Networking day
Humanities Careers Advisers
16 June 2006
Current concerns
Work with employers
How to involve employers in Humanities
Degrees?
How to get employers involved with
academics to ensure that "employability" is
included in the curriculum and so that
academics appreciate what employers are
looking for
Suggestions
RDA funding – work with SMEs
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How to get groups of employers in to talk to
academics
Careers Advisory Service to act as an
intermediary
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Work with academics
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Employer / academic forums – local
employers and interested academic
staff from a variety of academic
areas meeting on a regular basis.
Include alumni in forums
Draw attention to the high level of
‘A’ grades demanded for our English
degree
Focus on the industry not the
employer as a name
Focus on using alumni as a friendly
link
‘Open days’ – as offered by PWC –
to encourage academics to visit
their offices for lunch, drinks and a
mini-presentation
Small scale, short term projects
Alumni links
Employability forum hosted by the
careers service
Use of alumni – positive examples /
roles to talk to academics and
students
Input to induction for new academic
staff
Resource pack for academics to use
at induction with students and at
new staff induction.
Learning & Teaching Conferences
to cover employability and examples
of good practice, run by academics
for academics
Getting employability/careers on to
PG Cert in Teaching and Learning
Open Days in the Careers Service
for academic staff
Short interactions in core modules:
‘Chipping Away’
Web-based subject specific info tied
and linked to School pages and
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Curriculum
How to get careers education into the
curriculum?
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Are there any specific initiatives being
undertaken either curriculum related or other
projects aimed at humanities students such
as career coaching particularly in relation to
motivation and raising aspirations.
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owned by schools
Using subject reps – students
Compulsory CMS – skills profile, job
study, CV/Application
Collaboration with library and
placement officers
Needs top down approach from
VCs, Deans etc. Find a champion in
the department.
Get employability strategy for HEI or
as part of other policy eg Teaching
& Learning
Work placements in summer and/or
some kind of exposure to a range of
careers / projects through the
curriculum
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Queens, Belfast - ‘Developing
employability skills for nonvocational disciplines’ project
funded by EU for up to 100 students
– the programme lasts for 1 year
and is built around a summer work
placement and accreditation for
development of work related skills.
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Service Level Agreements/Career
Planning Agreements with academic
departments stating what the CS
can expect from the dept and what
the CS can expect from the dept.
Prizes from employers for eg best
student project
PDP to include employability
CS help with new course planning,
validation and programme reviews
CS attendance at Staff Student
Liaison Committees and Boards of
Study meeting
Career Management Skills on VLEs
Showing how to use employability of
students as a marketing tool for
recruitment of students
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Advice & guidance
How have Career advisers approached the
following issues?
Students who describe themselves as
‘clueless’, find computer aided guidance
programme no help whatsoever and believe
their Careers Adviser to be "stumped too".
Guardian Rise reply:
- Don't expect a quick fix!
- Do some thinking for yourself about
likes, dislikes etc.
- Then go back to Careers
Students wanting Mc Donald's careers
advice, to come to one drop in session and
get an instant answer without the pain of self
exploration or exploring the job market.
Humanities students who think they have to
do something related to their degree and
can't be considered for unrelated or
commercial areas.
Address issue of language and engage
humanities students through more
appropriate use of language when talking
about options / world of work
Students that do realise they have more
scope are unwilling
to look outside the media areas.
Careers open days for ‘History students’
with goody bags
Students asking about retail management or
housing management etc, but the
competition and UCAS points requirements
eventually deter them
Students who are confused, worried and
trying to hide their heads in the sand.
And have no contact with Careers services
until graduate
We run graduate workshops for
unemployed recent graduates – there has
been some discussion on doing this prior to
graduation
Crash Course in Job Hunting – 1 day
workshops at end of exams and during
congregation
Job clubs – recent graduates – ideally with
work experience placements 7 other
employer involvement
Email addresses – for alumni
e-portfolios – kept for alumni
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Student receptivity to making decisions
often more appropriate after they have
graduated
Forget the word ‘careers’ and talk about
lifestyle, creative thinking as a starting
point
Risk of being stuck in stop-gap jobs –
losing vision
Careers Advisers
How can careers advisers keep abreast of
specialist areas and manage students’
expectations when there are so many new
humanities degrees e.g. creative writing
Resources:
A list of websites Humanities students can
use for job hunting e.g. CVs/Applications etc
and also with Employers and employer type
information.
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QAA benchmark statements
HEA
ESECT
What do Graduates do? Publication
and web
 Graduate Prospects site
AGCAS Options with….. series
 Yellowood(?)
Notes from Flipcharts from Group Discussion on Ideas and Initiatives for
working with Humanities Students
What works……..
1. Starting early
- Induction / first year – not necessary career focus – could be partnership with,
e.g. volunteering
- Don’t scare them
2. Opportunity awareness and skills development:
- case studies and related exercises
- work based learning / work experience
- themed leaflets / displays
- alternative careers fairs
3. Word of mouth:
- student ambassadors / careers marketing reps / peer mentors
4. Other:
- drop in sessions with relevant goodie bags
- Using alumni via events and case studies
- Short interactions in core modules – ‘chipping away’
- Web-based subject specific info tied and linked to School pages and owned
by schools
- Using subject reps – students
- Compulsory CMS – skills profile, job study, CV/Application
- Collaboration with library and placement officers
- EU funded project – generating interest, summer placements, managing
expectations
- CMS with team project as part of curriculum/self reflection
- Accredited work experience module – placements?
What works……
a) job clubs / projects e.g. grad labs
b) keeping email addresses and creating discussion groups etc
c) keeping access to e-portfolios
What doesn’t….
a) non-timetabled talks on Wednesday afternoons
b) Careers Liaison Officers – especially reluctant ones
c) Working in isolation from academic staff
d) Being too broad in targeting
e) Using excessively commercial language to students and academics
Follow up action:
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Invited to contribute articles to English subject centre newsletter – will also be
put on website. Articles on ‘employability’ of Humanities students / graduates,
suitable for wide audience
Send publications / leaflets to Jane for distribution at English Subject centre
events
JG Sharing contacts – academics with teaching orientation
AB to check with Chris Jackson re. JISC list – any objection to ESC setting
up?