CAREER PLANNING FOR CRIMINOLOGY STUDENTS Jenny Keaveney Careers Advisory Service

Who employs Criminology graduates? What can I do with my degree? A lot of people will start with their degree subject but .. Who employs Criminology graduates?

THERE IS MORE TO YOU THAN YOUR DEGREE … INTERESTS YOUR DEGREE YOUR SKILLS Many employers will value you for your skills rather than your degree subject Your prefs, personality & values will influence your choice of these employers and careers YOUR PREFERENCES YOUR VALUES YOUR PERSONALITY

Skills gained from studying Criminology Analytical skills Clear & Logical thinking Communication Critical evaluation Gathering, assessing and interpreting information Literacy & Expression Organising Planning Problem solving Research Working to deadlines

Ways of using your degree and your skills in a career Work with data: research; analysis; investigation; information; problem-solving Work with people: helping; advising; managing; persuading; negotiating Work with ideas: planning; communicating; initiating; creating Many careers will combine elements from each category All of these could be in areas relevant to criminology or completely removed from it: we will look at examples of jobs in relevant areas

Working with Data Criminal Intelligence Analyst Researcher Case Review Manager Fraud Investigator Solicitor Chartered Accountant Civil Service Fast Stream There are not many jobs that are purely information/research based – you will need good communication skills to gather info or to present it to the people who will be using it

Working with Data – Criminal Intelligence Analyst What is Intelligence Analysis? “The identification of and provision of insight into the relationship between crime data and other potentially relevant data with a view to police and judicial practice” Intelligence Analysis basically involves: making sense of large amounts of often disparate information, highlighting salient points and increasing the effectiveness of police resources. Example: Police Professional This case deals with a professional team of armed robbers based in the North London area, who specialised in targeting large cash sums being transported by security vans. The robbers sought to steal large cash sums from CIT custodians and would use physical force combined with the production/threat of a knife and/or handgun and on one occasion a pump-action shotgun during their raids. The series was linked by a combination of factors such as victim profile, suspect description, modus operandi (MO), geographical location as well as the make and model of vehicle(s) used and the means by which the robbers made their getaway, this being combined with the chronology of offending. One of the key tasks was to identify all potentially linked offences no matter where they had been committed, to enable a review by the investigative team, so that all the risks the subjects posed to their victims and members of the public, as well as a full chronology of their offending, was clear. Accurate patterns would only emerge when all offences had been reviewed. This eventually enabled the Metropolitan Police to identify a pattern of offending and run an intensive surveillance operation for the purpose of gathering best evidence to effect early arrests for offences proportionate to their level of criminality.”

Working with Data – Home Office Research Officer “I started working for the Home Office on a casual contract as a Research Officer in Manchester. The post involved interpreting regional crime statistics, conducting crime-related research and disseminating best practice. Nine months later, I started a permanent post in the Immigration Research and Statistics Service in Croydon. I work in a team that conducts longitudinal research on refugees and am currently working on the feasibility and development of a large-scale survey that will involve using quantitative and qualitative data to gauge how refugees experience settlement in the UK” http://www.gsr.gov.uk/recruitment/employee_profiles/moreton.asp Example: Police Professional This case deals with a professional team of armed robbers based in the North London area, who specialised in targeting large cash sums being transported by security vans. The robbers sought to steal large cash sums from CIT custodians and would use physical force combined with the production/threat of a knife and/or handgun and on one occasion a pump-action shotgun during their raids. The series was linked by a combination of factors such as victim profile, suspect description, modus operandi (MO), geographical location as well as the make and model of vehicle(s) used and the means by which the robbers made their getaway, this being combined with the chronology of offending. One of the key tasks was to identify all potentially linked offences no matter where they had been committed, to enable a review by the investigative team, so that all the risks the subjects posed to their victims and members of the public, as well as a full chronology of their offending, was clear. Accurate patterns would only emerge when all offences had been reviewed. This eventually enabled the Metropolitan Police to identify a pattern of offending and run an intensive surveillance operation for the purpose of gathering best evidence to effect early arrests for offences proportionate to their level of criminality.”

Working with People Probation Service Officer Connexions Personal Adviser Prison Governor Police Officer Community Support Officer Customs Officer Housing Manager

Working with People – Probation Officer “We write pre-sentence reports which advise courts on how they should sentence individuals. And we supervise people who are on court orders and people who are in prison … It entails an ongoing process of assessing individuals, assessing risks that they pose in terms of harm to other people, harm to themselves, harm to staff and the risk of them getting into trouble again”

Working with Ideas Media & Communications Education & Training Strategic/Policy Management Again, most of these jobs require very good people skills – to persuade, manage, inform, influence, negotiate Include: journalism; PR; campaigning Training: professional training, vocational training; academic; school teaching (Citizenship) Management roles – any type of work has the potential to develop into this, eg Prison Governor, Chief Constable

So what do Criminology graduates do? What do they do in broad terms? Their occupations and employers Postgraduate study Other jobs where the degree is useful

In broad terms ….. 13% 2% 9% 61% 15% Percentages based on known destinations of 2007 Kent graduates (55 grads in total) “Others” include “starting work soon”, volunteering and not available 2% unemployed = one graduate!

What do Criminology graduates do? Police Officer (Metropolitan Police) Prison Officer (Young Offenders’ Institution) Admin Support Officer (Surrey Police) YISP Support Assistant Paralegal Recruitment Consultant Trainee Primary Teacher Licensing Assistant (Group Lotus) Example destinations of 2007 Kent graduates YISP = Youth Inclusion & Support Panel

Some employers in areas directly related to your degree The Home Office The Prison Service Police forces Probation services Connexions The Security Service The Serious Organised Crime Agency Solicitors and barristers Links to all the above from www.kent.ac.uk/careers/criminology.htm#employers

Examples of postgraduate courses Graduate Diploma in Law (Law conversion course) MA Criminology MA International Conflict Analysis MA Law

Ways of using your skills in career areas open to all graduates Library/information work Public sector administration Social work Computing and IT Transport/logistics management Finance Marketing

What next? Think about yourself Research possible careers Try and get relevant work experience Plan ahead - note deadlines in final year Use the Careers Advisory Service!

FINDING OUT MORE Useful information sources include: Job profiles on Prospects.ac.uk www.prospects.ac.uk/links/Occupations/ What can I do with my Criminology Degree? www.kent.ac.uk/careers/criminology.htm

… of this seminar - your career planning continues! THE END ... … of this seminar - your career planning continues! Jenny Keaveney Careers Advisory Service Opening hours: 9am - 5pm Monday - Friday http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers