Employ Me! How can you help your students get a graduate job? Hi and welcome to this session looking at how you can help your students to get a graduate job once their University studies are complete. My name is Becka Colley and I am one of the Careers Advisers in the Careers Centre here at Edge Hill University. During the course of this session we are going to look at what the issues are relating to graduate employability, and specifically focus on the difficulties students have articulating their skills and experiences to employers during the recruitment and selection process. Becka Colley Careers Adviser National Teaching Fellow

“I have excellent communication skills and I am a strong team player.” “One of my strengths is being able to adapt and differentiate teaching to suit the pupils learning styles so they can achieve the lesson objective.” “My clinical training has provided me with a diverse set of relevant skills for this post.” Students often lack the necessary ability to articulate their skills and experiences using evidenced based examples. These are actual examples from recent applications we have checked. On the face of it they seem well written and related to the role applied for and their experiences. But they lack direct evidence and examples of where and how these skills were developed. Often, applications are simply descriptive. Students understand the need to reference their academic work to provide sources to back up an argument but they do not apply the same technique to writing applications. Too often they simply reel off the skills they have and expect that to be enough. It is not!

No evidence at all, just statements. Unable to evidence what they can do. Implied evidence, not explicit. No evidence at all, just statements. Lack of relevant, real examples. Unaware of what they are capable of. Padding and waffle Skills? What skills? Superficial. Boring. Generic. The biggest issue students face is their inability to effectively evidence their skills. First draft applications are often superficial with implied not explicit evidence. The text is too descriptive with too much waffle padding out overly complicated and long winded sentences. They are unable to succinctly convey their information effectively to the reader.

So what can we do to address this issue So what can we do to address this issue? How can we get a student with all these different skills, experiences and qualities to convey them effectively on their applications and become…

…an employee with a graduate level job?

SaPRA: Skills and Personal Reflective Activity Confidence Competence One possible answer is SaPRA. Focus on identifying levels of confidence and competence in different skill areas.

SaPRA: Skills and Personal Reflective Activity Confidence Competence By reflecting on their levels of confidence and competence, students build up a picture of where they need to focus as well as beginning to generate useful evidence for applications.

Confidence ranked on simple Likert scale 1-5 e.g. Expectations about University study. I feel confident about: Learning in large groups in a formal setting (i.e. formal lectures, large seminar groups) Being more responsible for my learning (not being chased if I fail to attend a lecture, having to find resources in the library myself, getting to class on time) Dealing with other students around me e.g. challenging inappropriate/disruptive behaviour, managing a group discussion, being assertive with other people Joining in with social activities on campus Working with people from diverse cultural groups and from other countries Making new friends Managing my money This is an example of one of the areas students were asked about. The process was confidential and students weren’t asked to share the outcomes with other people.

For each identified skill area students: Reflect on levels of confidence Identify evidence Develop action plan So for each identified skill area students were asked to: Reflect on their levels of confidence Where they said they were confident they were asked to generate evidence Where they lacked confidence they were asked to create action plan After they had Completed actions they could review scores and generate more evidence Use information when making applications Become more effective at articulating skills and evidencing experiences

Identifying and Generating evidence Feel confident Why? Reflect on experiences Define success Identify specific examples Generate evidence Convey experience with effective and well articulated evidence

Creating action plan for development Lack confidence Why? Reflect on experiences Identify steps What steps can be taken to address lack of confidence? Develop action plan Identify specific actions Implement interventions Reflect on progress, adjust levels of confidence accordingly

Student needs to take ownership Constantly reviewed Iterative process

Review with Personal Tutor Complete SaPRA Generate evidence Create action plan Review with Personal Tutor Initial process can’t just be a one off – where it failed at Bradford was with an initial input at beginning of year but wasn’t referred back to subsequently.

Generate additional evidence Re-do SaPRA Generate additional evidence Update action plans Build portfolio of evidence Become more reflective & self aware Where it worked (Pharmacy, midwifery, psychology) was where it was embedded into the curriculum and referred back to. Also needs to relate to real world experiences. Not just as isolated academic experience.

Evidence is essential Move from simple description to evidence based examples.

SaPRA at Edge Hill University SaPRA was developed at the University of Bradford in 2006 Used across University until 2012 Midwifery Pharmacy Combined Studies Psychology SaPRA 2015 Updating skill areas Finding right online tools to host it Helps with writing references as well as getting jobs.

Skills Most Commonly Sought By Employers Self-management Team working Business and customer awareness Problem solving Communication and literacy Ability to manage others Time management Decision making Ability to show initiative Working under pressure Adaptability/flexibility Ability to plan and organise Effective students also demonstrate these skills

Existing SaPRA areas Year 1/Level 4 (Basic) Year 2/Level 5 (Intermediate) Year 3/Level 6 (Advanced) Academic Reading Academic Writing Expectations about University study Group Working Skills Project Management Skills Time Management Self Awareness Self Confidence Communication Skills Confidence with IT Library Skills Employability Skills

Learning Personal Employability Digital

Next steps Develop tool Identify delivery mechanisms Support students and staff Enhance employability

Any questions? Becka.Colley@edgehill.ac.uk Ext 4196