The UEL Professional Development Award

The PDA – what is it? A flexible employability development programme offering you certification for your involvement in employability-activities. The award will help you: Prepare you for the challenges of work Develop the skills and attributes employers seek in addition to a degree Become familiar with the recruitment process Sell yourself to employers more effectively Assess your own employability development Demonstrate your commitment to professional development.

Why do it? Employers increasingly want more than a degree  Grade Inflation  Good grades do not necessarily mean good employees  They want the skills to perform in the workplace  They want the right attitude  You need to stand out! And it’s free!

Why an award? Employers have recognised such awards as meaningful and desirable e.g. DofE 25/638379/thevalueofthedukeofedinburgh awardtoemployershttp:// 25/638379/thevalueofthedukeofedinburgh awardtoemployers

What is involved? The award consists of four streams for which you will have to collect evidence  Skills  Experience  Networking  Self Assessment and Self Marketing

Skills Development Skills can be developed formally and informally. CaSE will be running Skills Academy training sessions in March and June, as well as ad-hoc sessions, to assist you gain credits for skills development. Sessions include: Communication Skills Presentation Skills Building Confidence Negotiation Skills Management and Leadership The Likeability Factor Networking Skills Time Management Handling Difficult People and Situations Workplace Etiquette Personal Branding Everything you need to know to get that Graduate job!

Experience The most important element! You will need to collect evidence from at least 35 hours of experience. This could include: Part-time work Work Placement Internship Volunteering Work Shadowing Students’ Union/Students’ Rep. activities Working as a LAA or a LAM Careers Champion – in development

Networking You need to provide at least two examples of where you have networked with professionals. This could be: Attending a Careers Fair Attending a Professional Bodies/Employer Event on campus e.g. Employability Week Having a Mentor Creating a LinkedIn profile

Self Assessment and Self Marketing Self Assessment can include: Taking a Psychometric Test or Personality Assessment Assessing your career preferences Producing an up to date CV Producing a LinkedIn profile Producing a Personal Development Plan Completing a Competency Based Online Assessment (going live soon!)

Reflective Logs You will be provided with: Blank Reflective Logs for each stream Sample Reflective Logs indicating how you need to complete them

How much work is needed? Certain elements of the award are compulsory accounting for 75% of mark:  5 Work Experience Logs  2 Skills Development Logs  2 Networking Logs  Production of CV and a LinkedIn profile  Production of Personal Development Plan  Production of a short video introduction to yourself To gain the remaining 25% you need to complete another 5 activities of your choice e.g. a 3 rd Skills Development activity, a Psychometric Test or put forward your own suggestion!

Your Portfolio You will need to collate your logs- at least 10- along with your CV, link to your LinkedIn profile, Personal Development Plan, test results, evidence of attendance at skills sessions in a portfolio. There are two options: Download the logs from CaSE website and submit electronically once completed Create a Portfolio either through Mahara or your own system

Mahara Mahara is UEL’s chosen e-portfolio system available through Moodle under the MyPortfolio tab. It will allow you to: Create a portfolio where you can store your evidence and more Join the UEL PDA Group and share your experience with other users View the portfolios of successful PDA graduates Demonstrate to employers your creative talents!

What support is available? Everyone signing up to the PDA will be assigned a Mentor from within CaSE for support with undertaking the award including advice on activities and completing the logs Support for those choosing to use Mahara will be available from the IT Services team who are running regular support sessions to help you develop and compile your portfolio. User manuals are also available online. A sample portfolio with sample completed logs is available through Mahara- mine! Previous graduates from the PDA have agreed to allow their portfolios to be used as examples of good practice

Why do it now? It’s never too early to start building your professional self! CaSE has an ongoing calendar of events throughout the academic year. These include: Skills Academy Sessions Employer Events- Freelance and Portfolio Careers Week and Student Employment Week are in February Networking Opportunities Access to experience through our work experience and volunteering teams External careers fairs – check out The next graduation ceremony is in June – ideal for those of you in your final year!

Graduation Ceremony Everyone completing their logs to a satisfactory standard will receive the award and graduate at a special ceremony which will be held twice a year – December and June Additional awards will be offered to students completing their portfolio to a particularly high standard – 5 separate awards and one overall winner of “Most Employable Student/Graduate 2016”

Last Year’s Winner

What last year’s PDA graduates said “The PDA was excellent and well organised with academy workshops, well done team”. “The PDA is an exceptional opportunity for every student and graduate to reflect on their skills and experience in order to improve their professional development and employability. As such, the PDA is a priceless legacy for the success of students and graduate in the outside world.”

How much did it help students develop? Based on evaluation of the award participants progressed from pre-award to post-award scores thus:  Communication Skills: 64.6% to 90.8%  Problem Solving Skills: 69.2% to 83%  Networking Skills: 49.2% to 87.6%  Confidence as a Graduate Professional: 53.8% to 86.2%

Want to sign up? Contact Andrea at:

Questions?