Information for Academics / Tutors / Pastoral staff
This page is designed to give you the key information you need to direct students to the relevant services to support their career development. We ask you to encourage students to engage with the careers services in order to be fully prepared for their professional life after university. Personal tutorials and pastoral mentoring provide unique opportunities to discuss a student's career plan, and to encourage less engaged students to connect with the Career Zone.
Please don't worry about having to know everything, what we'd like you to be able to do is understand where the student is currently with their career thinking and to signpost to our services in the clearest way possible.
We structure our service around the Career Development Learning model - Reflect, Explore, Focus, Act - more detail can be found on our Career Planning Webpages (currently in development for the new academic year)
Create Your Future is a compulsory employability programme for most first and second year undergraduates, with multiple workshops (both face to face and online) for first years and a single session for second years. The programme is designed to get students thinking about their values and motivations, research potential careers, and how to start taking their first steps towards realising their employment or further study ambitions. Please encourage your students to attend the timetabled workshops and work on the programme's independent activities: academics will be contacted by the CYF team and their employability lead regarding the promotion of the programme, which will take place via lecture drop ins and CYF-supplied promotional slides and info.
For more support and advice on how to have useful careers conversations with students, please read our FAQs page, explore the Career Zone webpages, and come and speak to us at the Career Zones, located in the Forum (Streatham) and Exchange (Penryn). Our main student-facing inbox is careers@exeter.ac.uk.
If you think that a student needs to engage more with the Career Zone, please encourage them to get in touch with us as soon as possible and we can look at prioritising some intervention.
Information for Academic Employability/Module Leads
Employability Academic Lead Information Pack
The link above takes you to your information pack - this pack sets out the role of an employability academic lead, provides information about key employability data and an overview of Career Zone services for students.
Academic Staff with Responsibility for Employability within their departments are encouraged to work closely with their respective Faculty Employability Lead.
The Faculty Employability Leads act as the link between SEAS and the academic departments within the faculty. They serve as the primary contact for academic staff on all matters relating to careers, employability, and placements, offering specialist advice and directing enquiries to the appropriate teams in SEAS.
Resources:
Working closely with Directors of Student Experience and Education (DESEs), designated Employability Academics, and Placement Module Conveners, Faculty Leads plan departmental activities and events throughout the academic year, supported by other professional services teams. They foster strong relationships with both internal and external stakeholders to deliver a diverse and inclusive service for students, supporting the Success for All initiative under the Education Strategy, with the goal of developing ‘Graduates of Distinction’ and enhancing Graduate Outcomes.
Of particular interest to Academic Leads will be our data links for Graduate Outcomes and Careers Registration, as well as upcoming events and catch-up opportunities.
Please help to ensure that all of our students have thought about their career before graduating by signposting as appropriate to the following activity/scheme:
As part of the annual enrolment process each student is asked to complete the Career Registration survey. During this survey students are asked to self-select their career planning stage based on 10 statements:
| Statement | |
|
I’m not ready to start thinking about my career yet |
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| I have no career ideas yet but want to start thinking | |
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I have some ideas about my career and I am ready to start planning |
|
| I have a career in mind and intend to gain relevant work experience | |
| I know what I want to do but I’m not sure how to get there | |
|
I want to spend a year gaining experience |
|
| I am ready to apply for graduate level/professional opportunities | |
| I am ready to apply for further study | |
|
I have been applying for opportunities and so far I have not been successful |
|
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I have already secured a graduate job, postgraduate study/research or business start-up opportunity |
We use this information to design communications and interventions that are most appropriate for students. We also use our data to identify those who may require additional support.
The Careers Registration survey also asks additional questions ranging from their level of work experience to their plans after graduating.
For internal analysis of the latest Careers Registration results, please click here.
In order to support disciplines and faculties with relevant lists of employability skills and attributes we are happy to advise but would also like to point staff towards the following industry-recognised skills and attributes.
- https://www.qaa.ac.uk/the-quality-code/subject-benchmark-statements - QAA Website, contains lists of skills and attributes associated with individual disciplines.
- https://www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/what-can-i-do-with-my-degree - Prospects Website
- University of Exeter MI Hub - where information provided by graduate outcomes and the careers registation survey can support the development of relevant skills and attributes.
We are also working alongside colleagues to embed and promote the use and reflection of skills acquired within the curriculum, through Curriculum 4 Change.