Employability

Are your students helped to steer their university experiences towards developing employability?

From the very beginning of their course students need to be aware of employability and the issues it raises. Many students will be uncertain as to their future careers and will not see the relevance of considering employability. However, employability is a generic issue consideration of which will shape the choices made by students both within a course (e.g. optional modules), within their part-time employment (e.g. what they get in terms of skills and experience from particular jobs) and in their spare time and extra-curricular activities (e.g. what experiences they gain and what skills they develop in these activities).

Graduates are expected to know the basics of their discipline well – theoretically and practically. Some graduates (not those who get employment easily) think that because courses are modular they can forget about the first year modules because they have passed them. This is a mistake. Students should be building on the knowledge they acquired and should retain it during the rest of the course. Job seekers lokking for careers in their discipline should expect to be asked technical and factual questions to establish their knowledge at interview.

Career development skills are central to this issue and students need to develop these skills at the earliest possible moment as these are relevant to their options within university courses as well as their development within employment.

It cannot be over emphasised that a focus on employability must start early and continue throughout a student's university experience. It is essential that tutor guidance is provided and it may be helpful to use aids such as the Employability Card Sort and personal development materials (e.g.Windmills).

Further links and references relevant to helping students to develop their employability

Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS)
AGCAS researches and disseminates good practice in careers education and produces a biennial resource directory, "Careers and Personal Development in the Curriculum"

Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC)
One of CRAC’s initiatives is to pioneer InsightPlus, a scheme to help students to recognise the skills they develop through extracurricular learning, including work experience, within a career management framework and fitting in with national initiatives including the Progress File.

Centre for Recording Achievement (CRA)
CRA is a national network organisation which supports good practice and the sharing of experience in Recording Achievement, Personal Development Planning and Progress Files within educational institutions and professional bodies.

Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)
The Innovations Fund projects scheme which is administered by HEFCE encompasses a number of projects about recording achievement. They have also published How Much Does Higher Education Enhance the Employability of Graduates?

Professional Scholarship Programme for the Land Based Industries – an FDTL3 project investigating the enhancement of key skills, career management abilities and scholarship required by autonomous professionals in a learning society. For further information contact Dr Abigail Hind, Harper Adams University College

PROFILE A flexible Generic System to Support the Credit-rating of Work-based Learning within non-vocational Bioscience Sandwich Degrees (FDTL4 project)

'Prospect Planner' may help students to understand the process of career choice and to generate career options that match their skills, interests, and work values. It is available on-line or from your Careers Services.

Supporting and Assessing Students' Progress and Acquisition of Work-related Skill in the Placement Environment using a Web-based Interface (FDTL4 project). For further information contact Dr Chris Seal, University of Newcastle upon Tyne.

The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA)
One of the areas of QAA’s current and on-going work is the introduction of Progress Files for higher education.

The WINDMILLS program provides strategies to help students identify the skills and attributes they have and also to find out about the availability of jobs.

Your campus Careers Service will provide help and support to students as they engage in personal development planning.

Back to Employability Homepage