Investigating stakeholder perception of student work experience

Slides:



Advertisements
Similar presentations
EMPLOYABILITY PROGRAMME: INCORPORATING DIFFERENT CAREER INTERESTS AND LEVELS OF EXPERIENCE Dr Amy Irwin School of Psychology EMPLOYABILITY Late in 2012.
Advertisements

E-Business Integration with Short Work Placements Rikke Duus Senior Lecturer in Marketing The Business School
SACPO PRESENTATION ON WORK INTEGRATED LEARNING WORKSHOP 19 MARCH 2015.
International Conference on Enhancement and Innovation in Higher Education Crowne Plaza Hotel, Glasgow 9-11 June 2015 Welcome.
Professor Ian Oakes Pro Vice-Chancellor 27 th June 2012 Rich Exchanges: Employability and Enterprise Conference 2012.
Tracking graduate careers in Hungary Tracking graduate careers in Hungary - central and institutional program - Modernisation of Higher Education, PLA.
Enhancing Parents’ Role in Higher Education Assessment Anne Marie Delaney Director of Institutional Research, Babson College.
Career Counselling and Vocational Guidance in Latvia 22/02/2010.
Producing Employable Sports Graduates: Maximising The Benefits Of Volunteering Daniel C Bishop, Emma Lewis, Stephanie Osborn, Bethany Richardson, Lucy.
Developing a recruitment strategy and timetable Professional & Academic Skills.
Notes from Careers Guidance Practice A study into the impact of embedding practical career management skills within a module preparing students to apply.
 University  Further learning  Employment  Voluntary work  Self Employment  Unemployed.
Sport & Exercise Science – Year 1 Getting started with careers Ghislaine Dell, Careers Adviser.
Promoting employability and student development Dr Gavin McCabe
Degree Plus: Improving your employability prospects whilst at University Chris Cutforth - Senior lecturer (Sport) - Sheffield Hallam University Chair,
V Francesca Burniston, Lucy Harvey, Alice Turland, Katie Piggott and Francesca Sawer, Trainee Clinical Psychologists at the University of Surrey, Guildford.
SUPPORTING YOUNG PEOPLE INTO WORK. What we are doing…. The Council’s vision is for Derbyshire to prosper, based on a strong economy, well connected communities.
Key Principles A community partnership which brings together key stakeholders Clear regional boundaries Commitment to improving education and training.
Work experience as a gateway to talent in the UK: Assessing business views Dr Joan Wilson 21 July 2016 London Conference on Employer Engagement in Education.
Anna Stodter, Genevieve Williams, Alison Northrop, Dan Gordon, Claire Rossato, Itay Basevitch, Charlie Nevison, James Johnson, Justin Roberts Dept. of.
Learning Gain in Active Citizenship Funded by the Higher Education Academy (HEA) Dr. Mary Deane, Senior Lecturer in Education Oxford Brookes University.
How does coaching add value in organisations?
Key Principles A community partnership which brings together key stakeholders Clear regional boundaries Commitment to improving education and training.
Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) 2010 Interim Results
One Methodology, Many Services
Measuring the Effectiveness of the Workforce
International Students Mentoring Programme
Thinking of a PhD?: What You Need to Know
ALT- CONFERENCE APRIL 2017.
Looking towards more accurate program data – TOP code alignments
Transformational Human Resources Changing Today for a Better Tomorrow
Results Background Objectives Methods Conclusions
Sarah L. Adams & Christopher D. B. Burt
Experiments in Careers Subject Design and Delivery: The Bond University Professional Practice Program.
Five Services Provided by Your Career Center and How to Use Them
Employers’ perception of digital / open badge accreditation
Project No EPP EL-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP ( ) UES TEAM
Maximising employability
Evaluating the Impact of Careers Fairs
Your Social Sciences PhD – what next?
Introduction Method Results Conclusions
Introduction What is Student Services?
STEM Communal Affordances
What is “Employability” and how do I develop it?
SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY
International Students Mentoring Programme
Secretary job description
Supporting Completion and Credit Achievement for AgITO Trainees
Tourism Marketing for small businesses
Enterprise Programmes Leader
Strengthening Key Performance Indicators and Quality Assurance in Research in Ugandan Universities: A Case Study of Islamic University in Uganda. DR. MATOVU.
Eluned Jones, Susan Welland & Dr Toni Wright
Vocational orientation in the Service sector
Social Change Implications
Scaling up Experiential Learning Opportunities and Challenges
How does this relate to your career?
Getting Involved on Campus
Vocational orientation in the Service sector
Evaluating the Performance of Salespeople
Standard for Teachers’ Professional Development July 2016
TURNING Your DREAMS INTO REALITY
Job design & job satisfaction
Work Integrated Learning – improving career management skills?
Employability: How uk universities prepare STUDENTS for career success
Jamie Bargeman Research Unlocked 20th November 2018
Experiences supporting Open University apprenticeship students: A case study Focus is on the OU’s Digital and Technology Solutions Professional Apprenticeship.
Conclusions and Implications
Getting Involved on Campus
TERMS AND CONDITIONS   These PowerPoint slides are a tool for lecturers, and as such: YOU MAY add content to the slides, delete content from the slides,
CURTIN CAREERS, EMPLOYMENT & LEADERSHIP SERVICES FOR CURTIN STUDENTS
Presentation transcript:

Investigating stakeholder perception of student work experience Dr Amy Irwin, Dr Emily Nordmann, Karrell Simms University of Aberdeen

Background A degree alone is no longer enough, but what should we be advising students to enhance their employability? Is all work experience of equal value? Types of experience: Extra-curricular Co-curricular Internships Volunteering Part-time work Placement year What matters most? The type of experience? How long it lasts? How competitive it was? Whether its paid or unpaid?

Previous research Location Extracurricular activities usually conducted off-campus, external to degree. Co-curricular often on campus and linked to University in some way. Extracurricular considered to enhance employability and reported to be part of recruitment and selection strategy (Clark, Marsden, Whyatt, Thompson & Walker, 2015). Less is known abut value of co-curricular activities. Type Internships linked to reduced unemployment rates. Thought to give students competitive edge, and indicative of motivation and effort (Silva et al., 2016). Perception of volunteering is more variable, considered important for Psychology graduates, less important for other areas (such as Engineering) (Barton, Bates & O’Donovan, 2017). Lack of direct comparison of value of different types of experience. Duration Longer placements linked to enhanced employability, but exact duration not usually stated. Some suggestion that multiple short-term placements might be good strategy, to enhance multiple competencies (Silva et al., 2016), though some questions over what ‘short-term’ means.

Study Aim Investigate student, employer and academic perception of THREE main aspects of work experience: Duration (six months versus two years) Type (internship versus volunteering) Location (extracurricular versus co-curricular) Compare student, employer and academic perception of additional employability relevant aspects: Degree topic Degree classification Graduate attributes Examine stakeholder perception of importance of employability via open-ended questions

Method Mixed methods online questionnaire (175 participants: 62 students, 57 employers, 56 academics) Experimental vignette (CV excerpts) utilised a 3 (students, academics, employers) x 2 (6 months, 2 years duration of experience) x 2 (internships, volunteering) x 2 (co-curricular, extracurricular activities) design. TWO job roles: Research assistant & Admin assistant EIGHT vignettes (same for each role) H1: Work experience of 2 years duration would be viewed more positively than work experience of 6 months duration. H2: Work experience that was extracurricular (off-campus and within an external organisation) would be perceived more positively than co-curricular experience (on-campus activity within a University based group or facility). H3: Internship based experience would be viewed more positively than volunteer positions.

Method QUESTIONNAIRE VERSION 1 Example 1: Work experience of 2 years duration, an internship, extracurricular   EDUCATION 2014-2018 University of Aberdeen MA Honours Psychology & Business Management (2:1 predicted). WORK EXPERIENCE 2015-2017 (2 years): Market Research Assistant (internship). Hunter Adams marketing agency. Example 2: Work experience of 6 months duration, voluntary, co-curricular VOLUNTARY WORK Oct 2016 – April 2017 (6 months), Volunteer Bookends administrator. Aberdeen University Students Association. QUESTIONNAIRE VERSION 2 Example 1: Work experience of 6 months duration, voluntary, extracurricular Oct 2016 – April 2017 (6 months), Volunteer Market Research Assistant. Hunter Adams marketing agency. Example 2: Work experience of 2 years duration, internship, co-curricular 2015-2017 (2 years): Bookends administrator (internship). Aberdeen University Students Association.

Results Admin assistant Analysis: Four-way mixed ANOVA with group (student, employer, academic) as between-subjects factor and location (co- curricular, extra-curricular), type (internship, voluntary) and duration (six months, two years) as within-subjects’ factors. Significant finding: Significant main effect of location was found (F (1,159) = 40.31, p <. 001, ηG2 = .03). Extra-curricular experience (M = 3.61, SD = 0.84) rated significantly more positively than co-curricular experience (M = 3.33, SD = 0.86). Figure: Raincloud plot showing raw data, density, boxplots and mean with 95% CI for location for the admin position.

Results Research assistant Analysis: Four-way mixed ANOVA with group (student, employer, academic) as between-subjects factor and location (co- curricular, extra-curricular), type (internship, voluntary) and duration (six months, two years) as within-subjects’ factors. Significant finding: Significant main effect of location was found (F (2,160) = 98.05, p <. 001, ηG2 = .06) Extra-curricular experience (M = 3.55, SD = 0.91) rated significantly more positively than co-curricular experience (M = 3.15, SD = 0.85). Figure: Raincloud plot showing raw data, density, boxplots and mean with 95% CI for location for the research position.

Results Research assistant Analysis: Four-way mixed ANOVA with group (student, employer, academic) as between-subjects factor and location (co- curricular, extra-curricular), type (internship, voluntary) and duration (six months, two years) as within-subjects’ factors. Significant finding: Significant main effect of type was found (F (2,160) = 18.38, p <. 001, ηG2 = .03) Internships (M = 3.50, SD = 0.94) rated significantly more positively than voluntary work experience (M = 3.20, SD = 0.85). Figure: Raincloud plot showing raw data, density, boxplots and mean with 95% CI for location for the research position.

Additional points Qualitative data All three groups reported that the relevancy of work experience was a key aspect: ‘Either the specific or very relevant experience. A willingness to embrace the needs of the employer’ Employers reported that assessment of work experience was an integral aspect of selection: ‘It can be used to gauge whether a candidate is a suitable match for a position’ Employers also reported that they looked for evidence of previous jobs as evidence that candidates were able to retain employment.

Practical implications: Advice for students Students have to juggle multiple commitments, and certain opportunities may vary across career area and topic. But in general…. Extra-curricular experience may be viewed more favourably than co-curricular experience. Internships may be considered more positively than volunteer roles. A key focus should be relevancy, with experience selected according to student career plans. Employers look for evidence of work experience in applications, so something is always going to be better than nothing.

Thank you