Employability - what's in it for you?

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?

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!

Is this the end or a new beginning?

Image sourced from Wikimedia
Author: Diego

Now that the end of term has gone, with exams finished and coursework handed in, you’ve finally reached the finish line!  And with the Olympics happening, there will be plenty of time to enjoy watching them.

 

But it's not quite ‘all over’ yet. It will really help you if you view the next few weeks as a new beginning too. The reasons why are as follows. Firstly, it would be good to spend time reflecting on what you have found interesting, challenging or dull this year and why. The reason? By reflecting on the knowledge gained this year you can decide if or how you could use it in a potential career. Does the thought of using what you’ve learnt about equine nutrition, landscape design or commercial horticulture excite you?  What does this tell you about your career aspirations?  Do you need to talk this through with your tutor or Careers Adviser? 

Secondly, it is not just about the knowledge that you have learnt.  It’s useful to reflect how your skills have developed this year.  This is equally as important as reflecting on your knowledge.  Employers and universities want to see that you can identify and apply the skills you’ve gained to a new situation, e.g. a job or a postgraduate course.  Not only is it important to show others you can do this, but it is crucial for you too.  Why?  Because you need to be able to compare what you have to offer to what an employer or university are asking for.  If you can’t demonstrate that you are a good match, an employer or course scheme manager won’t do this for you.  So part of this ‘looking back’ is about applying this to developing your career/study plans for the future.





Planning ahead will help you graduate!

Are you wondering about whether to use the knowledge and skills you’re gaining or if there’s a ‘better something’ out there?  Within each degree area there will be a variety of related and unrelated careers or further study you could go into.  About 80% of graduate jobs don’t require a specific degree subject, so you could apply for any number of interesting graduate schemes or jobs.  Roughly 10% of graduates will get onto a graduate scheme, often these schemes do not want a specific subject.  There are a huge number of SME (small and medium enterprises) who are very keen to take on students who have developed graduate level skills, in a variety of career ideas.  Just being a graduate itself will give you plenty of skills and experience which will be appreciated by employers if you can present them well enough.



Image sourced from Wikimedia
Author: Petey21

So, the end of this academic year is here, and the beginning of the future is just around the corner!  Is this true for everyone?  If you are finishing your degree course, the answer will be an obvious yes.  But if you are in your first or second year, it is also worth viewing this summer as a new beginning too.  Doing an audit will help you identify what opportunities might be worth targeting to develop your skills or test out your newly acquired knowledge over the next academic year.

 

Your career is going to last a very long time, and it can take time to find the ‘perfect’ career or vacancy - this won’t always happen straight after university.  Did you know you can use the College careers service for up to 3 years after finishing your course?  Careers support is often about helping students audit themselves, to develop their own career management skills.  And you can use the service forever if you are an employer looking to fill a vacancy in the future!  So, whatever year you are in, now is a good time to celebrate the end and start to plan for the beginning.

Written by Mark Yates, Careers Coordinator