What Use Is (Made of) the University Careers Service?

Somewhat contrary to the views expressed by certain journalists, some recent research findings suggest that users of Higher Education Careers Services are increasingly happy with what they are offered.

Recently graduate research project Futuretrack found that, although 44.4% of final year students never visited their careers office, 84% of those that did said it was very or quite helpful (36.7% very; 47.3% quite) and only 3.1%  said it was not at all helpful.

Meanwhile GTI Media, looking at the networking efforts of students and graduates, found that 54% of those surveyed had networked with employers or professionals working in their area of career interest. Of these, 46% said that the contact had been arranged by their careers service.  This represents a rise of 23% of over the last six years.*

An Underused Resource?

The question would seem to be why less than half of final year students use the service in the first place. While Paul Redmond, current AGCAS President has justifiably pointed out that many students simply do not need to seek out detailed careers advice, there is still a feeling amongst Advisers that their services are underused.

Many graduates who received careers advice after completing their course wished they had done so earlier. But careers advice needs you to make a positive step to engage with it, and one that is surrounded by some uncertainty and not obviously enjoyable. Hence another great truism that the average person spends more time planning their annual holiday than their future career!

Misunderstandings also abound.  Some students are reportedly not aware that they can ask for careers advice.  Advisers note that some believed that they could not ask for help unless they had decided what job they wanted to do, whereas others said they thought the careers service could only help those who had not yet made a careers decision.

At this point, the debate clearly becomes absurd as all University Careers Services will work with both groupings.

Or is that terms like 'careers service', 'careers office', 'careers advice' are just too boring to catch the imagination? At the University of Cumbria we have found that our new Career Ahead Award - which talks more directly about the skills you can gain from engaging with careers has had a very enthusiastic reception from students and staff alike.

*Incidentally an interesting insight from the GTI survey, was that although 97% of respondents realised the importance of increasing their employability, they mainly looked to the internet and email as their main way of communicating with employers - suggesting that students still underestimate the value of social media as a source of employer contacts.

Career Ahead - Careers and Employability Fair

This is advance notice of the University of Cumbria's first ever all-inclusive Careers Fair will take place at Fusehill Street campus on Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 January 2013. 
Students from all year groups and faculties and recent graduates from the University will get the chance to research job, voluntary, postgraduate and self-employment opportunities as well as the new Career Ahead Employability Award currently being piloted by Learning and Student Services.


The Learning Gateway at Fusehill Street

On the Tuesday, students will be able to attend workshops to help them make the most of their chance to meet employers the following day. Workshops will include The Art of Networking and Successful CVs and will be run by members of the careers team.

From 10.00am – 3.00pm on the Wednesday, around thirty local and national organisations will be available to offer advice and information to students in the ground and first floors of the Learning Gateway.

More information will follow in January on how to register for the event, but in the meantime contact Joanne Watson  if you would like to know more or have employers you would like us to invite. This event is part funded by the European Social Fund.

There are still opportunities for employers to take part on the 30th and any firms interested can register at https://www.survey.bris.ac.uk/cumbria/careersfair2013

Postgraduate Study - What Are the Benefits?

The answer seems to be "precious few" according to work recently undertaken by the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS) Postgraduate Students Task Group, as reported recently in AGCAS' Phoenix magazine (October edition).

In a depressed labour market, many graduates hope they may increase their chances of landing a good job by obtaining a postgraduate qualification but the work of the Task Group suggests that many of the benefits they are anticipating can often prove illusory. Their investigations suggest that:

• Only a few employers have recruitment programmes that specifically target postgraduates
• There is not much evidence that acquiring a postgraduate qualification leads to higher salary offers
• With the exception of problem-solving skills, employers do not believe that postgraduates offer a better set of skills or progress faster than graduates in their first job
• A postgraduate degree seldom compensates for failing to achieve a 2.1

Overall the message is that a postgraduate qualification brings few benefits in its own right unless also accompanied by significant professional work experience.

So what price "Education, Education, Education"?

It's interesting to speculate what sort of postgraduates the Task Group, whose work is acknowledged to be anecdotal rather than scientific, had in mind in coming to their conclusions. Many University of Cumbria students pursue careers in Teaching, Social Work, Psychology, Nursing and the Health Professions where it is required or at least very desirable to take a postgraduate qualification, albeit alongside extending their experience in the workplace. There are also many career areas where a Masters qualification is needed if you do not hold a degree in that particular subject.

Could it be that the Task Group were perhaps thinking more of postgraduates pursuing non-vocational or obscure subjects, and then trying to break into the 'blue chip' graduate trainee market?  Quotes from Ernst & Young, PwC (Price Waterhouse Cooper to the rest of us) and RAND Europe indicate that may be the case.

Research Your Course

So where does this leave the would-be applicant?

As so often with careers, it is a "horses for courses" type of situation.  There are a great many postgraduate courses - some that offer no vocational benefits at all and do not even pretend to do so, a few that are effectively essential career stepping stones, and others that come some way between.  The onus is on you to quiz postgraduate course providers about the career outcomes of previous students if you are definitely hoping to choose a course that will advance your own career.

Employers' Use of Testing Alienates Graduates

Another recent article from "Graduate Recruiter" (view earlier post) quotes research by Talent Q UK to suggest that candidates for graduate posts are becoming alienated by employers' use of psychomentric and ability tests.

It all seems to come down an issue of poor communication.  According to the research, employers frequently make basic mistakes like:

•  not explaining why applicants are being asked to take a test and how the results relate to the job
•  not offering feedback on candidates' performance, which breaches requirements of the British Psychological Society
• not telling people why their application failed, which may or may not be down to a poor test result

An additional problem is poor record keeping, resulting in duplication and frustration for applicants.

I am sure many Careers Advisers can report meetings with students and graduates who have been fed up with the sometimes apparently random nature of the tests they were asked to take and the opaque, remote nature of the whole process. Online tests seem to be particularly loathed.  But is there much consistent evidence that candidates with superior test scores really do perform better in the workplace?

Using Social Media To Find Jobs - Start Now!

Recent articles in "Graduate Recruiter" magazine emphasise that it's never to early for students to start sussing out possible employers using social networks.

Employers are actively seeking to meet potential employees through the likes of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn in increasing numbers and increasingly early in your academic career.  There is even a new buzzword for this trend - Recruitment 4.0.

Statistics quoted in "Graduate Recruiter" show that:

• 89% of employers surveyed plan to recruit staff via social media - up massively from the current 8.2% who already do.
• 55% will increase spending on social recruiting while a third will cut back spending on more traditional methods (jobs boards, agencies, etc).

Fascinatingly, a separate survey indicates that 25% of employers using social media to find employees want to make contact with first year students and 14% even look to contact students who are still at school.

It's not quite a case of apply as soon as you start your studies, but clearly digging for employers on Facebook and elsewhere and following their tweets is a strategy that could pay off later on down the line.

New University of Cumbria Jobshop

The University of Cumbria Jobshop is our new online vacancy service for students, graduates and employers in the Cumbria and North Lancashire area.

Students and Graduates can access the system by registering at http://cumbria.prospects.ac.uk

You can search for current vacancies, placements, internships, casual and part-time vacancies notified to us. You can also ask to be notified of vacancies that are likely to be of interest to you and search to see which employers and other organisations have advertised previous vacancies. All employers advertising on the site have indicated that they are interested in applicants living in the North West of England.

Employers can access the system by registering at a separate portal http://employer.cumbria.prospects.ac.uk

You can input graduate vacancies, work experience opportunities, voluntary positions and casual jobs FREE of charge to our site. The system is quick and easy to use and allows you to create, edit and copy vacancies. Posting a vacancy online gives you control of the content of your advertisement and allows you to keep track of how many views your vacancy has received. Your adverts will also be sent out via job alert emails to the registered job seekers.

If you wish to advertise vacancies at other Universities in the North West, you can do this too at www.ucsm2.prospectsnet.com