Careers Centre Services to Faculties: Translating Graduate Attributes into Employability
Introduction
Background
Modules
Service Level Agreements
Introduction
The University’s Careers Centre has embarked on a project, in addition to its centralised operations, to bring its services directly to interested Faculties with the intention of forming “service level agreements”.
These will be based on a series of modules aimed at raising student awareness of the generic graduate attributes they have developed during their university experience and translating these into employability outcomes: Lifelong Career Management Skills.
The Careers Centre sees itself in a unique position to assist faculties in meeting their Graduate Attributes Policy obligations. It maintains strong industry links with the major graduate recruiters and employs staff with high level professional expertise in this field.
For further information please contact:
Nitsa Athanassopoulos
Career Development Manager
Ph: (02) 9351 3481
Background
As the trend requiring the University sector to focus more closely on graduate attributes and employability outcomes of its students increases, and as fees begin to rise, the Careers Centre believes that it is in an excellent position to play a key role for Faculties - in the middle ground between the development of graduate attributes such as ‘Lifelong Learning’ and the translation of these into employability outcomes such as the effective use of research and information skills, self reflection and professional understanding, and the full range of communication skills.
Our aim is to develop self awareness around personal and academic skills and to help identify those skills required in the graduate labour force; in short, Career Management Skills.
The success of these may then reflected in measures such as the annual Graduate Destination Survey which is often used as an indicator of a course’s marketability.
Modules
| Module | Topic | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Module1 | Skills Assessment, Graduate Attributes and the Job Search | Pdf attached |
| Module2 | Writing Job Applications and CVs | Pdf attached |
| Module3 | Job Interview skills and Professional Presentation Skills |
Pdf attached |
Students attending all 3 modules are awarded a Careers Skills Certificate of Attendance. (Feedback indicates that this is an incentive to attend all modules.)
Please note that these modules form a sequence of learning. In recognition that available time may be an issue, these modules can be condensed on negotiation with the Careers Centre
Where possible and if requested the Careers Centre will invite an industry representative to attend the modules. Student feedback indicates that the ‘real world‘ experience that these representatives bring is extremely useful.
| Other modules available include |
|---|
| How to find Work Experience/ Vacation Work |
| Effective Job Search and Communication Skills for International Students |
| Mock Interview Practice |
| Career Decision Making |
| Preparing for Careers Fairs |
|
Ethical, Social and Professional Understanding |
Service Level Agreements
It is hoped that these “service level agreements” can become a formal collaboration or contract- whereby the Careers Centre will agree to provide certain services to the Faculty in return for their support. It is envisaged that this contract will look something like the following
| The Careers Centre will | The Faculty will |
|---|---|
| Provide the Faculty with an annual presentation of the Graduate Destination Statistics of their students (those who have graduated in the previous year) and statistics on Careers Centre usage by their students for the previous year. |
Attend an annual meeting with the Careers Centre (presentation of the Graduate Destination Statistics, review of previous year's service usage, forward plans for coming year). |
|
Develop careers web pages specific to the faculty.
|
Provide a direct weblink to the Careers Centre’s relevant faculty web pages. Actively publicise the careers services and events to their students. |
|
Run a series of modules in Careers Management Skills (see above). These will primarily be targeted at students approaching their final year. |
Provide administration of the careers modules including their timing, venue booking, recording of attendance. |
| Liaise between interested employers and faculty staff. | Relevant faculty staff to participate in liaison with employers. |
| Provide a named Career Development Manager as central point of contact between the Faculty and the Careers Centre | Arrange for a contact person (with a decision making capacity) within the Faculty to liaise with the Careers Centre key contact on an ongoing basis. |
| Deliver an ongoing annual evaluation of these services |
