MG410 Career Viewpoint

This module attempts to make sustainable employability strategies explicitly aiming to equip the students with a range of tools for assessing their own skills and developing their abilities to manage their careers.

Increasingly, not least because of the rising costs of undertaking a degree, students are measuring the worth of their degree upon their increased employability prospects. For many years this has been implicit within a degree with the focus being on subject specific content rather than the emotional intelligence which underpins employability.

1. Ensure students start developing their “exit strategy” from University into a career from Year One

2. Ensure all students are capable of securing internships after the completion of Year One

3. Ensure students understand the need to develop sustainable employability skills

o The world of work and the skills requirements

o What employers want

o How to construct an effective job search in the area of interest

• Soft skills:

o Self-reflection of soft skills

o Emotional intelligence analysis

• Personal development:

o CV development

oDevelopment of LinkedIn profile

o Transferable Skills Audit

o Personal SWOT Analysis

o Personal Gap analysis

Students will be taught via joint core lectures followed by seminars in programme groups (e.g. marketing, finance, HR students) via a combination of workshops and guest presentations from industry professionals and the University’s Career Service. Joint lectures will be given where appropriate and relevant to all the student cohorts. Subject specific lectures/guest presentations, e.g. from members of the CMI, will be offered to specific groups of students.

Students will be tasked with a range of activities during the tutorial sessions such as personality and aptitude testing, which will raise their self-awareness of their skills and attributes. They will be required to undertake a range of tests in order to begin to understand their own attributes, skills and competencies.

The weekly sessions are interactive. Students are expected to familiarise themselves with relevant material in advance to ensure a meaningful contribution. Lecture notes, reading and presentation materials will be made available on the VLE to facilitate such familiarisation

Students will be required to undertake 2 formally assessed assignments.

CW1 is a written report analysing the nature of their industry/industry sector together with the skills and competencies necessary for employment. This will involve an active piece of research accessing labour market statistics.

CW2 will build on the students’ industry audit by requiring them to look at their own strengths and development needs by undertaking a gap analysis. This last assignment will also require the students to produce a CV and LinkedIn profile, which can be used to secure summer work or an internship.