Making an Enhancing employment skills Making an Impact…… A Positive Approach to Marketing and Retention By Roy Christian & Linda Holdsworth Impact Project Officers

Making an Enhancing employment skills What is Impact? n Working in partnership across the University Careers Services at the four West Yorkshire universities (Bradford, Huddersfield, Leeds and Leeds Metropolitan) – led by University of Bradford n “Positive Action” project – employability aims n Initially 2 year funding but now continuing with interim institutional funding n “Supporters Club” of Employers n Team of 2 Project Officers n Met and exceeded the student target numbers

Making an Enhancing employment skills Marketing to Employers n The “hard to reach” - Opportunity to access and increase numbers of minority ethnic students applying n Awareness - Learning about other cultures and religions and spreading this awareness through own organisations (e.g. mentoring) n The “Supporters Club” - High number of major graduate employers/recruiters already signed up! n Two way process - Impact will advertise employer schemes and other “positive action” initiatives to students on a targeted basis n Meeting their obligations under the Race Relations Amendment Act as well as Diversity being a “hot topic”! n No cost to employers – though welcome sponsorships!

Making an Enhancing employment skills Retention of Employers n “Supporters Club” allows for networking opportunities to learn about other employers’ initiatives and how they have implemented Diversity n Advisory support on employer schemes and honest information on what students really want n Research (e.g. Park HR) n New things on offer (Afro Caribbean Fair, Muslim females role model day) n Personal approach - Continual contact and visits from the whole Project Team wherever possible n Flexible and accommodating

Making an Enhancing employment skills Marketing to Students n Word of Mouth (a good service) n Mass ing (from a person not an organisation) n Careers Stands (Graduate fairs/Societies and Freshers’ Fairs/Corridors!) n Duty slots (outreach approach) n Careers Advisers’ referrals (sensitivity) n Links with academics (talks to final/first year students) n Society Links (motivations, aims and objectives of the society) n Student Union Representatives to spread the word! (priorities of the individual officer) n Consultative Groups of Students

Making an Enhancing employment skills Retention of Students n Personal style and approach (awareness/one-to- one/workshops) n Offer what they want (continual evaluation of activities and take on board the feedback received!) n Time and support (average appointment of an hour) n Flexibility (out of hours workshops and one-to-ones) n Mediator (between students and employers) n Be open minded to cultural differences n Respect both ways (e.g. missing appointments) n Direct and honest with students (ambitions vs realism) n Inclusiveness - even if not a target client!

Making an Enhancing employment skills Overcoming Sensitivity Students:  Inclusive – “Positive action” not discrimination  Value the focused provision (proven the need for Impact) Other Staff:  Lack of understanding - Inform and update, whilst integrating into mainstream  Reluctance to promote the services for fear of being seen as “discriminatory” - be available and spread awareness of why the service is here Employers:  Give advice on what students want - Straight talk from a focus group (e.g. Park HR)

Making an Enhancing employment skills Some Impact facts to date: n Worked with 815 minority ethnic students n 130 Impact targeted careers workshop run (many with employer involvement) n Over 1,500 one-to-one appointments with students (average of 1 hour per appointment) n Over 30 students assisted into positive action work experience placements e.g. Inland Revenue, HSBC, Cabinet Office n Over 1,000 s from students per year n Delivered workshops to 32 HE careers staff nationally on “Black and White” issues in employment

Making an Enhancing employment skills Strength of Impact…… n Quality and variety of activities offered n The Impact Model and targeted nature of support (extended beyond normal provision) n The “visible brand” and notion of “one-stop” shop for employers n Dedicated, committed and experienced team n High level of satisfaction amongst employers and careers colleagues with Impact n Client group – demand for the provision of support (e.g. 98% of students said the workshops were very or quite relevant to their needs) n Links with Harris Report recommendations

Making an Enhancing employment skills Impact – The Future …… n Building on the success of the Impact Model n Extend scheme with further Project Officer offering services in two South Yorkshire Universities (Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam) n Graduate focus n Current negotiations to extend funding to 2005

Making an Enhancing employment skills For more information, contact: Roy Christian: – (Bfd) – (Hudds) Linda Holdsworth: (Leeds) (LMU) or visit our website: