Career Development Centre

Annual Report

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11-1

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Contents

The Career Development Centre Annual Report in context

Summary of Achievements and Reflections 2011-2012

Review of Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance

Review of Employer Engagement

Challenges for Session 2012-2013

Photography by John McPake

The Career Development Centre Annual Report in Context

The Mission Statement of the Career Development Centre (CDC)

‘The Career Development Centre endeavours to provide resources which enable clients to make informed

career decisions, pursue their goals effectively and develop skills which will allow them to manage their

careers throughout their lives.’

The Career Development Centre Strategic and Operational Plan

The CDC achieves its mission statement by providing a professional, high quality careers education,

information, advice and guidance service to students, graduates and pre-university entrants. This is met

by working collaboratively with three key stakeholders: students; employers and the University. The

CDC’s aims and goals are articulated in its Strategic and Operational Plan 2010-2013.

Working to quality standards – responding to feedback

The CDC adopts an approach of continuous quality improvement in line with the Matrix Quality

Standards and the QAA codes of practice on Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance

(CEIAG) and Work Based Learning. The service adopts a rigorous planning process to review progress and

feedback from all stakeholders throughout the cycle of the year. The CDC will undergo a MATRIX quality

review in 2013-2014 and will be working towards this in session 2012-2013.

Institutional context

With the institutional strategic goal of achieving 85% graduate employment the Joint Heads of CDC were

requested by Academic Council to undertake a review of, and consultation on, employability

development at the University and to create an Employability Strategy and Implementation Plan. A new

strategy was approved by Council in September 2012.

External context

Externally, the recession and speculation on graduate employment continued to impact on CDC planning,

resulting in an increased emphasis on employer engagement. The Learning to Work Two funding for the

joint bid, ‘Making the Most of Masters’ continues to develop in year two. The CDC also sits on the

steering group for the Learning to Work Two funded Third Sector Internship Scotland project.

Focus of this annual report

It compares, where appropriate, performance in terms of usage and feedback with session

2010-2011

It articulates the service’s successes and achievements in session 2011-2012

It highlights the key challenges and plans for 2012-2013

Throughout academic year 2011-12 the Career Development Centre continued to work in a proactive and creative way with all its stakeholders: students, employers and the university.

Students

In a competitive graduate labour market, and with the continued economic downturn, it is more important than ever to engage with our students (and graduates) to build and enhance their employability throughout their time at Stirling. Developing and reflecting on work experience enhances the student experience and makes a notable difference to finding graduate level employment on graduation. The recently published results of the Futuretrack survey (http://www.futuretrack.ac.uk/) showed that graduates with no work experience while at university were more likely to be unemployed or in non-paid work, and of the graduates in non-graduate jobs, 43% had not visited their careers service. In addition to on-going core careers education, information and guidance work over this period , the CDC has developed a new online career management skills module, and three partnership placement based modules with law, sport and journalism have been approved. CDC have continued to develop the Stirling Internship Programme and links with key partners such as Volunteer Development Scotland, the Third Sector Internship Scheme, e-placements, Making the Most of Masters and Talent Scotland to increase and promote the range of opportunities for Stirling students to gain work experience in the curriculum, co and extra curriculum.

The CDC has also continued to proactively engage with students through a range of initiatives and approaches across careers education, information, advice and guidance. For example in 2011/12, in addition to our annual Work fest and This is Your Life programmes, a new event for arts and social science students, Pathfinder, was initiated. The confidence programme, Lift off, ran once more and again had a clear positive impact on the students involved, as did our Insight into Teaching initiative and work on the Coach Development and Student Leadership Programme.

The CDC continued to brave the world of social media increasing our Facebook ‘likes’, using Twitter and developing blogs for graduates and international students.

Employers

While the press continues to paint a negative picture on graduate employment, the CDC’s experience is that the situation is a slowly improving one, and that employers remain keen to work with the university and to engage with Stirling students and graduates. This is clear in the keen participation of employers in Work fest; This is Your Life and Pathfinder as well as in numerous workshops delivered in CDC and in Schools.

Working to build and maintain relationships with employers is labour intensive, but crucial. It has also proven effective as over the period, the number of vacancies processed rose from 3765 in 2010 -11 to 5299 in 2011-12, and the number of Job Shop vacancies also increased.

University

The CDC works in partnership across the institution to achieve wider strategic goals. CDC undertook the destination of leavers from higher education (DLHE) survey on behalf of the university looking at what Stirling’s graduates were doing 6 months after graduation, achieving an 82% response rate. The service participated in the Personal Development Planning and Key Information Sets working group and contributed to induction and open days.

On behalf of the university the Joint Heads of CDC consulted widely with all stakeholders to enable the creation of a new Employability Strategy.

Summary of Achievements & Reflections 2011-2012 Review of Careers Education, Information,

Advice and Guidance (CEIAG)

“Helped with a few links and

ideas that I hadn’t heard of.

Obviously clued in and at the

top of their game”

Careers Guidance

Objectives In this key area of work the CDC aims to guide clients through the process of career planning, enabling them to make informed decisions about their future, and to take responsibility for the management of their career by offering individual high quality, impartial, careers guidance from experienced and relevantly qualified staff at a time and in a way this is appropriate to all clients. The CDC offers hour long guidance appointments, e-guidance and short drop in sessions.

Achievements In this period: Student feedback on their experience of guidance was overwhelmingly positive

Further developed the use of Talking Mats as a guidance toolkit

Further developed the peer support system for Careers Advisers

Produced take away documentation that summarised interviews for students

Developed a new questionnaire to look at the impact of 1:1 interactions

Feedback found that 90.4% of students found the guidance helpful and 96.4% of students were motivated to carry out actions from their appointment.

Below are a few student views on their experience of guidance:

2010-11 2011-12

Guidance 247 235

Drop In 789 750

E-Guidance 110 104

Total 1146 1089

Comparative Figures for 1:1 Work

“Got the next steps sorted out, also

able to put my points across which

helped steer the appointment but

the guidance and listening were

well mixed”

Careers Education: Accredited Modules Objectives The CDC aims to enable Stirling students to enhance their career management skills and employability through a comprehensive range of careers education activities. Students are offered the chance to pursue credit-bearing career management skills, and/or work experience modules to complement their degree programme and individual circumstances.

Achievements Developed and launched an online half module that focuses on successful applications and

interviews

Developed placement based modules in partnership with law, journalism and sport studies

Reviewed and updated assessment methods across all the modules

Increased input from employers to module sessions

Redesigned the Succeed template

Accredited Modules 2010-11 2011-12

Active Learning in the Community Generic Module 11 25

Active Learning in the Community Social Work Module 22 15

Career Management Skills Modules 192 182

International Summer School Internship Module 4 4

Total 229 226

The placement students have been enthusiastic, reliable

and professional in their roles and it has been an enjoyable

experience being their mentor. PLUS’s involvement with

the ALC placements has also built good links with the

Career Development Centre who have been actively

promoting volunteering opportunities to students which

has been a real benefit of being involved.

Steph Millar, PLUS

Interviews and assessment

centres sessions gave insight

into future experiences

Feedback from students and opportunity providers on module delivery and impact was consistently positive, as illustrated by these quotes:

Careers Education: Non accredited Objectives

The CDC aims to provide a series of one-off, centrally-delivered careers education sessions and events aimed at both undergraduates and postgraduates. These sessions offer students an opportunity to engage in career planning, job hunting activities and the exploration of further study, enterprise and work experience.

Achievements The School team delivered a diverse range of workshops and events in 2011-2012

‘This is your Life’ evening event was delivered in the spring semester. It was aimed at networking employers with students and encouraged students to consider their career options and maximise the student experience (Table 4).

The confidence building programme ‘Lift Off’ was delivered, offering students coaching in confidence building for the job market. Feedback and impact was very positive with 14 students successfully completing the programme. One student on the programme reflected, “The classes have increased my confidence and I find it easier to deal with uncomfortable situations.”

Work Fest ran in autumn 2011, with the School team contributing to the organisation, delivery and marketing of this successful and now annual event.

CDC staff worked with the Research and Enterprise Office to promote and deliver events for research students and staff, such as CV workshops, CV clinics and attendance at induction events.

CDC placed 18 students into local primary and secondary schools to gain experience as part of the Insight into Teaching programme.

Table 3

Some employer quotes on taking part in CDC events:

Careers Workshops 2010-11 2011-12

32 23

This is your Life Event 2010-11 2011-12

Employers Attending 18 25

Students Attending 163 256

“The careers fair was well-

planned, thought out and

executed”

“The event was a great opportunity

to let students know about our

internships and our organisation. It

was also a great opportunity to make

links with University staff regarding

work experience placements for

students”

Table 4

Careers Education: Schools Objectives The CDC endeavour to support the development of graduate attributes and employability through subject-based careers education. During session 2011-2012, the CDC worked with Schools to deliver careers education embedded in, and alongside the curriculum and explored improved ways of working with the new structure. The CDC aim to ensure parity of service across the University.

Achievements The delivery of work with all departments increased in session 2011-2012, with higher numbers of

workshops and talks delivered in subject areas (table 5) Collaborative Agreements outlining the work undertaken with schools and the menu of CDC

services available to each School were introduced All members of staff in the School Team met with contacts in Schools to plan and programme

workshops, events and introductory talks for 2011-2012 High numbers of students attended both department and core careers education workshops (Table

6)

Table 5

Table 6

Workshops in Schools 2010-11 2011-12

58 83

Careers Education Student Attendance 2010-11 2011-12

Students Attending 2076 4315

Objectives Through information work the CDC aims to provide access to a wide range of quality information, which can help clients using the services identify appropriate career and personal development opportunities. The goal is to effectively promote the use of all resources through signposting and publicity and to ensure the CDC stock of information is impartial, current, and relevant to the needs of the user. In addition, the CDC aims to provide access to information on a wide range of career, further study, training, employment, and personal development opportunities and to continually develop the use of ICT within the Career Development Centre.

Achievements Organised a range of presentations and events, including: Insight into Careers in the

Environmental and Renewables sector. This event attracted 66 participants from all student years. Speakers included representatives of WSP Future Energy, Scottish Natural Heritage, Caledonian Environment Centre and Scottish Environmental and Protection Agency

The number of careers information events and students attending increased in this period (Table 7)

The student experience of the information room provision continues to remain positive Career Development Centre Facebook presence (www.facebook.com/cdcstirling) grew in

popularity throughout the academic year, with more and more students subscribing to receive regular updates on careers information and opportunities (Table 8)

Developed and promoted ‘Making the Most of University’ and ‘The Confidence Builders’, videos, with input from the Student Union, academics and societies to go with our ‘ Introduction to the Career Development Centre’ and the ‘Putting your CV together’‘ videos www.youtube.stir.ac.uk/cdcstirling

Supported wider University activities including the Postgraduate Fair, the Open and Applicant Days

The CDC online presence grew with the portfolio of blogs continuing to develop (Table 9) Website figures are down on session 2010-11 .As predicted in previous year’s report there has

been an increase in the number of users accessing our site on mobile devices, a trend we predict will continue (Table 11).

Continued integration and deployment of the Prospects Net (events and vacancy system) saw the number student registrations grow and the number of pages visited more than doubled to nearly 90,000 .

Table 7

Table 8

Careers Information

Career Information Events 2010-11 2011-12

Careers Events 18 19

Student Attendance 285 453

Facebook 2010-11 2011-12

General CDC 158 661

Grad Club - 91

Blogs in 2011-12 Views Followers Posts

International Students 741 2 30

Grad Club 1054 10 54

Table 9

Twitter Followers Posts

@CDCStirling 741 741

Table 10

Career Website Usage 2010-11 2011-12

Visits 35,764 30,696

Unique Visitors 18,798 17,804

Page Views 100,749 86,579

Pages per visit 2.82 2.82

Average time on site 2:14 2:30

Percentage of New Visits 48.72% 55.31%

Table 11

Review of Employer Engagement

Objectives The key goal in this area of work is strong relationship management with employers and opportunity providers, to generate a range of employment opportunities for students and graduates and to engage employers in employability related activities on campus. The CDC aim to continually develop effective working relationships and partnerships with local, national and international employers through visits to employer premises by the CDC members of staff, and provide an opportunity for employers to meet and recruit Stirling students. In addition, we strive to facilitate the exchange of information between employers and Schools, and identify placement opportunities for our students. The CDC provide employers with the means of advertising their vacancies online at no cost, and work hard to ensure the CDC are kept up to date on labour market trends.

Achievements: The employer team has strived to increase employer engagement through its strategic approach during the session 2011 -12. With continued limited resource for employer related activity, this part of the CDC work has demanded careful allocation of the team’s time in order to maximise employer engagement with our students. The results were: Emphasis on relationship management with around 30 employers and professional bodies who

regularly engage with the CDC (including Alliance Trust, ACCA, CIMA, CIPFA, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, HSBC, ICAS, Morgan Stanley, PWC, RBS, Standard Life, and many local small to medium enterprises (SMEs), public sector, and voluntary sector organisations).

A focus on continuing to make new employer contacts in sectors the Scottish Government have

been keen to promote (including financial services) and building links with SMEs. The second year of delivery of ‘Work Fest’, the month long festival of employer led events held on

campus before the autumn mid-semester break. The timescale enabled focused advertising of employer events within a limited budget, and helped create high student attendance at events, particularly the evening events (ICAS Chartered Accountancy Evening, Financial Services Evening and Work Experience evening) and careers forums (on how to get into different job areas, including IT, Social Care, Retail, and International Development and the Charity Sector). (Table 12)

Organising a subsidised bus to both the SECC Graduate Fair in October 2011 and the Edinburgh

Graduate Recruitment Fair in May 2012. This enabled students to speak to a wide range of organisations, many of whom would not have attended a whole day careers fair at the University of Stirling due to the size of our institution and reduced employer recruitment budgets.

The successful delivery of our ‘This is Your Life’ evening session, focusing on options still available for earlier years students (particularly 2nd and 3rd year) in the spring semester. 30 organisations attended from a variety of commercial, public sector, and voluntary sector organisations. Over 350 students attended the event, through collaborative working with the CDC division team and help with the marketing of the event to students through their contacts within individual schools. (Table 13)

Table 12

Employer Participating in Work Fest 2011-2012

ACCA Jet Teaching in Japan Standard Life

Alliance Trust Morgan Stanley Stirling District Citizens Advice Bureau

Barclays Capital PwC Stirlingshire Voluntary Enterprise

Bright Green Placements Raleigh International Sporting Chance Initiative

CIMA Scottish Government—Teaching in Scotland

Talent Scotland Placement Programme

CIPFA Scottish Investment Operations Third Sector Internships Scotland (TSIS)

Enterprise Rent-A-Car Scott-Moncrieff Thomas Cook

E-placement Scotland Wild Packs Xchange Scotland

HSBC ICAS YMCA

International Voluntary Service

Employer Participating in This is Your Life Event

AGCAS Work Experience Programme for International Students

International Voluntary Service SURE (Stirling University Research and Enterprise)

AMF Bowling Labels4Kids Schoolhouse

Bright Green Placements Morgan Stanley Stirlingshire Enterprise (STEP)

British Heart Foundation Xchange Scotland BUNAC

Saltire Foundation Talent Scotland Highland & Islands Summer Internships

Business Gateway

Student Union Teaching Projects Abroad Citizens Advice Bureau

Third Sector Internships Scotland (TSIS)

Townbreak Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust

University of Stirling Student Recruitment

Forth Valley Advocacy

Wild Packs Ltd

Table 13

Vacancies processed and advertised by CDC 2010-11 2011-12

Graduate 3116 4607

Part Time 258 345

Work Experience 391 347

Table 14

Organisations offering Volunteering Placements 2011-12

Active Stirling Students Union Home Start

Bannockburn RDA Stenhousemuir Football Club PLUS

Perth & Kinross Council Scottish Swimming Falkirk Council Social Work Service (Children with Disabilities Team)

RECAP School of Sport Camphill Blair Drummond

Townbreak WISH (Women in Sport & Health) Citizens Advice Bureau

Falkirk District Association for Mental Health (FDAMH)

LMiB

Table 15

Job Shop Objectives The Job Shop aims to be proactive in developing relationships with employers to generate a range of employment opportunities for students. Current and up to date marketing materials are maintained to inform employers and students alike of the services offered by the Job Shop. The main areas of focus for the Job Shop are to:-

Optimise the number of students registered

Optimise the number of vacancies available

Optimise the satisfaction of the students and employers using the service

Achievements

The number of students using the service has increased with 2,407 registered compared to 2,323 in the previous year.

Part time vacancies processed have, despite the difficult economic conditions, increased (up to 345 from 258 the previous year)

Some quotes from employers and students who used the Job Shop services:-

“I was very pleased with the efficient

service from the Job Shop, which led to us

taking on two students with which we are

more than pleased. The service also

provided the opportunity to access

students from a relevant discipline.”

Duncan Macleod MD You Train

“The visit to the Job fair and

subsequent use of the Job Shop has

exceeded all our expectations, we

would be happy to use the service

again”.

Dougie Gillespie, Thomas Cook

“The job I found through the Job

Shop has given me experience of

working in recruitment and in an

office environment which has been

brilliant. I’m sure it will help me to

get a great job when I graduate.”

Katy Kibson 3rd year

Human Resource Management

The university’s commitment to enhancing student employability is demonstrated by the institution’s ambitious strategic goal of achieving a graduate employment rate of 85%, and also the approval of a new Employability Strategy . Schools are also increasingly keen to work in partnership with the Career Development Centre to look at how their student’s employability can be enhanced. This is in line with on-going enhancement themes, research findings and government policy and direction.

Externally, however, the graduate market remains competitive with the continuation of the economic downturn. As a result the CDC will continue to work to engage employers of all sizes to create as many opportunities for Stirling students as possible. We will also continue to engage as creatively as possible with the student body, providing a range of curricular, co and extracurricular opportunities for them to grow and build their career plans and employability throughout their time at Stirling. We will also need to work effectively with partners across the institution.

Working towards 85% of our graduates being in graduate level employment six months after graduation will take a whole institutional effort and the CDC will play an important role over 2012-13 in seeing the first phase of the Employability Strategy implemented.

Challenges and Solutions for Session 2012-2013

Career Development Centre

(CDC)

Employer Team

Careers Information Team

Accredited Teaching Team

School Team

Learning to work 2—

Making the Most of

Masters

Processing vacancies

Employer engagement

Job Shop

Active Learning

Placements

Work Fest

Delivery of Careers

Education in Schools

Joint Schools/CDC

events

Employer engagement

Skills Development:-

Insight into

teaching

Student

Leadership

Programme

Coach

Development

Programme

Confidence

Building

Maintain and develop

information room and

on line resources

Market the service and

events

Deliver events

Develop the use of

social media and

Succeed to further

engage students

Develop subject based

resources

Prepare, deliver, assess

and review modules in

career management

skills face to face and

online

Prepare, deliver, assess

and review work

experience modules

Work in partnership

with Schools to develop

credit bearing modules

Structure of the Career Development Centre

Pam Crawford / Lesley Grayburn

Joint Head of Service

Career Development Centre

Room 3A1 Cottrell Building

University of Stirling

01786 467070

pamela.crawford@stir.ac.uk

lesley.grayburn@stir.ac.uk

www.careers.stir.ac.uk