As many students and staff know,
the Careers Advisory Service has been doing a small research project this year,
funded by HESCU. The focus? Employability, and how staff and students
understand what this means for them. For something which on the surface seems to
be a fairly straightforward concept, it is surprisingly complicated, with
several different definitions.
But rather than talk about the emerging findings, this blog is
really aimed at giving a quick overview of what students could be doing to improve
their ‘employability’. This isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list, but a few
pointers in the right direction to help!
Part time work – this is an often overlooked and ‘forgotten’ experience in how students can develop their employability. Lots of employer surveys highlight the need for experience of the world of work, and wanting students applying for graduate jobs to be ‘commercially aware’, good at problem solving and having demonstrable communication skills. What better way of doing all of these than by having a part time job/paid internship?
Part time work – this is an often overlooked and ‘forgotten’ experience in how students can develop their employability. Lots of employer surveys highlight the need for experience of the world of work, and wanting students applying for graduate jobs to be ‘commercially aware’, good at problem solving and having demonstrable communication skills. What better way of doing all of these than by having a part time job/paid internship?
Making the links between what you
are learning at college or university and a future career. This is a really
good way to show an employer that you don’t just compartmentalise your
learning, but that you can make the links between assignments you’ve done and ‘real
life’ work issues. Did I mention that employers want ‘commercially aware’
students? Doing this applying of course knowledge to the work environment will
help show this.
Identity – how do you view
yourself? Do you see yourself purely as a student, or can you see yourself as
an employee/self employed business owner? There is some research which points
to students finding it tricky to move from seeing themselves as a student to a
graduate employee or to being self employed. Alongside this, the Employers and
Education Taskforce have done research which shows that the more good quality
contacts that students have with employers, the better and easier the students
find it to move from education to working life. So perhaps making good use of
field trips, careers fairs, guest lectures done by employers and summer
work/internships will help with this issue!
Doing a self audit on your skills
– what are you really good at? What skills and experience really stand out for
you? What needs to be developed and improved on? This isn’t something that just
needs to happen in year 3 of a degree, as you are applying for a graduate
scheme, the sooner you start doing it the better, as it gives you time to
improve on what you need to! And once you’ve got a graduate job? You’ll need to
carry on auditing your own skills and experience so that you can manage your
career for the next 40-45 years!
As with most things, some of
these pointers will be of more use than others. But what would be worth doing
is giving your future employability some thought. How are you preparing for it?
What else could you do, even if it takes you out of your comfort zone? And if
you want to discuss any of this in more detail, come and talk to someone in the
careers advisory service!
