ENHANCING STUDENT EMPLOYABILITY:
Higher Education and Workforce Development
Ninth Quality in Higher Education International Seminar in collaboration with ESECT
and The Independent. Birmingham 27th-28th January 2005
Enhancing Employability via Placement:
A Longitudinal Perspective
Geoff Williamson and Mike Mannion
School of Computing & Mathematical Sciences
Glasgow Caledonian University, 70 Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow G4 0BA
<ghw@gcal.ac.uk>
Abstract
Placements provide students with knowledge and skills that are difficult to obtain in a
university environment. The transition from graduate to employee can be harsh but
a placement can enhance the ability of a potential graduate, lower the risk to an
employer and employee, and provide an accelerated career path. Drawing upon 30
years of personal experience running industrial placements, this paper identifies key
principles and practices of industrial placements as a mechanism for enhancing
employability.
1.
Introduction
The subject of ‘Student Placements’ is controversial within the academic community.
Academics with industrial experience tend to be supportive whereas others have
mixed views. Placements often reduce teaching time, they can be difficult to obtain /
administer and there are few people who have the interest or the motivation to be
involved. However, the benefits to the student, the academic and the company are
enormous. Many students realise this and select their degree accordingly.
Some of the employability aspects of the placement experience are below.
For the student it provides:
 business / industrial awareness;
 understanding of the application of a degree education to industrial problems;
 team work experience;
 experience that will enhance their ability to gain employment after graduating;
 easier transition from university into graduate employment;
 interview experience and develops skills associated with gaining employment;
 a clearer picture of their future employment possibilities.
For the academic:
 network of business / industrial contacts;
 potential consultancy work;
 potential to develop collaborative Knowledge Transfer Partnership work;
 a pool of possible seminar speakers;
 ability to bring realism into lectures based on the above points.
Additionally
For the Company:
 project work that has to be completed (skilled students are very helpful and
useful);
 highly motivated students looking to gain high quality experience;
 rapid transition for graduate (previously on placement), reducing training costs
and indirectly improving the company’s competitiveness;
 fresh ideas coming from university via the student (i.e. knowledge transfer);
 insight into the student’s suitability prior to offering a position on graduation;
 highly educated, cost effective employees;
 backup for current staff.
The benefits to all concerned should be realised and doubters made to understand
the significance and importance of such a worthy aspect of student development.
2.
Placement Duration & Timing
Placements can be short (say 6 or 12 weeks) or long (6 or 12 months). A 12 month
placement usually implies that the degree programme is extended by that duration,
whereas one of 6 months or less is squeezed into the normal degree duration. This
can lead to dispute over the academic material excluded as a result. Experience has
shown that a 6 month placement provides a high quality experience without
dominating the degree and the internal politics are overcome by negotiation.
A 12 month placement is naturally based over one academic year; however, a 6
month placement is best left as late as possible in the academic year so that
students have gained the maximum learning and maturity possible. Before the third
year, the students lack sufficient maturity, after the third year it interferes with their
finals. Experience has confirmed that a placement during the third year best meets
the need of the student and university alike.
3. Development for Placement
Whenever students are exposed to the business / industrial community, it is
important that they have sufficient skills to cope with the demands that will be
placed on them.
3.1
Selling the Students to Business / Industry
Each placement offered to students must be analytical and relevant. Clerical work is
unsuitable. Employers have to be ‘sweet-talked’ into providing such work, provide
supervision, provide a desk, computer and chair and, pay a salary to the student.
Substantial experience has been gained of selling the concept of Mathematics
placements to industry. In a large number of cases, a particular approach is needed
where words such as ‘analytical’, ‘project work’, ‘business applications’ are used and
accepted rather than ones involving the word ‘mathematics’ or its derivatives. It is
not an easy task to educate some managers to understand the benefits of employing
students who are skilled in mathematics, statistics, and management science.
However, not all companies are reticent to employ mathematically or statistically
able students. For example, the ‘Information and Statistics Division’ (ISD) of the
NHS positively welcome such students.
Here, a need for statistical ability is
paramount and as a consequence, this type of student is sought by them.
For employers that utilise students having mathematical / statistical skills, an
important aspect for them is that they have had a good and useful experience with
students from these degree programmes in earlier years. A bad experience for them
can have a devastating effect, and deter them from accepting and employing any
students from the next cohort. A regular pre-placement discussion to educate those
who are about to embark on their placements is a very worthwhile exercise that will
help them to understand the need to conform to the standards expected of
employees.
Large companies are more likely to offer the better opportunities owing to their scale
of operation and the variety of analytical work available.
3.2
The CV
The first thing that is needed in their toolkit is a CV. Not only do students have to
include the usual details but must provide a personal statement on their degree
choice and their career aspirations for the next five years. Inability to provide this
information in a clear and focussed manner reduces the odds of gaining an interview.
An important aspect that must be included is ‘Work Experience’. Previous exposure
to the business and industrial environment is considered to be a major advantage.
Students who have no previous experience will find it much more difficult to convince
a company that they are the best student for the placement position. Working as a
shop assistant, a shelf stacker or simply as the office junior requires team work
skills, time keeping skills, work planning skills and many, often underrated skills that
employers find attractive in a new employee. This experience is highly regarded in
the sense that without it, it is considered to be a short coming of the student.
3.3
Appearance
Secondly, smart, clean, and tidy appearance is essential. Casual wear is becoming
more commonplace at work but might hinder an interview. Appearing well dressed
will only enhance the interviewee’s chances.
3.4
Interview Skills
The third piece of kit is concerned with interview techniques. A firm hand shake
(rather than a wet lettuce leaf) on entering the interview room is essential. The
ability to handle general and technical questions with a positive and confident air and
the ability to appear a good team player are no mean feats. However, students have
a wide range of abilities. Here lies the challenge.
These aspects after being honed and polished will provide greater chances of gaining
a desired placement. Without them, assume the worst.
4.
Student Development within the Placement
The academic input does not finish when a student gains a placement. Links
throughout the duration of the placement must be maintained. Various issues must
be dealt with.
4.1
Health and Safety (H&S)
H&S checks must be made which includes asking the employer to complete a short
questionnaire. Owing to legislation, it is unlikely that a company will not conform to
the standards needed by the university.
4.2
Learning Contract (LC)
Assessed
Early in the placement, students submit a ‘Learning Contract’. This specifies the
work to be undertaken, the tools needed and the skills that will be developed. It
provides a focus, a framework, and a clear commitment from all sides. This is a
necessary document. It gives a clear picture and is similar in nature to a ‘terms of
reference’ for a project. An exemplar is provided in Appendix A.
4.3
Final Report
Assessed
A final report of 5000 words is expected from each student at the end of the
placement which details the work undertaken. Most of the placements involve a
team based project. The student’s role has to be clearly defined as has their
individual contribution, what they achieved for the company as well as what the
company has achieved from the project.
Within their report, the students provide reflective discussion on their placement.
This is a major aspect of their learning process. To reflect on what they have
undertaken, its benefits to the company, and whether alternative approaches might
have provided a better result is highly beneficial to their personal analytical
development. Additionally, the student must reflect on how their university studies
have provided them (or not provided them) with the skills that have been necessary
in the completion of their work. Were the skills they already had sufficient or have
new skills been developed? How will these new skills benefit them in the future?
4.4
Presentation
Assessed
The students give a presentation detailing their work and reflective views.
Presentational skills are an essential aspect of most jobs and this provides essential
experience. PowerPoint presentations are the norm and often contain animations
and other clever tricks that have been developed on their placement. This allows the
student to show off their newly acquired skills.
4.5
Academic Visits
Two academic visits are made per placement. If anything is going adrift, a visit
within the first six weeks will normally isolate and correct most problems. More
complex problems usually involve personality aspects (e.g. the student is not able to
relate to his/her supervisor easily). Occasionally, a student has to be transferred to
a new location. This is rare but involves considerable effort in trying to find a new
placement at short notice.
A second visit is made during the final six weeks of the placement. This allows the
academic tutor to see a draft of the student’s final report, provide advice on its
structure, and discuss the possibility of final year projects being based within the
company. As industrial projects are more likely to be beneficial in securing a job
after graduating, the student is encouraged to think of a possible project that might
be suitable for this purpose.
Employers are often keen for this to take place as it will be undertaken by someone
who already knows the company, its employees, where its records are kept and how
its carries out its day-to-day business. With such a project, there is a greater
possibility that the student will return to them after graduating, thus saving
recruitment and transition costs.
Written reports by the visiting tutor are submitted for each visit as a formal record of
the meeting between the academic, industrial supervisor and the placement student.
4.6
Industrial Supervisor’s Report
Assessed
The Industrial supervisor completes a questionnaire providing an opinion of the
student’s performance in the workplace. A series of questions are asked and the
employer decides how the student has performed by ticking the appropriate box:






Outstanding
Good
Satisfactory
Adequate
Unacceptable
Not applicable
or
A Likert scale is used (i.e. Outstanding = 5 to Unacceptable = 1) and of those
questions that are applicable, a percentage assessment mark is computed. This
mark is one of the components of the final aggregate mark for placement
assessment. A pro-forma is attached in Appendix B.
4.7
Problems with the Industrial Supervisors’ Assessments
A problem that can arise when using this type of procedure is that there can
sometimes be a lack of consistency between supervisors. What one person considers
being an ‘excellent’ ability, another might rate a similarly able student as only ‘good’
or even ‘satisfactory’.
This problem is not limited to industrial supervisors, however. This is a problem
whenever work of a qualitative nature is assessed. When an essay or report is
marked independently by two separate academic markers, it is not unknown for the
two marks to be substantially different. In this case, it is possible to send the work
to a third independent assessor and try to gain consensus agreement.
Unfortunately, in the case of industrial supervisors, only one mark is given, no
second marker can influence its magnitude. If the supervisor particularly liked or
disliked the student and the mark was a reflection of this prejudice (positive or
negative), then the validity of the mark must be questioned.
How can such
assessments be validated? Currently, this is not possible but fortunately, in the case
of my university, the weighting is fairly small and so extremes are somewhat
‘smoothed’ and tend to be relatively insignificant.
From experience, however, the majority of employers worry that they might be
unkind to students and tend to over mark rather than under mark their practical
skills and abilities. Would it be considered rude to try to provide advice to managers
about how they should mark a student’s ability to do a job of work in their company?
It can be very difficult, particularly when managers are used to carrying out staff
appraisals and assessing employees on a regular basis.
One important aspect of the feedback given as well as the placement is that they can
provide confidence to the student and so improve their ability to perform well at
interview. Positive feedback can help when the student reflects on the more
successful or less successful aspects and provides a maturity of ideas for future
employability.
4.8
Industrial Supervisors’ Comments
Apart from being able to provide assessments of ability in a series of well defined
categories (outlined in 4.6 above), industrial supervisors are able to add comments
about the students. Rarely derogatory, comments are typically:
 the student was competent in most aspects and could complete most tasks
without being guided every step of the way;
 the student proved to be a very conscientious worker;
 the student was especially keen to learn about computer packages and showed a
high level of competency;
 the student was quick to pick up ideas and not afraid to use own initiative;
 the student worked well with other people and gained respect from showing a
willingness to help;
 the student’s commitment was excellent and was an ideal trainee.
These comments were taken from past Industrial Supervisors’ reports and reflect a
pattern of typical comments.
5.
Conclusions
It is without doubt that placements try to supplement academic skills in a way that
increases employability.
Traditional academic skills include:
 ability to apply specialist knowledge;
 logical thinking;
 critical analysis;
 problem-solving;
 written and spoken communication;
 computer literacy and research skills.
Even this group is insufficient when trying to gain employment and other, additional
personal development skills must be gained. These can include:
 self-confidence;
 self-discipline;
 creativity;
 independence.
and the business skills that are important and must be exuded at an interview
include:
 entrepreneurial skills;
 time management;
 interpersonal skills;
 team working;
 leadership skills;
 flexibility;
 risk-taking.
Work experience will undoubtedly improve a new graduate’s ability to gain
employment. This experience can be a combination of placement employment
(usually of an analytical nature), full time vacation work as well as part-time evening
and weekend work (the last two are more likely to be menial in nature). All types of
work contribute to the graduate’s portfolio which can be used to enhance a CV, used
in discussion at an interview as a selling mechanism and used as a help in personal
decision making when employed. This latter aspect is a feature that employers
realise. They know that this experience will mature with each type of employment
and will give a major advantage to the employing company relative to employees
without such experience. The benefits to an employing company are improved, and
consequently, so is the company’s competitiveness in world markets.
The placement plays the most important role in developing a student’s employability
on graduation. It enhances academic skills with personal and business skills.
Analytical work at an undergraduate level allows the student to be guided and
supervised by a suitable work mentor. This might not be so easy for a graduate to
be given such supervision as it is expected that they have developed the skills at an
earlier stage. The placement process supports this need. To a lesser extent, so do
vacation and part-time work experience but the fact that the placement is normally
typical of the work that will be undertaken as a graduate must carry the largest
impact on employability.
References
Universities UK, http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/employability/
Scottish Higher Education Funding Council,
http://www.shefc.ac.uk/search?q=employability&submit.x=2&submit.y=2
Higher Education Funding council for England, www.hefce.ac.uk/
Higher Education Funding council for Wales, www.hefcw.ac.uk
The Employability Forum, http://www.employabilityforum.co.uk/
Graduate Employability, http://www.graduate-employability.org.uk/
Appendix A: Sample Learning Agreement
Name of Student
Name of Organisation
Joe Braithwaite
Davin Pharmaceuticals Ltd
Type of work carried out by the organisation
The manufacture of pharmaceuticals and related medical products
Type of work carried out by your employing department
Forecasting and Statistical Analysis
Name of Your Line Manager
Name of Your Direct Supervisor
Bertie Basset (Senior Statistician)
John Low (Assistant Statistician)
Structure of the organisation showing where your employing department
fits in
A suitable diagram clearly indicating the location of your department within the
organisational structure
Description of the role you will be performing in your employing department
I will be working in the Management Services Department dealing with small projects
of an analytical nature and providing technical assistance to staff working on projects
where my academic background will be beneficial.
Personal Learning Objectives
 To gain experience that will help with my future career;
 To understand how business and industry operates;
 To apply some of the ideas learnt in university to practical situations
 To gain knowledge that will allow me to understand my final year degree
subjects in a more practical light.
Communicate effectively at a personal level both orally and in writing
The nature of the job I am performing requires me to speak to individual users who
need to forecast future demand for certain pharmaceutical products using Excel
spreadsheet package. I have to communicate directly with the user department to
determine the exact nature of the problem and the form of work involved. As my
involvement in the department develops, I will have to develop spreadsheet skills
that will help me to determine the solution approach. I will record the types of
question I ask in relation to a particular type of problem in order that I can ask
appropriate questions of the user. I may have to learn how to explain complex
technical terms to a non-specialist computing person.
The work that is assigned to me is logged in a diary. I will have to develop
appropriate technical writing skills to be able to record the actual problem
encountered and the solution implemented.
Note: This is a basic outline of the sorts of terms that should be used. It is not
exhaustive and there is scope for further refinement.
Work constructively with others in your work place environment
The forecasting tasks that I need to perform require that I work with “clients” who
need the information. Therefore, I will be interacting with a range of people with
varying technical abilities. I will therefore have to learn to act in a professional
manner when dealing with non-technical customers, who may be working to strict
deadlines to complete tasks central to the core functions of the business. I also have
to work with other Statisticians within my department. There will be occasions when
I will need to consult with colleagues regarding the forecasting method. I will
therefore need to use my own technical knowledge to formulate questions of more
experienced colleagues. As a junior member of a team, I will have to learn to follow
instructions and ask constructive questions as necessary. As a member of the team,
I will attempt to make constructive comments suggesting alternative strategies
where necessary. To do this I will draw on the technical knowledge gained at
University with a view to putting it to practical use in the work place.
Note: This is a basic outline of the sorts of terms you should be using. It is not
exhaustive and there is scope for further refinement.
Determine the skills needed to address a particular task
Once you know the nature of the technical tasks you are going to be performing, you
can determine what skills you already possess. You can start to think about what
new skills you need to acquire or current skills you need to develop. You should use
this as an opportunity to reflect on what you have achieved academically at
University; with a view to turning these skills into practical work based ones.
Therefore, if you are working as a Statistician you may understand the principles
behind forecasting but may never have actually used software for this purpose.
Similarly, you may be familiar with different types of analysis, but you may never
have actually dealt with this type of problem.
This task may, in the first instance require to be carried out with the help of your line
manager. Your line manager will have some idea of your academic background and
may even have interviewed you during the selection process. Your line manager will
certainly have an idea of the skills that you need to develop to complete the specified
task.
Evaluate your strengths and weaknesses in relation to the job you are
performing
Strengths: I have good Statistical ability. I have good communication skills and I
am easy to get on with. (Expand appropriately.)
Weaknesses: Report writing skills could be improved. I sometimes have difficulty
getting information from people. (Expand appropriately.)
Technical Learning Objectives
Technical Objective 1
A discussion of the particular technical objective that you achieve, how you will
achieve it and what evidence you will provide that you have achieved it.
Technical Objective 2
A discussion of the particular technical objective that you achieve, how you will
achieve it and what evidence you will provide that you have achieved it.
Name of student (print)………………………………………………
Signature ……………………………………………………………. Date:……………
Name of mentor/line manager ………………………………………
Signature ……………………………………………………………. Date:…………….
Appendix B: Industrial Supervisors Assessment Form
ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING AGREEMENT OBJECTIVES
Please tick the relevant box ().
OutGood
SatisAdequate
standing
factory
Personal Skills
Written communication skills.
Oral communication skills.
Ability to work with colleagues.
Ability to determine skills required to
address a particular task.
Ability to evaluate his/her strengths
and weaknesses.
Technical Skills (where
appropriate)
Demonstrated an
understanding of how the
degree programme is
relevant to the placement.
Demonstrated an
understanding of the
company’s systems.
Use of standard software packages.
Formulated an understanding
of the tasks to be solved.
Developed systems or other solution
approaches consistent with the
requirements.
Demonstrated the use of
good professional practice.
Performed appropriate types of
maintenance on Information
Systems.
Tested new systems before
implementation.
Implemented solutions consistent
with the requirements
Monitored any systems
implemented.
Apply technical knowledge in
supporting and training
users/customers of the new
systems.
Applied technical knowledge in the
production of user/system
documentation for the project.
Applied other Technical skills as
determined by the particular
placement environment.
* NA – Not applicable.
General Comments:
Unacceptable
NA*