2. Enhancing Student Employability
Academic and career partnerships; benefits, challenges and aspirations
Lindsay Yardley, Senior Academic
Katie Whitehouse, Careers Consultant

3. What do career staff do?
Over to you – those not from careers background – what do you think careers professionals do?

4. What do academics do?
What do academics do?

5. What could we achieve if we worked together?
We just want to pose this question – think about what you may have already achieved through successful partnerships or what you could achieve through closer partnerships. We are going to share our journey, being mindful that you will have your own stories of partnership too. It would be great to hear about these during the lunchtime show, tell and share activity.

6. Our Journey
Share
Initial meeting – different perspectives, shared commitment.
Transform
Transformation of the Transition to Registered Practitioner Module & student support through the final six months of their nursing programme.
Together
Working together to co-develop resources e.g. vodcasts, learning resource packs.

7. Initial reduction in careers appointments
Ups and downs
Trial & Respond
Student feedback
Initial reduction in careers appointments
Re-evaluate
Bounce back!
Student feed-back led to offering alternatives for the students with regards to how the engaged with the activity of reviewing applications
Use of vodcasts and other co-authored resources (e.g. learning resource packs) rather than careers lectures initially led to reduction in careers appointments. Careers input to sessions. Changes to the title, content and framework of the learning resource pack.

8. The ripple effect! Strengthening of the Partnership
Joint projects & initiatives
Employability Working group
Transitional bloggers
Nearly Qualified Days
10 Step framework
HEA National Toolkit:

9. How did we make it work Personality & shared commitment
Getting the right people together
Willingness – share & learn
Value, Respect & Trust
Offering & Embracing opportunities
Taking positive risks
Take the time to build relationships
Explore perceptions; real or otherwise
Keeping students at the heart of our shared practice
The partnership team has been effective due to the shared commitment from both sides.
Importance of personality & shared commitment – getting the right people together
According to the Higher Education Academy (2013) partnership is:
A process rather than a product.
It is about how, why and what we do with students.
It is an approach that supports a way of doing things rather than it being an outcome in itself.
It is an ethos rather than an activity which should underpin our philosophy when working with students.
For working in partnership with students to be successful there are core principles that need to be followed (ibid). The National Union of Students (NUS, 2012), the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA, 2012) and the Higher Education Academy (HEA, 2013) outline the principles of partnership working as:
Willingness to share and learn from one another
Appreciating the value of other perspectives, mutual respect
Placing students at the heart
Offering and taking opportunities

10. Benefits of partnership working
Students
BCU
Wider partners
Ourselves!

11. A handful of our top tips…..
Go for coffee with your Careers Adviser!
Share contacts, meet with other key staff
Explore ideas
Be open to suggestions & potential for change
Challenge one another & share feedback
Say thank-you!

12. Any questions?