Ahoy fellow SASS colleagues,
If employability wasn’t already of huge importance before COVID-19 struck, it certainly is now! As we read in the news these days, the future isn’t necessarily looking so bright, so it is vital that we provide our graduates, and graduates-to-be, with as much guidance and resources as possible. As always, the goal is not only to gain employment after their degree, but in a job role that is meaningful to them and their skillset.
A recent NUS survey found that 81% of respondents were concerned about the effect that the pandemic will have on their job prospects, with the Resolution Foundation report suggesting that students may be 13% less likely to be in employment three years after leaving education than they might have been without the coronavirus crisis.
In the wake of the current pandemic and subsequent move to remote teaching, you, like I, might be thinking about how you are going to continue to offer all the academic engagement hours promised in the module specification, without significantly increasing the time and effort it will take to convert everything into a suitable online format (see previous blog “Everything all in one place” for more info on academic engagement hours). For those of you who are thinking about reducing or replacing seminar content, I have put together some ideas for how to engage students in employability tasks that can either become independent learning activities (with the possibility to engage with staff in a Q&A), or seminar activities (with varying degrees of planning).
The following ideas are here to help and are only friendly suggestions. This list is non-exhaustive and if you have any further ideas to add, then please do get in touch. Also, if you have any thoughts or comments on the suggestions below, then please let me know. 🙂
- Job (re)searching
Who?
Students at any level of study.
What?
- Encouragement to look up discipline-specific websites and resources relating to job searching;
- Researching jobs related to the specific content and/or skills for that particular module;
- This could also be applied for searching for further study if required for some career paths.
- Reflection
Who?
Students at any level of study.
What?
- Reflecting on what interests them most about a given subject area and what are the real-world problems relating to that subject area (i.e., where could they apply their interest after leaving university);
- Reflecting on what skills they are developing through the module (some guidance already provided in the module handbook) and how they might have already developed these skills in other modules (Level 5 & Level 6 only);
- Could be combined with Suggestion 1.
- CV development or skills auditing/recording
Who?
Primarily Level 5, 6 and PGT students (but could work for Level 4 in Semester 2).
What?
- Practice in developing a CV;
- Practice in developing a record of the skills they have developed through the modules that they have completed so far;
- Particular focus on skills, with module activities and assessments used as examples of how they have demonstrated those skills.
- Workshops on applying for further study
Who?
Level 6 students.
What?
- Information on how to apply for further study and where to apply – advice and exercises on researching different courses/universities;
- Practical sessions on writing personal statements;
- Practical sessions on interview preparation and answering questions at interview.
- Sharing staff career stories
Who?
Students at any level of study but might be potentially most beneficial for Level 5, 6 and PGT students.
What?
- Staff within each module team sharing their own career pathway to their current position and potential other avenues that they could have taken;
- Sharing any careers advice that they might have given their younger self;
- Facilitating a Q&A session with students for any additional question.
- Exploring further university services
Who?
Applicability will depend on the service (see in brackets)
What?
- Interacting with the University Careers Service (any level) – staff could contact them to help coordinate a specific lecture/seminar activity, or students could be encouraged to get in touch with them for careers, CV and job application advice;
- Encouraging students to research and/or get in touch with Active Student (Levels 5, 6 and PGT) – university service for helping students find volunteering opportunities;
- Encouraging students to look up and find out more about BeePurple (L6 and PGT) – university service to support entrepreneurship.
If you wish to discuss implementing any of the above suggestions in your module with me further, then do get in contact. A new Careers Development Advisor is currently being put in place to support the Falmer Careers Services, so in the meantime, feel free to send me any requests for them to help facilitate a session on your module too.
Take care,
Hannah Cassidy 🙂
Your Careers & Employability Lead
Great to see this blog post, Hannah, and some really good suggestions here. I would also add the following:
7. Reflection activity/skills mapping activity
Who?
Students at any level, but at appropriate times during the year. May particularly benefit L5 and L6 students.
What?
Exercises that encourage students to explicitly identify employability skills they have developed during modules and how to communicate these. Could be staff-led workshop, or a peer-led activity. Students encouraged to identify professional/employability skills they think will be important across a range of careers (e.g. communication skills, team working, self-management, being able to act on and give feedback, developing good working relationships, creative problem solving etc), and to map where they feel they have developed these across a range of activities such as: being part of an online learning community, preparing for and submitting assessment tasks, extra-curricular activities, groupwork, giving presentations etc.
Could record these in a journal in My Studies.
If anyone would like CLT advice, my colleague, John Canning, is our Employability Lead
best wishes
Juliet