The University of Sheffield, Careers Service
Career Management Skills Unit Outline
Learning and Teaching Conference 2011
Introducing the Career Management Skills (CMS) Unit
The Careers Service is currently developing a 20 Credit, Career Management Skills (CMS) Unit, to be offered to
Level 2 Students who have the option of choosing a free elective unit as part of their degree. The unit proposal has
been submitted to the QSC for consideration at their next meeting on 26th Jan. 2011, and, subject to approval, will
be offered to students from Autumn 2011.
The Careers Service would be very interested to hear from colleagues who could see potential for the Unit to be
offered to students within their department/ faculty or would just like to find out more about the initiative. For further
information please contact either: Lucy Marris lucy.marris@sheffield.ac.uk or Hilary Whorrall
h.whorrall@sheffield.ac.uk, the Careers Advisers who have been working together to develop the CMS unit.
Unit Overview
This unit is designed to provide the opportunity for students to acquire the Career Management Skills needed to
help them make and implement effective career decisions on graduation and beyond. The content will draw on
both the Graduate Employability Model developed by Lorraine Dacre Pool and Peter Sewell 2007 1, and on DOTS
(Law and Watts 1977)2 models of occupational choice. The latter encourages students to develop:
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Self Awareness: e.g. in relation to personal skills and qualities as well as motivations and values
Opportunity Awareness: the changing global labour market and breadth of options on graduation
Decision Making Skills: strategies for decision making
Transition Skills: finding and securing job vacancies through effective application techniques
The course will also encourage goal setting and action planning relating to career plans using SMART (Specific,
measurable, achievable, relevant/realistic and time-bound) objectives. The DOTS model will be critiqued to
encourage discussion of broader influences on occupational choice such as economic and sociological context;
students will also be introduced to alternative theories of career choice.
An important feature of this unit is the opportunity it provides for students to tailor their own learning pathway by
undertaking self-directed learning and research linked to their subject of study and areas of personal occupational
interest. A key outcome of the unit is that students will be helped to develop their own forward looking
Personalised Career Action Plan which identifies the next steps they intend to take beyond the completion of the
unit, to assist them in reaching their career goals for the future.
The unit will be delivered through a series of 11 x 2-hour interactive workshops, facilitated by professionally
qualified careers advisers with relevant teaching experience. The focus of this unit is very much on individual
reflection translated into the identification of personal career goals and application of practical skills, therefore
summative assessment of the CMS unit will be 100% by course work.
Aims:
This unit aims to:
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Equip students with practical career management skills which will help them to make and implement
effective career decisions on graduation and beyond. Specifically it aims to provide students with an
understanding of the concept of employability; together with the opportunity to develop relevant career
planning skills including: self awareness; opportunity awareness; career decision making strategies; job
search skills and career action planning.
1
Lorraine Dacre Pool, Peter Sewell, (2007) "The key to employability: developing a practical model of graduate
employability", Education + Training, Vol. 49 Iss: 4, pp.277 - 289
2
Law, B., & Watts, A.G. (1977) Schools, Careers and Community, London: Church Information Office
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To help students maximise their lifelong career potential by providing a framework through which they are
able to identify, articulate and market their transferable skills in a competitive global labour market. This
will include developing increased awareness of the range of opportunities available and how to access
them through demystifying selection techniques such as CVs, application forms and interviews.
Intended Learning Outcomes - Following the completion of this unit, students will be able to:
1.
With reference to the Graduate Employability Model, identify key employability skills developed through
both their undergraduate studies and extracurricular activities, and undertake a personal audit of these
transferable skills
2.
Critically evaluate their career values; personality type; abilities and interests and demonstrate how these
might impact on their future career choice
3.
Identify the range of opportunities potentially available to students on graduation and discuss the extent to
which those pathways are of personal relevance and interest and why
4.
Undertake research into potential career ideas, demonstrating information literacy capabilities through
accessing appropriate resources relating to both occupational and labour market information
5.
Recognise up to three alternative models of Career Decision Making and choose an appropriate model of
career choice that is relevant to their own situation
6.
Demonstrate an understanding of how to market themselves effectively in competency based selection
processes on paper and at interview
7.
Produce a CV and covering letter appropriate for their job-search goals
8.
Through an ongoing process of reflection, develop a Personal Career Action Plan identifying areas of
possible occupational interest and steps to achieve them.
Syllabus Overview:
Week 1: Introduction to Career Management Skills
Week 2: Employability - Concepts and theories of employability, auditing own employability skills
Week 3: Self Awareness: Understanding of Personality types and reflection on reported type
Week 4: Options on graduation and the Graduate Labour Market
Week 5 – Career Choice, understanding career theory and decision making
Week 6: Creative Job Search and Networking – accessing the hidden job market, making your own luck
Week 7: Reading Week
Week 8: CVs and Covering Letters (Looking good on paper 1)
Week 9: Demystifying Application Forms (Looking good on paper 2)
Week 10: Interviews (Now you’re talking! What to expect and how to prepare)
Week 11: Skills Development Session – team working and assessment centres
Week 12: Planning to Succeed (Personal Career Action Planning and CMS in context)
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