Data Delivers

Tim Goodall and Helen Knowles

Damned figures!

• Workshop aims to “enhance credibility and collaborative experiences between the careers centre and academic departments”

• Using registration data to ascertain “ career readiness” + other national stats to use persuasively and create a relevant & responsive careers programme

Using national and careers centre stats

• DLHE• Careers Registration stats• Careers Centre visit stats• Use at school meetings, away days (Result – faculty

taking more notice of employability issues?)– Issues around validity of stats (see next slide)– Even if not valid, significant etc. these are the stats that

students/parents see on Unistats and our website– How much are the parents/students looking at this

data?

Employability Unistats Figures

• % of students in work/study and ‘professional/managerial’ employment, by degree programme (latest figures taken from our website, Unistats information).

• Students and parents – are they looking at this data? First evidence says yes (Hooley, Mellors-Bourne and Sutton, May 2013, HEFCE)

• Supposedly taken from the 2010-11 and 2011-12 DLHE (refers to students who graduated in July 2011, 6 months after graduation) but do not match our DLHE figures.

Degree % of students in work/study 6 months after finishing

% In a professional/ managerial job at six months

2011 grads 2012 grads 2011 grads 2012 gradsApplied Biology, Biology, Ecology

87% (n=85) 89% 35% (n=45) 45%

Genetics 75% (n=25) 89% 50% (n=120) 45%Zoology 90% (n=30) 75% 45% (n=35) 45%Biochemistry 90% (n= 25) 90% 70% (n=30) 50%Medical Biochemistry

93% (n=70) 90% 70% (n=30) 50%

Biological Sciences

95% (n=25) 95% 75% (n=25) 50%

Careers Registration Statistics Faculty of Biological Sciences Oct 12 v Oct 13All figures are percentages (n = between 600 and 700 per year)

1st Year Middle Year Final Year 2012 2013 2012 2013 2012 2013I am not ready to start thinking about my career yet 11.31 13.95 11.13 3.77 4.37 4.03

I have no ideas yet but want to start thinking 20.52 22.66 18.63 15.78 13.96 13.43

I have some ideas about my career and I am ready to start planning

37.00 35.46 29.49 32.54 30.32 29.70

Decide 68.82 72.09 59.25 52.09 48.66 47.16I have a career in mind and intend to gain relevant work experience

18.42 17.90 24.13 29.05 18.62 19.10

I know what I want to do but not sure how to get there 6.79 4.27 5.09 5.17 5.08 5.82

I want to spend a year gaining experience 1.94 1.64 7.37 8.94 2.54 2.84

Plan 27.14 23.81 36.60 43.16 26.23 27.76I am ready to apply for graduate level/professional opportunities

0.32 0.33 0.67 0.56 7.90 10.45

I am ready to apply for further study 0.81 2.13 1.07 2.23 12.55 10.60I have been applying for opportunities and so far I have not been successful

0.32 0.33 0.40 0.14 0.85 0.60

Compete 1.45 2.79 2.14 2.93 21.30 21.64I have a job, further study or my own business plan confirmed

2.58 1.31 2.01 1.82 3.81 3.43

Publicising events and monitoring publicity

• Bit.ly – monitor use of Twitter, Facebook etc• E-newsletter – most popular things were ‘Next

Steps’ and STARS internship vacancy page. YGRF and general careers page not clicked.

• Show faculty (esp. contributors) the stats for what is popular with students – breaks down fixed ideas of what info students are seeking

Fast track to success

• 2 day event, around the YGRF• Target mainly 3rd year students, a programme

developed with the Careers Centre • Some workshops Employer (or alumni) led • Academics invited • Designed in response to what students say

they want, evidence from a student led survey and from a survey of event registrants.

The rationale to : Fast track to Success

• The 3rd year students had, comparative to current level 1&2, least encouragement to access careers/employability help

• Stats student survey, DHLE & careers registration survey, anecdotal via student member of FEWG

• FBS wanted “compete” aspects to be delivered at least, “decide” workshops included

Other sources of data

• Focus groups• Student surveys (student led!)• Reports from surveys to e.g. Faculty EWG –

e.g. comparing Leeds with competitor institutions.

• Result – new programmes of mock interviews, CV/cover letter assessment etc

Measuring success

• In time, will hopefully show positive indicators that the employability strategies you have applied are working in your faculty

• For example the registration data for Oct 2013 show, particularly for level 2, a reduced % in “decide” compared to Oct 2012.

Making sense of it all

Discussion

How can we use employability data in our faculties/services to develop ideas and inform

our practice?