Employing Words: transferring academic writing skills to the job market Dr Emily Alder Edinburgh & Lothians Regional Articulation Hub Edinburgh Napier University

Skills development Programme of academic skills development Piloted ‘Employing Words’ to address gap between academic and employable writing skills Aimed to encourage deep learning to promote transferability......and students’ confidence in that transferability

Employing words... are: individual active evidencing specific powerful demonstrative reflective show: experience ability responsibility success confidence roles personal qualities

Reflection Adapted from Cottrell (2008)

Critiquing faulty examples

Evaluation Adapted from Kumar (2008)

Putting it into practice: writing a good personal statement

Results of student surveys

I feel confident about sitting down to write a really good job application

I know the type of language I should use in a written job application to make myself attractive to employers

Student range Fee statusLevel of studyAge range 11 Scottish/ UK 5 other EU 3 non-EU 8 postgraduate (including 1 PhD) 8 undergraduate (graduating 3 rd or 4 th years) 3 2 nd years years

AnxiousStill anxious, but more confident! DauntedLess daunted slightly confident Nightmare. Always try to delayBetter NervousConfident Apprehensive!More confident Hesitant but reasonably confidentPretty confident now SCARED. I know the theory, however, it is very often [hard] to put it into practice I’ve got a list of words/ phrase that I can use when filling in an application form (and that’s what I was hoping to get), however, I am aware that it takes practice to learn to be concise and to the point. Still not comfortable with that! BadBetter than before the workshop I find them stressful – I find it tough to strike a balance between selling myself without feeling too brash Calmer! WeakFAR BETTER BoringIt still seems boring but I have hope that it will be at least good. Definitely want to try even though I do not look for a job right now. Concerned about the things to input and those to leave out. Better equipped! Nervous, daunting, anxiousMuch more confident How would you describe the way you feel now about the prospect of writing job applications? How would you describe the way you feel about the prospect of writing job applications?

Some limitations Small student numbers Student perceptions: not able to measure actual writing skills Nor track future student performance What next? Extend workshop programme Follow-up with online resources ?

Reference list Boud, D., (1995). Assessment and learning: contradictory or complimentary? In P. Knight (ed) Assessment for Learning in Higher Education (1995) London: Kogan Paul, pp Christie, H., Tett, L., Cree, V., McCune, V., and Hounsell, J., (2008). 'A real rollercoaster of confidence and emotions': learning to be a university student, Studies in Higher Education 33 (5): Cottrell, S. (2008). The Study Skills Handbook London: Palgrave Macmillan. Gibbs, G., Rust, C., Jenkins, A., Jacques, D., (1994). Developing Students’ Transferable Skills Oxford: Oxford Centre for Staff Development Hager, P. and Hodkinson, P., (2009). Moving beyond the metaphor of transfer of learning, British Educational Research Journal 35 (4): Kumar, A SOARing to Success: Personal, Academic and Career Development in Higher Education London: Routledge

Thank you. Questions? Contact me