Preparing for Graduate Employment: A Guide to Identifying Key Skills and Trends in the Job Market

Assignment task
This assignment involves preparing a report to demonstrate an awareness of the knowledge, skills and experience required by a recent graduate to enter a chosen area of graduate employment. The report will be 1500 words

This assignment has been designed to provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate your achievement of the following module learning outcomes:
LO 2 Define and contextualise employability for graduates in relation to their own career;
LO 3 Gather and analyse relevant career and labour market information

Task requirements
OVERVIEW
Prepare a report demonstrating an awareness of the knowledge, skills and experience required by a recent graduate to enter a chosen area of graduate employment. The research required to prepare the report will support you in your future career planning and decisions. This report will provide the basis of the
information for your self-reflection and career action plan report – CW2 A)

THE TASK – WHAT YOU ARE BEING ASKED TO DO
You are required to identity an area of graduate employment that you would consider for when you leave university. This could be EITHER a profession (for example marketing/Finance/Accounting/HR) OR an industry you are interested in (for example retail, sports & leisure, public sector, not-for-profit, travel and tourism.) Your research should be either in an area you aspire to work within or maybe an area that you want to understand more about.

Your research in your chosen profession/industry should include likely future trends in graduate recruitment, and should equip you with the knowledge to write a summary of the key skills, knowledge and experience expected from graduate applicants. You are encouraged to use both primary and secondary research for this assignment. Primary research might include attending events run by the careers team, and/or events run by the professional bodies, or else through personal contacts. It might also include information from the guest lecturers for the module. You could consider talking to managers at work, if you have a parttime role, or else friends and family to enhance your understanding. Include in the appendix a
log detailing who you contacted for primary research.

Having identified the profession/industry, you are then required to identify one current job being advertised that you would be interested in applying for in the future. This will form the basis of the second assignment. The advert should appear as an appendix, which you should refer to as necessary within your report. It is important that this is a graduate level job, and not one for an individual with many years’ experience.

B) THE REPORT – WHAT YOU ARE BEING ASKED TO SUBMIT
You are required to submit a written report of 1500 words. It is suggested that you use the headings shown in this briefing or you may use your own headings; what is important is that you clearly cover all areas outlined below.

The report should include the following sections:

INTRODUCTION - Provide a brief paragraph outlining the aims of the report and what profession/industry your assignment will cover. As this is your reflection, this section can be in the 1st person.

Analysis and Application- This section of the report should be as a factual reflection of the findings from the profession/industry you have chosen to research. You need to consider both primary and secondary research for this section. This section should be written in the 3rd person and should include the key information regarding this profession/industry in terms of:

General trends which will impact on your chosen profession/industry. What changes are happening in your chosen profession/industry which might impact on the jobs you apply for and the skills and knowledge you will need. Consider the impact of globalisation and technology for example. This section will be based on your secondary research but might also include comments or views from anyone you interview for your primary research.

The skills / knowledge and experience required – Using information from secondary research, relevant professional bodies, and relevant job advertisements, provide a summary based on your research of the key skills / knowledge and experience expected from an applicant at this stage in their career. Again, this might be supported by your primary research. You should aim for at least 5 personal skills and 2 areas of knowledge and expertise.