Career Choice and Employability Skills Development

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Career Development and Employment Service
AC2E02C Management Accounting for Control

• Career Choice and Employability Skills
  Development
• Neelam Thapar n.thapar_at_londonmet.ac.uk
• Careers Adviser

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LECTURE OUTCOMES

• An understanding of career choice and graduate
  labour market information
• Able to identify what skills you have and know
  how to enhance these skills and your experience
• Recognise the different ways of finding job
  vacancies
• Realise what it is that graduate employers are
  seeking from applicants

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Examining Career Choice

• Career choice can be dependent on many elements.
  For example
• Location
• Travel opportunities
• Well known company
• Training and further qualifications
• Working with people you like and can socialise
  with to others that does not matter at all.
• Your values i.e. how important is money? And as
  opposed to family, friends, a social life, etc

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Examining Career Choice

• To help plan for your futures, Career Models can
  be practically useful - a good
• theory enables people to derive answers to many
  questions, e.g.
• how are preferences for occupations developed?
• What interventions are needed to help make sound
  career decisions, etc.

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• Some career theories (trait and factor) can help
  match skills and interests to jobs, but jobs
  and people can be more complex than this
• Other theories examine how different life stages
  can influence career choice
• Career choices can be influenced by community
  i.e. family, peers, role models, social groups
  (gender, class, ethnicity, age, disability, etc.)

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• In Universities, Careers Services use the DOTS
  model (Law and Watts 1977)
• D decision making
• O opportunity awareness
• T transitions
• S self awareness
• Starting with self awareness, opportunity
  awareness, decision making, transitions

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A process for personal, career academic
development
Where am I now?
Where do I want to be? Where do I need to be?
Review and development.
How do I get there?
Getting there.
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• People approach career management in different
  ways - some may send off applications without
  thinking about how the labour market is changing
• The more you are informed and prepared, the more
  successful you will be

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Be Prepared Forces of Change

• Politics
• Globalisation
• Communication
• Competition
• Demographics
• Education
• Technology

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Be prepared Organisational change

• De-layering
• Outsourcing
• Customer focus
• International operations
• Use of IT

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Career Buzz Words

• Career Management Skillsis a process that allows
  you to develop knowledge and skills to affect
  personal and career change in response to the
  developments in the world of work and society.
• Employability how individuals engage with
  opportunities and develop, reflect and articulate
  their skills and experience (AGR 2002)

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Cycle of Skills Recording
What have I achieved?
Where am I going?
Where am I now?
Reflect on current position
Evaluate and Review
Plan development goals
Record achievements
Determine skills required
Where am I now?
Where am I going?
What have I achieved?
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Personal Development Portfolio

• PDP is where you
• Review your skills
• Identify your strengths and weaknesses
• Provide evidence of how you have developed skills
  and experience
• Plan for the future and set new targets
• It is not sufficient simply to have an
  experience in order to learn. Without reflecting
  upon this experience it may quickly be
  forgotten (Graham Gibbs 1988)

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Ideas for your PDP

• Document examples of activities that you have
  undertaken over semesters
• Describe the activities that you have undertaken
• Comment on the learning gained from the activity
• Reflect on how you might have done things
  differently in future
• - This process is relevant to when you apply for
  jobs in the future reflecting on and describing
  your university learning, experience of work,
  extra curricular activities and the skills you
  have developed and the context in which these
  skills were gained

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Using Graduate Labour Market Information for
Career Planning
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What is LMI?

• Labour Market Information
• Any information about the structure and working
  of a labour market and any factors likely to
  influence the structure and working of that
  market, including
• Jobs available
• People to do those jobs
• Changes in the business environment
• Politics

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LMI is

• 3 main elements
• The demand side
• Jobs available
• In which industries
• Regional location
• Part time/full time
• Permanent/temporary

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LMI is.

• The supply side
• people to do the jobs available.
• with the relevant skills and qualifications
• Workforce composition gender, age, ethnicity,
  disability

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LMI is

• External forces issues and influences affecting
  the labour market
• - Legislation eg. Minimum wage, discrimination,
• - Economy public spending, world events e.g.
  9/11, war, Katrina
• - Government policy e.g. widening participation
  in HE

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London Labour Market

• 4.5 million jobs
• 350,000 organisations
• Biggest sector - business and professional
  service (architecture, advertising, legal, market
  research) 700,000
• Second biggest - financial (banking, insurance,
  pensions) 300,000
• Declining manufacturing
• www.guidance-research.org/future-trends

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London Labour Market

• Large companies (over 500 staff)
• 700 in total only 0.2
• Majority of London companies are small medium
  enterprises (SMEs), employing less than 250 people

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Predicted top 3 industrial areas for graduate
recruitment for 2007

• 1) Accountancy and professional services 23
• 2) Banking and financial services 12.2
• 3) Engineering and industrial companies 9.3

Association of Graduate Recruiters 2007
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Graduate Employment

• 75.8 of employers primarily look for
  transferable skills.
• Where a degree discipline is wanted, the one most
  in demand is engineering technology
• Graduate Prospects

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Options ...

• Chartered Accountant
• Chartered Certified Accountant
• Chartered Management Accountant
• Chartered Public Finance Accountant
• Banking, Tax, Insurance, Trading, Financial
  Services, etc.
• IT
• Marketing
• HR
• Business administration
• AND MANY, MANY, MANY MORE

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Graduate Salaries - predictions

• For 2007
• National averages 23,024 - prediction from
  Prospects23,431 - prediction for 2006 from
  AGR- a 2.1 increase from 2006

Graduate Vacancies - predictions

• For 2007
• 5.2 on 2006

Graduate Prospects, Association of Graduate
Recruiters
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Average starting salaries for 2006 graduates

• Advertising, marketing PR 20,253
• Finance, insurance and pensions actuarial work
  24,577
• Information technology 20,235
• Management consultancy 22,450

Graduate Prospects
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Where the jobs are

• London the graduate hot spot
• 1 in 7 vacancies are advertised in London
• Strongest growth predicted for SE, NW, NE of
  England and Scotland.

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Recruitment methods

• 33 graduate employers use on-line screening
  tests (skills, numeracy, literacy)
• 78 use final round assessment centres
• 32 accept applications all year round

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What can LMI do for you?

• Assists you in researching and making career
  choices
• Which are the main sectors where London Met
  graduates are employed?
• What are the growth areas in graduate recruitment
  locally and nationally?
• Resources
• www.prospects.ac.uk
• What do graduates do? and How much could I
  earn?
• www.guidance-research.org/future-trends

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First Destination Survey
Feedback from graduatesindicates that they
fail to engage with Careers issues early enough
in their academic programmes. This probably
limits their use of opportunities for personal
and skills development, may restrict their vision
of the career opportunities available and means
that they dont give sufficient time to how to
communicate their skills and aptitudes to
prospective employers. Higher Education Academy
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The most recent labour market information
appears to provide evidence that a degree on its
own, without accompanying work experience,
evidence of achievement, and/or transferable
skills, is not enough. This is true especially
against a backdrop of increasing participation in
Higher Education.. Prospects website, 2007
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What are Employers Looking For?

• Willingness to learn
• Com.
• Dependability/reliability
• Se..-mo..
• T w
• Initiative
• Co.. Aw.
• Co-operation

• Com. skills
• Dr/en.
• Se..-ma..
• Desire to achieve/ motivation
• Pr..-so.. ability

Source Employer Satisfaction Survey, in AGCAS
Making Applications booklet
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Example of a Skill Teamwork

• Working co-operatively towards a common goal
• Contributing your own ideas effectively to the
  group
• Listening to others opinions
• Taking a share of the responsibility
• Being assertive rather than passive or
  aggressive
• Accepting and learning from constructive
  criticism and giving positive constructive
  feedback to others

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Case StudyMoore Stephens

• International Accounting and consultancy company
• Clients in the public sector, IT, New Media and
  Property
• Offices in 33 towns and cities in the UK as well
  as globally. 8th largest company in London
• Recruits for work placements, internships and
  graduate jobs

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How Moore Stephens select

• The application form
• The MS selection morning
• Breakfast with the partners
• Presentations
• Interview
• Office tour
• Team Exercises
• Lunch with the trainees

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How Moore Stephens select

• Can you do the job?
• Communicate effectively
• In writing
• Verbally
• Non-verbally
• Think commercially
• About Moore Stephens
• About the wider world

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Key to Success

• Gaining the experience to help you develop
  transferable skills
• Learning how to communicate the skills to
  employers via the application process
• CV with covering letter
• Application form
• Interview and selection process
• Networking!!

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Developing Skills

• Through previous school and college activities
• Through your home life
• Through your course
• Through vacation and part-time work
• Through a placement
• Through extra curricular activities

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Benefits of Experience - paid, unpaid,
volunteering

• You often need experience in order to get a
  graduate job!!
• Practice for the graduate recruitment process and
  gain evidence of achievement and the skills
  employers look for
• Whether you are suited to working in a large or
  small company, commercial or not-for-profit
  sector
• Get a thorough understanding of a sector,
  organisation or job role and Test-drive a
  specific job without long term commitment
• Become aware of the culture and structure of a
  working environment and reality of every day
  working eg. timekeeping
• The environment and / or location you would like
  to work in
• What you like and dont like doing and are good at

Liz Rhodes, National Council for Work Experience
http//nusonline.co.uk
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Finding Placements/Internships

• Normally focussed on a particular job area
• Placement company may take you back as a
  graduate!
• Can put theory into practice
• Formal placement applications and/or speculative
  applications
• Need to spend time on applications
• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

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Professional Placement Module

• For students, who do not have a compulsory
  placement as part of their degree A minimum of
  5 weeks full time during the summer vacation
  after year 2 or a period which is equivalent to 5
  weeks (25 days) during year 3Placements should
  be related to your course and be at a
  professional level/near graduate level
• This module allows students to gain credits for
  their course from their work placement

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Professional Placement Module

• Students usually work with SMEs, not-for-profit
  and public
• sector organisations. Examples include
• Vertigo Magazine
• Great Ormond Street Hospital
• Knights Solicitors
• Plan-It Event Consultancy Ltd
• BBC
• Gosh PR
• Edward Wilson Primary School
• Somali Education Centre
• Marks Spencer
• Contact Tiffany Platt t.platt_at_londonmet.ac.uk

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Advertised placements and contacts

• www.step.org.uk
• www.work-experience.org
• www.get.hobsons.co.uk
• www.doctorjob.com/WorkExperience
• www.lgcareers.com
• www.eurostage.org

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Career Development Employment Service

• CVs, application forms, covering letters
• Quick careers queries
• Vocational guidance
• Workshops and E guidance
• Information on jobs, careers and employers
• Job vacancies Employment Online"
• Visiting employers-presentations, stands,
  workshops
• Computer-aided guidance
• Psychometric test sessions
• Volunteering

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Employment Online

• Part time work
• Vacation work
• Placements
• Internships
• Graduate jobs
• Jobs by email
• Register online
• www.londonmet.ac.uk/careers/employment

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Volunteering
Put aside preconceptions volunteering is work
experience the act of choosing to be a volunteer
can show greater initiative and
commitment Miles Killingley, Senior Manager,
Executive Education at HSBC Volunteering can be
a great way to develop the skills we look for
when recruiting graduates. Helen Feltham, Marks
and Spencers Director of UK Retail, Human
Resources
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How to find volunteering positions

• Career Development and Employment Service
  http//reach.londonmet.ac.uk
• Look in local papers to find adverts for
  volunteers
• Use a website that advertises volunteering
  opportunities like www.do-it.org.ukwww.timebank.
  co.ukwww.csv.org.ukwww.volunteering.org.ukwww.s
  tudentvol.org.ukhttp//london.timebank.org.uk

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Extra-Curricular Activities

• Volunteering placements
• Part-time work within the university/peer support
• Sports, Music, Drama, etc
• Mentoring
• Skills development

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ERASMUS Programme

• ERASMUS allows you to study or work for 3-12
  months in one of 31 other European countries as
  part of your degree.
• ERASMUS
• Enhances your intercultural skills
• Helps you to gain self-reliance
• Looks good on your CV and can be emphasised in
  job interviews

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ERASMUS Programme

• For further information
• Visit www.londonmet.ac.uk/erasmus
• Contact the Europe Office on
• erasmus_at_londonmet.ac.uk
• or at
• Reception area, Stapleton House
• APPLY BY APRIL 15TH TO TAKE PART IN ONE SEMESTER
  PROGRAMME IN SEPT 2008

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The 4 Ps of Job Searching

• Preparation research jobs and sectors, entry
  routes, labour market, types of employers. Think
  about your motivation, values and skills
• Pro-active think, plan, act, follow-up
• Persistent most job search involves rejection
  keep going learn from feedback
• Patient be realistic about timeframes

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Timing when to start looking

• Graduate programmes and careers fairs from
  October/November of your final year
• Other full time jobs from March/April of final
  year

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Finding Vacancies

• Traditional

• Creative

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Hidden Job Market - The Employers Perspective

• Many employers do not have a huge budget for
  graduate recruitment
• Many employers do not have the time or resources
  to sift through hundreds of CVs or application
  forms

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Employers May Favour

• Putting the onus on graduates to come and find
  them
• Self-selection by graduates

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Web 2.0 Hints and Tips

• Employers to increase use of social networking
  sites for recruitment
• Examples of employers with FB profiles include
  Ernst Young and KPMG
• Think about the content of your own Profile
• how much personal information is on show?
• - would the content cause embarrassment or
  offence?

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Recruitment Agencies

• Some are general many are industry/sector
  specific
• Select according to individual need
• Agencies have a different approach to CVs and
  many provide their own template
• Some agencies use application forms for
  registration purposes
• Many administer tests e.g. psychometric, word
  processing, literacy and numeracy
• Follow up on progress it helps to remind them
  that you are still looking

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Speculative Approach

• You are not responding to a known vacancy, but
  rather trying to create an opportunity for
  yourself.
• Need to research companies to which you are
  applying use the internet, trade/specialist
  press, business papers to make targeted
  applications
• Use job descriptions/person specifications from
  previous job adverts or look at the information
  on specific jobs at www.prospects.ac.uk to help
  write your cover letters

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www.prospects.ac.uk
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Making the Most of Your contacts by networking

• Who can you ask for help?
• Do not be afraid to ask!
• Develop and use contacts through
  jobs/placement/career fairs/career events
• Use university lecturers
• Use alumni

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Conclusion

• You will already have many skills and abilities
  that employers will value
• You will further develop these and learn
  additional ones whilst at university
• Work experience and/or volunteering are vital
• Learning how to communicate your abilities to
  employers is essential
• Use the resources that the university provides to
  get ahead in the job market Research/Preparation
  
• Develop an Action Plan and record this in your PDP