1. Employ Me! How can you help your students get a graduate job?
Hi and welcome to this session looking at how you can help your students to get a graduate job once their University studies are complete. My name is Becka Colley and I am one of the Careers Advisers in the Careers Centre here at Edge Hill University.
During the course of this session we are going to look at what the issues are relating to graduate employability, and specifically focus on the difficulties students have articulating their skills and experiences to employers during the recruitment and selection process.
Becka Colley
Careers Adviser
National Teaching Fellow

2. “I have excellent communication skills and I am a strong team player.”
“One of my strengths is being able to adapt and differentiate teaching to suit the pupils learning styles so they can achieve the lesson objective.”
“My clinical training has provided me with a diverse set of relevant skills for this post.”
Students often lack the necessary ability to articulate their skills and experiences using evidenced based examples. These are actual examples from recent applications we have checked. On the face of it they seem well written and related to the role applied for and their experiences. But they lack direct evidence and examples of where and how these skills were developed. Often, applications are simply descriptive. Students understand the need to reference their academic work to provide sources to back up an argument but they do not apply the same technique to writing applications. Too often they simply reel off the skills they have and expect that to be enough. It is not!

3. No evidence at all, just statements.
Unable to evidence what they can do.
Implied evidence, not explicit.
No evidence at all, just statements.
Lack of relevant, real examples.
Unaware of what they are capable of.
Padding and waffle
Skills? What skills?
Superficial. Boring. Generic.
The biggest issue students face is their inability to effectively evidence their skills. First draft applications are often superficial with implied not explicit evidence. The text is too descriptive with too much waffle padding out overly complicated and long winded sentences. They are unable to succinctly convey their information effectively to the reader.

4. So what can we do to address this issue
So what can we do to address this issue? How can we get a student with all these different skills, experiences and qualities to convey them effectively on their applications and become…

5. …an employee with a graduate level job?

6. SaPRA: Skills and Personal Reflective Activity
Confidence
Competence
One possible answer is SaPRA.
Focus on identifying levels of confidence and competence in different skill areas.

7. SaPRA: Skills and Personal Reflective Activity
Confidence
Competence
By reflecting on their levels of confidence and competence, students build up a picture of where they need to focus as well as beginning to generate useful evidence for applications.

8. Confidence ranked on simple Likert scale 1-5
e.g. Expectations about University study. I feel confident about:
Learning in large groups in a formal setting (i.e. formal lectures, large seminar groups)
Being more responsible for my learning (not being chased if I fail to attend a lecture, having to find resources in the library myself, getting to class on time)
Dealing with other students around me e.g. challenging inappropriate/disruptive behaviour, managing a group discussion, being assertive with other people
Joining in with social activities on campus
Working with people from diverse cultural groups and from other countries
Making new friends
Managing my money
This is an example of one of the areas students were asked about. The process was confidential and students weren’t asked to share the outcomes with other people.

9. For each identified skill area students:
Reflect on levels of confidence
Identify evidence
Develop action plan
So for each identified skill area students were asked to:
Reflect on their levels of confidence
Where they said they were confident they were asked to generate evidence
Where they lacked confidence they were asked to create action plan
After they had Completed actions they could review scores and generate more evidence
Use information when making applications
Become more effective at articulating skills and evidencing experiences

10. Identifying and Generating evidence
Feel confident
Why? Reflect on experiences
Define success
Identify specific examples
Generate evidence
Convey experience with effective and well articulated evidence

11. Creating action plan for development
Lack confidence
Why? Reflect on experiences
Identify steps
What steps can be taken to address lack of confidence?
Develop action plan
Identify specific actions
Implement interventions
Reflect on progress, adjust levels of confidence accordingly

12. Student needs to take ownership
Constantly reviewed
Iterative process

13. Review with Personal Tutor
Complete SaPRA
Generate evidence
Create action plan
Review with Personal Tutor
Initial process can’t just be a one off – where it failed at Bradford was with an initial input at beginning of year but wasn’t referred back to subsequently.

14. Generate additional evidence
Re-do SaPRA
Generate additional evidence
Update action plans
Build portfolio of evidence
Become more reflective & self aware
Where it worked (Pharmacy, midwifery, psychology) was where it was embedded into the curriculum and referred back to. Also needs to relate to real world experiences. Not just as isolated academic experience.

15. Evidence is essential
Move from simple description to evidence based examples.

16. SaPRA at Edge Hill University
SaPRA was developed at the University of Bradford in 2006
Used across University until 2012
Midwifery
Pharmacy
Combined Studies
Psychology
SaPRA 2015
Updating skill areas
Finding right online tools to host it
Helps with writing references as well as getting jobs.

17. Skills Most Commonly Sought By Employers
Self-management
Team working
Business and customer awareness
Problem solving
Communication and literacy
Ability to manage others
Time management
Decision making
Ability to show initiative
Working under pressure
Adaptability/flexibility
Ability to plan and organise
Effective students also demonstrate these skills

18. Existing SaPRA areas Year 1/Level 4 (Basic) Year 2/Level 5
(Intermediate)
Year 3/Level 6
(Advanced)
Academic Reading
Academic Writing
Expectations about University study
Group Working Skills
Project Management Skills
Time Management
Self Awareness
Self Confidence
Communication Skills
Confidence with IT
Library Skills
Employability Skills

19. Learning
Personal
Employability
Digital

20. Next steps Develop tool Identify delivery mechanisms
Support students and staff
Enhance employability

21. Any questions?
Ext 4196