Employability

School of History

Nicola UrquhartCareers Adviser

What we will cover:

• What is employability?• What employability skills are graduate

recruiters looking for? • How to develop your employability skills• Getting involved• How the Careers and Employability Service can

support you• Action points• Questions

What is Employability?

‘A set of attributes, skills and knowledge that all labour market participants should possess to ensure they have the capability of being effective in the workplace – to the benefit of themselves, their employer and the wider economy.’ (CBI, March 2009)

What employability skills are graduate recruiters looking for?

Communication

Report writing

Team working

Leadership

Planning and organisation

Project management

Enterprise

Problem SolvingReflection

Adaptability

Energy

Drive and resilience

Integrity

Reliability

Enthusiasm/passion

Self awareness

Confidence

Contextual/cultural awareness

Capacity to develop

NumeracyPositive attitude

Business and customer awareness

IT skills

Why are employability skills so important?

• Increased competition – over 400,000 graduates leaving university each year.

‘Our latest UK recruitment campaign closed having attracted c.24500. The bank will offer c.475 places in 2012.’ HSBC newsletter April 2012

Changing world of work:

• Global economy• More career changes• New technology/social media• Roles change• Changes to graduate

recruitment

Changes to graduate recruitment

Previously…

Degree + good application + good interview = graduate role

Changes to graduate recruitment

Now …Employers increasingly focusing on attributes in addition to traditional employability skills

Successful applicants have often had experience within the organisation via Insight days, work experience, internships etc.

What employers say…

"Few students are able to articulate what they have gained from their experience in higher education." (Association of Graduate Recruiters, 1995)

How you can develop employability skills at the University of Kent

• Through your course• Through work experience/volunteering• Through getting involved and taking part• Making use of the Careers and Employability

Service

Developing employability skills through your course

• an ability for clear expression both oral and written • putting forward ideas and arguments in a concise

manner • gathering, investigating and assessing material • condensing facts, ideas and arguments • basing conclusions on research • synthesising ideas • organising material in a logical and coherent way

Getting involved

• Taking part in clubs and societies

• Over 130 to choose from• Running clubs and

societies• You could even set up a

new one!

Developing employability skills through

Gaining work experience

A recruiter in a major London law firm says, “If you have been employed scrubbing pots in a hot sticky kitchen we can see that you have resilience”

Employability initiatives at the University of Kent

Kent Student Certificate for Volunteering

• Bronze• Silver • Gold• Gold+

Employability Points

• Over 200 rewards

Internships, work experience, training

experiences, project placements

Employability initiatives at the University of Kent

“I have really enjoyed working as a student ambassador especially being part of the summer core team as I got to meet new people of all abilities, get involved in different activities and learn new skills and gain more experience”.( Katie Hardaker Sports Science)

How the Careers and Employability Service can help you.

What we do

• Careers Talks and Workshops • Careers Library: Employer Directories, Occupational

Profiles, Books etc• Comprehensive Web Pages • Careers Employability Award (CEM) on Moodle• Vacancy Database• Alumni Careers Network• Annual Careers and Recruitment Fair• Drop In - Quick Query• Careers Guidance Interviews

Careers and Employability Service Web Pages• Choosing a Career http

://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/Choosing/ChoosingCareer.htm

• What can I do with my degree in History http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/history.htm

• I want to work in… http://

www.kent.ac.uk/careers/workin.htm

• Careers Events on campus http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/casevents.htm

Use the Careers Library and Publications

• Graduate Directories • Postgraduate

Prospectuses• Various books and

publications• Career Planning Guide for

Undergraduates

Attend Careers Talks and Workshops.

• Choosing a career• Careers in the public sector• How to make effective

presentations• Commercial awareness• Getting the most from Careers

Fairs • More information available

http://www.kent.ac.uk/ces/events/

Employers visiting campus Examples this term included: • MBDA• JET Programme (Teaching

English) • Bloomberg• RAF • Teach First• Majestic Wine• PriceWaterhouseCoopers

Careers and Employability Service Fair

• Thursday 1st November 2-5pm Eliot Great Hall.

Chance to meet employers and hear about opportunities

Moodle Careers Employability Award

• Assessed by a range of quizzes and assignments• Will greatly improve your career planning and job

hunting skills• Takes about 12 hours to complete• On completion you will get a University of Kent

Careers Employability Award to add to your CV • Get 40 Kent Employability points for successful

completion of the module.• www.kent.ac.uk/careers/moodle.htm

• “I liked the fact that the assignments relate to how you would fill in answers on a graduate job application step by step and provides examples of how to fill it in.”

• “I really enjoyed the quizzes. They effectively highlighted the gaps in my knowledge, as many of the answers surprised me. I also found the module on creating my own CV very useful, these skills will be invaluable for tailoring my CV to particular jobs.”

• “There is a wealth of information about everything; I especially liked the individual information about specific job types and the advice given about interview skills.”

Comments from students who have completed the award.

On successful completion you receive a University of Kent Careers Employability Certificate.

You can then add the following to your CV to show to employers. "On my own initiative I enrolled for and successfully completed the University of Kent Careers Employability Award which covered identification and development of employability skills, self-awareness, identification of relevant career options, researching opportunities, CV preparation and interview skills."

The Careers Employability Award

Speak to an adviser:

• Quick query, drop in and speak to an adviser 10.30am -12.30pm and 2.00pm-4pm Monday to Friday.

• E mail @careerhelp and an adviser will respond to your query.

• You can also book a longer career guidance (Jenny Keaveney) appointment over the phone or pop in.

Some well-known History graduates

… not to mention Alan Bennett; Salman Rushdie; the director of the Howard League for Penal Reform; Michael Mansfield QC; the Bishop of London; Chris Martin; the Director-General of the CBI, the Chief Executive of Barclays Bank; an award-winning children’s writer; and the producer of Hotel Babylon

Employment sectors • Management & Administration • Finance & Business • Marketing, Sales & Advertising• Education • Arts, Culture, Media and Sport• Social and Welfare• Many others!

Stay up-to-date with what is happening

• www.kent.ac.uk/ces • www.kent.ac.uk/employability• Employability Newsletter• Follow us on Facebook at University

of Kent Student Employability www.facebook.com/UKCES

• Follow us on Twitter at @unikentemploy

• Check out your School website.

Action Points

• Get involved!• Take advantage of the

initiatives the university has to offer. www.kent.ac.uk/employability

• Make use of the Careers and Employability Service. www.kent.ac.uk/ces

• Don’t leave it until the last minute!

The University of KentCareers and Employability

Service

You can download a copy of this presentation at www.kent.ac.uk/careers/slides.htm