (listening, verbal, written)
  
• Teamwork
• Leadership/Management Skills
• Problem-Solving/ Reasoning/Creativity

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Commercial Awareness

• The most difficult skills for recruiters to find
• The skill that students feel they cant offer
  employers
• Generally, employers have narrow definition of
  Commercial Awareness that relates to how their
  business operates and how graduates can add value
  to their core activities
• Students interpret the term more broadly to
  include generic and transferable skills.
• Employers felt that HE had a role to play
  developing this skill particularly by enabling
  students to gain an understanding of the real
  business world as part of their course or work
  experience. Students also felt that supported
  work experience would help them develop this
  skill
• (Source CA Report Wilkinson D. Aspinall, S.
  2006)

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Quote from British Telecom

• It would be helpful for Universities to help
  students think more broadly about the term
  customer. It need not necessarily be seen in a
  strictly business sense. For example, if a
  student attempts to understand what a lecturer is
  looking for in a First Class paper (and they
  deliver this), they are being commercially aware

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Challenges for students in the graduate
recruitment process (1)

• Managing their time to be able to compete for
  opportunities alongside final year study ( and
  part-time work, holiday work, having a social
  life etc)
• Decoding BusinessSpeak
• Analysing the culture to assess whether its
  right for them
• Recognising their skills and the way in which
  they developed them so that they can articulate
  and evidence these skills and qualities

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Challenges for students in the graduate
recruitment process (2)

• Recognising how they can apply and demonstrate
  their academic skills in other contexts
• Demonstrating appropriate behaviours and a level
  of social confidence during selection procedures
• Performing well at interview with an
  understanding and delivery/evidence of
  competencies required by employers

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Responding to the Challenge (1)

• Make links between topics and the social world
• Social psychology and communication
• Attitudes
• Visual perception and language
• Work psychology
• Occupational psychology
• Developmental psychology and individual
  differences
• Academic and career development for
  psychologists

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Responding to the Challenge (2)

• Look at Students Skills Attributes in terms of
  reflection and translation
• Facilitate employer input into the curriculum and
  Personal Development Process
• Connect into institution-wide employability
  priorities and initiatives
• Encourage students to make the most of all
  aspects of their university experience from day
  one
• Work closely with your Career Services

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Students and Graduates should be encouraged to

• Consider the skills developed on their course as
  well as through other activities, such as paid
  work, volunteering, family responsibilities,
  sport, membership of societies, leadership roles,
  etc.
• Encouraged to think about how these experiences
  can be used as evidence of their skills and
  personal attributes, and articulate this
  effectively
• .Only then, can they start to market and sell
  who they really are, identify what they may be
  lacking and consider how to improve their profile
  as a highly skilled and employable Psychology
  Graduate.