Department of Hospitality, Leisure & Tourism Management Business School Employability through Learning in Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism Conference September 2004 The student perception of career management skills Angela Maher

Department of Hospitality, Leisure & Tourism Management Business School Career management skills: why are they important? The employment market is changing in ways which make it more important than ever for students and graduates to take personal responsibility for managing their own career development throughout life. For this they will need to develop the skills to manage their own career including the abilities to reflect and review, to plan and make decisions, to use information resources effectively, to create and to take opportunities, and to make provision for lifelong learning. QAA Code of Practice (2001) Career Education, Information and Guidance.

Department of Hospitality, Leisure & Tourism Management Business School Career management skills: why are they important? The graduate employment market is increasingly crowded, competition is fierce and selection techniques are becoming more sophisticated … Jobhunters need to be well-informed and high skilled to get to the front of the queue. Jenner, S. (2000) The Graduate Career Handbook.

Department of Hospitality, Leisure & Tourism Management Business School Career Management and Employability Employability is a set of achievements – skills, understandings and personal attributes – that make graduates more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations, which benefit themselves, the community and the economy. Yorke and Knight (2003:7) Employability in Higher Education.ESECT/HE Academy. Employability is NOT the same as employment Employable graduates have complex mix of Understanding, Skills, Efficacy beliefs and Metacognition (USEM model: Knight and Yorke, 2002)

Department of Hospitality, Leisure & Tourism Management Business School Career Management and Employability Employability is about developing capable graduates: Capable people not only know about their specialisms, they also have the confidence to apply their knowledge and skills within varied and challenging situations and to continue to develop their specialist knowledge and skills … Stephenson, J. (1998). Capability and quality in higher education.

Department of Hospitality, Leisure & Tourism Management Business School Enhancing students career management skills Project jointly funded by HE Academy Subject Centre for Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism and Oxford Brookes University May 2004 – Questionnaire posted to 300 Brookes graduates Usable sample of 107 responses (35. 7% response rate) Key aims of survey: Provide information on career patterns and characteristics of graduate jobs Have graduates rank the importance of different skills/attributes for career success, and determine the extent to which these were developed in their degree Determine the overall value of the degree for graduate employment Provide indication of students use of career services at Brookes

Department of Hospitality, Leisure & Tourism Management Business School Graduate attributes and career success Importance for careerDeveloped in degree(% ranked 1 and 2) PERSONAL QUALITIES Self-confidence97%57% Adaptability96%58% Independence94%70% CORE SKILLS Self-management94%80% Explaining93%72% Listening92%70% PROCESS SKILLS Prioritizing97%63% Planning91%75% Computer Literacy90%63%

Department of Hospitality, Leisure & Tourism Management Business School Graduate attributes – competency gaps? Largest gaps between competencies required for career and those possessed at the time of graduation Coping with ambiguity and complexity Initiative Emotional intelligence Stress tolerance Self-confidence

Department of Hospitality, Leisure & Tourism Management Business School Graduate employability: whose responsibility? Perhaps the most crucial element of employability for the graduate is self-confidence and a sense of autonomy. Graduates who know what they can do and know, and how it is useful to other people, are likely to succeed in the labour market. It is important that their experience of higher education gives them this sense of control over their own lives and talents. This is a matter for everyone in the institution. McNair, S. (2003) Employability in Higher Education. LTSN Generic Centre/University of Surrey.

Department of Hospitality, Leisure & Tourism Management Business School Developing employability in higher education Employability development has three aspects: The development of employability attributes The development of self-promotional and career management skills A willingness to learn and reflect on learning

Department of Hospitality, Leisure & Tourism Management Business School Developing employability in higher education How can HE effectively facilitate the development of those graduate attributes that are important for employment? Work experience Personal development planning Career management skills Professional/transferable skills Enterprise and entrepreneurship Key issues Assessment is a (the?) crucial issue Resources must be invested (e.g. staff development, research on graduate labour market, and good practice on embedding employability, etc)

Department of Hospitality, Leisure & Tourism Management Business School Developing employability in higher education Key issues for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs): Reaching consensus on what employability means Developing and implementing an employability strategy across the institution Ensuring all stakeholders buy in to the strategy Developing meaningful measures of effectiveness regarding graduate employability initiatives

Department of Hospitality, Leisure & Tourism Management Business School Enhancing students career management skills: next steps Focus group interviews with graduates Employability audit of curriculum Introduction of career planning module On-line support for students and graduates FDTL project starts November 2004