Employability Week 2014

Employability Week 2014Evaluation Report

Purpose

From 3rd to 7th November 2014, the Careers and Employability Service co-ordinated the largest cross-campus week of employability events that the University has held to date. Its aim was to raise awareness about the skills and experience students require to obtain graduate employment and to highlight the services provided at the University of Kent to help them on their way.

Summary

Employability Week 2014 was very successful. More than 5,713 students attended the events, talks and workshops throughout the week and over 110 graduate recruiters were welcomed onto campus. Academic Schools, Professional Services, Kent Union, students and external stakeholders came together to deliver the most ambitious week of employability-focused events the University has provided, totalling 256 hours of activity. Not including the fairs, an average of 22 students attended each event. Students were able to meet graduate employers and volunteering organisations at the Careers Fair (attendance up 50% on 2013) and inaugural Teaching Expo in Canterbury and the Employability Fair in Medway (attendance up 80% on 2013). They could also talk to representatives about post-graduate study options or how to setup their own business.

Events encompassed a wide variety of activities to encourage students to develop their employability skills and awareness including; skills workshops such as presentation techniques, Excel training, developing group skills, commercial awareness, online presence and networking. Graduate employers, alumni and university staff presented on a variety of careers and employability topics.

A few of the many highlights included:

Mock assessment session with Morgan Stanley

Timetabled EDA careers and alumni day

The Internet of Everything - Cisco

IBM sessions in conjunction with the School of Computing and the Centre for American Studies

Careers for linguists in the EU (SECL)

Radio, television, print and online journalism session in Canterbury (Centre for Journalism, Medway)

Q+A for BskyB

Mercedes-Benz UK graduate and industrial placements

Royal engineers museum careers day (School of History)

Unexpected careers - for Students from the Faculty of Social Sciences

Working in the UK for International Students (KBS)

Careers Fair (Canterbury)

Tuesday 4th November 2014, 12pm-3pm, Main Hall and Hall 3 of the Sports Centre

The 2014 annual Careers and Employability Service Careers Fair hosted 110 exhibitors. Due to the increase in size from the previous year the Sports Centre gave approval for the exhibitors brunch to be served on the main hall balcony to give extra space in Hall 3 for stands.

Most exhibitors were located in the Main Hall with 72 stands and the remaining 38 in Hall 3. Exhibitors were arranged into sectors/areas of interest to locate them together in the halls.

Prior to the start of the fair, brunch was served consisting of bacon and sausage baps, fresh fruit platters, pastries, tea and coffee. There were 264 staff representatives attending on behalf of the exhibitors and the brunch was served from 10am until 11:30. Student Helpers were recruited to ensure a smooth flow of people collecting on the balcony. Representatives from employability partners such as Employability Points and Kent Business School were invited to meet exhibitors before the main event began.

The fair opened at midday and closed at 3pm. There was a steady flow of students for the whole three hours. Many exhibitors commented on how good the pace and flow of students was and that they were busy for the duration of the fair.

Feedback from students attending the Careers Fair

The 2014 Careers Fair was attended by 2,712 students, an increase of 50% on 2013 (1,813).

Students were asked to take part in a survey on exit from the Careers Fair and 56 students did so. Of those 57% were from the Faculty of Social Sciences, 23% from the Faculty of Sciences and 20% from the Faculty of Humanities.

Students were asked how they heard about the events:

41% heard about it via emails sent to them,

23% discovered the careers fair due to a combination of the various methods of marketing,

13% found out from students handing out information,

11% learned about it by word of mouth,

7% via the web, and

5% from staff members.

Students were also asked if the event helped them make a career decision:

63% felt that it had,

16% believed it to be too early for their particular circumstances,

14% responded that it did not aid their career choice,

7% already knew what they wanted to do.

All students surveyed, bar 6 who made no comment, had positive comments about how approachable employers were, how helpful staff were, how well organised, informative and laid out the event was with a good variety of employers and how the event exceeded their expectations.

7 students made a request for more employers and for the Careers Fair to take place over a longer period of time.

Quotes from students

Broad variety of employers, worth time spent 2nd year Business student

Lots of information about the next steps 3rd year Business Management student

Opened my eyes to other routes 3rd year Biomedical Science student

Very informative, exhibitors were approachable 1st year English Language and Literature student

Feedback from employers attending the Careers FairExhibitor participation in other engagement activities:

82% would like to give a presentation or interactive skills workshop to students52% would like to offer placements/work experience48% would like to write a blog for http://unikentemploy.wordpress.com

Action: CES will follow up on offers from employers and organisations who would like to engage with students at the University.

Some highlights from exhibitors that attended the Careers Fair:

It is the best career fair we have attended so far! The students were very keen and we got 3-4 times as many contact details than any other career fair.

The standard of questions, the preparation from students and the diverse range of subject areas was excellent. We were incredibly busy for most of the event and the interaction was excellent.

The calibre of your students was genuinely impressive. They were engaging and came across focused with what they wanted to achieve.

Students were very forthcoming and interested to find out more about the opportunities available. We interacted with students from a variety of degree disciplines.

The Kent Careers Fair is the best one I've attended to date.

Having so many students prepared to ask in-depth questions about opportunities rather than generic questions on what opportunities we may have.

The number of students and employers attending!

Great welcoming. Very busy fair. Constantly speaking with students.

Really appreciated the food and refreshments before the fair!

Meeting and interacting with the University of Kent students. Absolute delight.

The high quality of informed questions from students who were prepared, engaged and interested.

The whole day was just brilliant. We left there feeling accomplished and excited!

Talking to students who actually engage with the role and the company. Have questions that are not just the standard 'what do you do?'

We had so much interest that we ran out of brochures! (That plus the fact that we had our free brunch before starting to fuel us through).

Much better than the other grad fairs we have been to. [Some are] just a shambles. Kent's fair on the other hand was well spaced and our location was perfect (for me being next to the door I liked having the fresh air!). 10/10 for space and location.

We enjoyed engaging with such a variety of people, and it was great to meet people from outside our Computer Science bubble.

The number of students in attendance was impressive.

Good feeling throughout and busy with quality enquirers.

Improvements made to 2014 Careers Fair based on feedback from 2013:

Exhibitor floor plan featured in Employability Week programme 10,000 copies printed.

Table included in the booklet to show students what exhibitors are offering and which disciplines they are recruiting from.

Networking element removed from brunch. This gave valuable time to Academic Schools and exhibitors who wanted to deliver sessions or workshops to students on the day.

Provided academics and employability staff with a publicity PowerPoint slide (used in weeks 4-6 inclusive).

Simpler two-tiered pricing system (With/Without power, WiFI for all).

Shorter employer questionnaire for employers to complete on their own via Survey Monkey

Bottled water at every stand rather than in separate hall. Student Helpers ensured exhibitors were well provided for.

EMS provided 40 tablecloths (some companies brought their own).

No CV zone popular in 2013 but created a diversion with students getting CV feedback instead of using the opportunity to speak to employers. CES increased pop-ups around campus in the weeks leading up to the Fair and promoted CES drop-in. In the weeks leading up to Employability Week almost 500 students attended the CV drop service at CES. In addition, CES staff talked to 2,610 students through pop-up events around campus in that same period to ensure students prepared for events during Employability Week, including getting CV feedback.

Arranged for photographer to capture events during the entire week as well as at the Careers Fair.

Teaching Expo (Canterbury)

Wednesday 6th November 2014, 10:00am-3:00pm, Darwin Conference Suite

As the routes into teaching are often confusing for those interested, this event aimed to provide students with access to a range of different Teacher Training providers all showcasing their particular training pathway.

In partnership with Teach First, the inaugural Teaching Expo saw the opportunity for students to meet with schools, teaching alliances, professional bodies and education providers, and find out about the differences between school-based and university-based options. The event ran from 10am until 3pm in Darwin Conference Suite and held 21 stands as well as the chance for providers to deliver a 10 minute presentation to students at slots between either 11am-12noon and 1pm-2pm. Lunch was provided to exhibitors as well as refreshments throughout the day.

The Expo was attended by 153 students. Individual student attendance was only recorded for the talks which made up 10% of the overall attendance number; half of those students came from the Faculty of Humanities and the other half from the Faculty of Sciences.

Students were asked to take part in a survey on exit from the Teaching Expo; 35(22%) of the 153 attending took part. Of those:

49% were from the Faculty of Humanities,

29% Faculty of Sciences,

23% Faculty of Social Sciences,

31% were in their 3rd year of study,

26% were in their 1st year,

17% were postgraduate students,

The rest were 2nd (14%) and 4th (11%) years.

The majority of students attending heard about the event via email (57%), 26% found out from students handing out information and the rest was a combination of the two methods of marketing.

The following responses were captured:

All students responded that it had helped them make a career decision,

All students surveyed felt that it was a positive experience,

3 students commented that they had missed the talks due to their lectures.

Kent Opportunities Fair (Canterbury)

Thursday 6th November 2014, 12pm-3pm, Darwin Conference Suite

This event provided students with an opportunity to find out about the many different employability initiatives they can get involved with whilst studying at the University of Kent.

Representatives were available to speak to students from:

50th Anniversary Ambassadors

Academic Peer Mentoring

B-KEW (Work Experience Bursary)

Cambridge English

Careers Employability Award

CELTA

Development Fund

Employability Points Scheme

Global Skills Award

Go Abroad

Green Impact

Jobshop

Kent Union - Student Advice Centre

Kent Extra

Kent Experiences of Work (KEW)

Kent Union - Volunteering

Kent Union - Human Resources

KEW-NET Mentoring

Language Express

Learning and Development

MyFolio

Placements

Student Ambassador Scheme

Student Enterprise

Student Learning Advisory Service

24% of participating respondents to the 2014 Employability Week Student Feedback Survey attended the Kent Opportunities Fair. When split by campus: 24% of Canterbury respondents attended, 18% of Medway respondents attended. 89% of students attending the Kent Opportunities Fair were undergraduate, 11% were postgraduate (PGT 9%, PGR 2%)

Attendance at the Kent Opportunities Fair in Darwin Conference Suite was 163 students (less last years event held in Eliot Hall). 83% attending the Kent Opportunities Fair agreed that the event was useful.

Comments from students who completed the survey:

Well organised.

I would highly recommend all students to attend in the future.

The small workshop on what might happen in assessment centres was fun and useful.

The advice given was very useful.

I had a great time talking to a representative from the SLAS and the internships, both of them gave me very useful tips in terms of the things that the university offers (e.g. internship bursaries, workshops), and they really took the time to talk to me and give me specific information that was useful for me personally.

This was extremely useful to get a good idea of what career directions are available to me.

It was in a really hidden location so not many people were there

Employability Week: What worked well

The Marquee a useful and flexible venue. It was a good size at 100 seats and a useful venue for planning ahead and reserving slots for sessions in advance. It provided a good marketing site for banners and its location on the Senate lawn helped to raise the profile of Employability Week.

The average student attendance at events held in the marquee was 14. This compares to an average attendance at all events (excluding the fairs) of 22. 11% of all events held, excluding the Careers Fair, took place in the marquee.

Darwin Conference Suite a useful venue for Academic Schools events and other large events could be booked well in advance unlike rooms available via the University timetabling office.

20% of student attendance across the week, excluding the Careers Fair, took place in Darwin.

Academic School participation all Schools, except Psychology (due to a change in staffing), contributed events during the week. Schools were imaginative in the variety of events they offered, many of which were opened up to students from other Schools and Faculties.

The chart below illustrates student attendance at events organised by Academic Schools. The blue and red sections illustrate events attended/co-ordinated by Faculty (excluding events organised by Professional Services, CES and Kent Union). Schools within the Faculty of Sciences organised the most events while students from the Faculty of Social Sciences attended the most events.

Mixture of events 256 hours of activities took place throughout the week, an increase on last years 130 hours. This included presentations from visiting alumni and graduate employers, introductions to employability schemes such as KSCV, Employability Points and student ambassadors; support with career choice and making applications; skills workshops focussed on Excel, assessment centre tests and public speaking. Students had the chance to meet graduate employers and volunteering organisations at the Careers Fair in Canterbury and the Employability Fair at Medway.

The Employability Fair at Medway the fair was held in week 3, outside of Employability Week, due to room booking restrictions. However, this time slot proved advantageous as student attendance was 80% higher than at the Student Futures Fair at Medway last year. The event was used to promote the rest of Employability Week and the Careers Fair at the Canterbury campus.

Mixture of marketing Considerable thought and budget was given to the different media used to best market Employability Week to students, including online and off-line approaches. CES and Corporate Communications worked closely to plan marketing activities in order to reach the widest audience possible.

10,000 copies of the 72 page Employability Week booklet

Employability Week posters variety of sizes

Careers Fair posters variety of sizes

Careers Fair: A5 leaflets 5500 produced and handed out including into student accommodation via the Accommodation Office.

Employability Fair (Medway): A5 leaflets - 2500 produced

10 roll up banners situated in foyers and main college buildings

6 water based teardrop banners

14,000 sandwich stickers used between weeks 4-6 inclusive in Essentials

Plasma screens for all sites

PowerPoint slides for lecturers and staff to use

All social media platforms including support from AS and Student Tweeters

Targeted E-blasts from the Planning Office direct to all students with individualised text

Emails inviting alumni who had graduated in the last three years via the Kent for Life email and Alumni office.

5 vinyl weatherproof banners situated on Jarman, CES building (facing Keynes bus stop), two on the Marquee on the senate lawn and one on the railings outside the Gillingham Building at Medway for the Employability Fair.

5 A2 sized A Frames with Whats on Today posters changed for each days events

Preparing for the Careers Fair 3 minute video attached to Student Guide carousel featuring the President of Kent Union

The event also featured in the Canterbury Times, on ITV.com and in the Thanet Gazette.

Email communication to students written by staff at CES and sent using Qualtrics software by the Planning Office. Students received personalised emails from Heads of School reminding them of events specific to each School, or larger events such as the Employability Fair, Careers Fair and Teaching Expo.

A/V arrangements it was extremely useful having a member of staff from AV available to set up equipment each day. CES staff collected equipment at the end of each day rather than leaving it in unoccupied rooms.

Sign-up sheets CES provided session organisers with sign-up sheets noting title, date, time and venue of events. Students were asked at the start of each session to provide their details and in doing so they would receive Employability Points (see attached for details). CES also trialled new technology this year, scanning students Kent One cards using scanners attached to mobile phones, laptops or tablets. However, limited numbers of scanners were available due to their cost and the hardware at the other end of the scanners. Where attendance was monitored, 23% were recorded using scanners or a mix of scanners and sign-in sheets, 65% used sign-in sheets and 12% were received via email at a later date by the organiser of the event. The recorded attendance acted as a useful account of the number of students attending each event and also helped to promote the Employability Points scheme to students who may have otherwise been unaware of it.

Student enquiries - The CES-managed mailboxes careerhelp@kent.ac.uk, employability@kent.ac.uk and medwaycareers@kent.ac.uk received enquiries from students throughout the week and students were provided with information on how to access slides/videos if they were unable to attend events.

Other Not including the 3 fairs, on average 22 students attended each event. Events run by Schools for their own students were well-advertised and well-attended on the whole.

The chart below breaks down student attendance by Level of Study and Year, it is important to note that this only includes attendance that could be broken down in this manner. Postgraduate attendance was 17% and the highest numbers of undergraduates attending were in their first year of study.

The top 5 most popular individual sessions (excluding whole day events and fairs), in terms of numbers of students attending, were as follows:

Title of Session

Attendance

How To Succeed With Psychometric Testing

80

Working In The UK For International Students

79

What Employers Look For (CEO Kinetic Solutions)

77

Careers For Linguists In The EU (EU Commission Talk)

77

CISCO Internet Of Everything

75

The most popular events included psychometric testing sessions, assessment centres and talks and workshops delivered by employers.

The least popular events included many of those taking place at Medway, including Work or Volunteer (School of Physical Sciences), Graduate Careers in the Army, Essex County Councils National Graduate Development Programme, Employment Vs. Self-Employment and Step - Think Big Choose Small.

Employability Week: What could be improved

Marquee this location was cold and often noisy due to the continuing library extension work. It is much more suited to activity-based sessions. The inclement weather meant there were a couple of leaks resulting in dampness and the entrance became slippery when wet.

Action: Next year, further research is needed into other University departments use of marquees on campus. This might mean we can secure a more suitable structure at a better price. On completion of the library building work, the marquee can remain sited on the upper lawn, next to the Senate building to maximise publicity. More suitable heating methods will be explored.

Tables and chairs hire for the Careers Fair the same company was used to hire furniture for the Careers Fair as for the Marquee hire and set up. The tables arrived late on Monday 3rd November and were shabby and in some cases in need of repair.

Action: as per Marquee action research into provision of exhibition/event furniture across campus to secure a more favourable deal, financially and of a better standard.

Darwin Conference Suite Pros and cons for this location: it is good for larger events and for securing advance bookings, but the location is not liked by students as they would prefer a more central site. Cost for 3 sections for 4 days was 1,500. Not all the suites were used at all times.

Action: research into locations around the campus which might be more suitable. Possibly Eliot College.

Organisations at the Careers Fair students appreciated the increase in size. The location and diversity of employers worked, but inevitably not all students identified employers corresponding precisely to their career preferences. Some additional work is needed to ensure Hall 3 is clearly signposted to students (could include large hand-held signs on poles directing students). Discussions will take place concerning whether to increase the size of the Fair further. This would result in Kents Careers Fair becoming one of the largest in the country!

Action: work closely with Schools to encourage them to participate fully in the process of identifying and inviting more employers from scientific and creative industries as requested by their students.

Student attendance Attendance overall was good, but attendance at some events was poor. This was a particular problem at the Medway campus. Student feedback suggested they thought it would help if lecturers were made more aware of the events and this would therefore enable them to allow/encourage their students to attend.

Action: Schools to check the date and time of events (including lectures/seminars) to find the best time for Employability Week activities. More CES promotion of events to all staff within Academic Schools at Medway. CES staff to work closely with Academic Schools at Medway to consider if Employability Week is effective at the Medway campus or if alternatives might need to be considered.

Recording sessions for web use where appropriate Kent Player was used. This lecture capture was then embedded into a Moodle module for students to access at alternative times if they could not attend. However, the quality of the recording using this method is often not good which raises questions about whether this is an appropriate method of recording external speakers.

Action: Research into the post-event Kent Player viewing statistics for these events. If need be, find out if there is a high quality but cost effective alternative.

Booking rooms in advance (ongoing from 2013) the ability to book rooms for Employability Week sessions prior to October would be a huge help. Many schools delayed thinking about what events they might like to run because they could not book a room, this meant that events were confirmed late into the Autumn term and thus delayed (or did not meet) the print deadline for the marketing materials.

Action: request block bookings during the week of medium-sized, centrally located seminar rooms from timetabling office, this will need endorsement by the Universitys senior staff.

Earlier publicity (ongoing from 2013) despite beginning the request for events in the summer term of 2014 many schools left it until the last few days to decide upon and confirm the events they wanted to contribute. This meant that materials such as the Employability Week Booklet could only be printed at the very last moment to ensure as much accurate information as possible was included. Several Academic Schools missed the print deadline completely. The hope is that now most staff are aware of Employability Week, discussions about what they can offer will be held earlier on in the academic year and therefore will allow for publicity to be produced and distributed sooner to students.

Action: Final events confirmed before the start of autumn term 2015.

Endorsement by academic staff (ongoing from 2013) Academic Schools were provided with Employability Week PowerPoint slides for promotion in lectures, posters to display and programmes to give out to students. However, while some Schools supported this it was noted after Employability Week that others had not given out the programmes they had been supplied with. This is a waste of resources and may have led to some students not being as aware of events as they could have been. This could have been achieved either directly during lectures or by giving time to a CES member of staff to promote Employability Week and highlight particular events in the run up to the week.

Action: All Heads of School could perhaps be asked to ensure their staff are made aware of the importance of promoting Employability Week events.

Sessions being cancelled last minute unfortunately for a week of events on this scale cancellations are likely to happen due to unforeseen circumstances affecting external organisations and Kent staff.

Action: Little can be done to prevent this sort of occurrence but we can suggest to staff offering to deliver session that they have more than one member of the team prepared to deliver the talk.

Size of the Careers Fair consideration is needed regarding whether or not to increase the size of the event. If the event remains at the present scale then the quality of employers/organisations exhibiting should be reviewed.

Action: Discussions could be had with feeder FE colleges (for Kent-accredited HE courses) and other local HEIs as to whether it is viable to invite their students to the Careers Fair. This might lead to the event attracting more employers. It would require, however, greater co-ordination and a consideration of budgeting issues with participating institutions.

Recommendations for 2015:

The ground work for establishing Employability Week took place in 2013 and has continued in 2014. Student engagement is very encouraging as is School/Professional Services participation and the highly-valued contribution from employers and external organisations. Employability Week provides an opportunity for the University of Kents key stakeholders to work in partnership to promote the development and awareness of student employability skills. It raises awareness of student employability and the University of Kents good contacts with graduate recruiters.

Ongoing discussions concerning whether Week 6 is the most suitable week to stage this event. As with last year, Weeks 5 or 6 were Reading Weeks for some Schools. Week 5 was also KCCs school half-term week. Some students went home the week before or for the week of Employability Week. Others were available to participate in all of the events. Week 6 remains the most appropriate timeslot for this week of events.

Careers Fair at Canterbury well established as both a stand-alone event and as a central focus for Employability Week. Ongoing discussions regarding its improvement and development will continue: scale, use of halls and encouraging students to visit all of them, potential merging with other HEIs, day of the week, exhibitors to reflect student feedback and academic programmes.

Suggestions for additional marketing activities such as positioning A-frame displays outside venues with Whats on today? messages were taken forward from 2013 to 2014. Due to the restrictions of corporate branding, the text in the Whats on today? posters was too small for this purpose. This will need to be re-considered for 2015.

Large weather-proof banners for the front of the marquee, the side of the School of Arts building, the Gillingham Building at Medway and the side of the CES building were successful and should be produced again.

Darwin Conference Suite was hired as an additional location, replacing Eliot Great Hall which was unavailable in 2014, to provide space for medium-to-large events and for Academic Schools to book a venue well before the timetabling office was willing to release rooms. Research is needed into other more central locations on campus.

2014 Employability Week Student Feedback Survey

The 2014 Employability Week Feedback Survey ran from 10th to 19th November 2014. The target population was all students based at the Canterbury and Medway campuses. The purpose was to collect student feedback on Employability Week events running at Canterbury and Medway during 3rd to 7th November. The survey measured attendance and assessed student experience throughout the week in order to incorporate the student perspective and preferences in planning future events.

The survey consisted of 22 quantitative questions and 10 open-ended questions. The overall response rate was 7% (1,212 replies). This is the same response rate as achieved in 2013 (7%, 1,246 replies).

Respondents

The demographics of those who responded mirror the makeup of the population sample:

89% of respondents were from the Canterbury campus

11% from Medway, this closely mirrors the sample (UKC 84%, UKM 16%)

Differences between respondents and sample occur in Fee Type:

20% of the respondents are from Overseas (16% of sample)

65% were from the UK (68% of sample)

14% from the EU (10% of sample)

There is less variation with regards to Study Level:

8% of respondents are PGR compared to 6% of the sample

13% PGT (11% of sample)

78% UG (79% of sample)

Attendance at Employability Week Events

Of those who responded to this survey:

55% of all respondents had attended one or more events (up from 47% in 2013)

93% of these respondents were from the Canterbury campus and 7% were from Medway

30% of PGR respondents attended an event (up from 16% in 2013)

Over 50% of UG and PGT respondents attended one or more events (58% and 55% respectively)

45% of respondents did not attend any events (this is down from 53% in 2013). 70% stated this was due to being busy with individual study or personal commitments (up from 65% in 2013). 46% stated that the events clashed with lectures, seminars or timetabled sessions (up from 34% in 2013). 6% claimed to have no knowledge about the events (down from 10% in 2013).

Awareness of the Events

All respondents attending events were asked how they found out about them (multiple answers):

82% of participating respondents found out about events via email (up from 78% in 2013)

52% from the Programme of events booklet (up from 47% in 2013)

32% saw Posters and Banners (up from 25% in 2013)

23% heard from other students and 22% heard from staff in their Academic School or other

University staff

Only 1% cited other reasons (down from 3% in 2013)

Other additional suggested methods from respondents to help promote the events included:

Announcements in lectures and seminars

Emails listing all events

Text messages

Major Events

All students registered were asked whether they attended three major events; the Canterbury Careers Fair, which took place on Tuesday 4th November, the Teaching Expo on Wednesday 5th November and the Kent Opportunities Fair which took place on Thursday 7th November. Those registered at Medway were asked separately about the Medway Employability Fair which was held on Wednesday 15th October. Views on this were sought and will be presented in a separate report.

68% of the participating respondents attended the Canterbury Careers Fair (up from 64% in 2013). When split by campus 69% of Canterbury respondents attended and 49% of Medway respondents attended 79% of those who attended the Canterbury Careers Fair were undergraduate 21% were postgraduate (PGT 16%, PGR 5%)

In 2014, 79% of those who attended the Canterbury Careers Fair agreed that the event was useful. In 2013 this question was different and used a different scale (31%: Very useful, 59%: Somewhat useful).

9% of the participating respondents attended the Teaching Expo. When split by campus 10% of Canterbury respondents attended 2% of Medway respondents attended 80% of those who attended the Teaching Expo were undergraduate 20% were postgraduate (PGT 12%, PGR 8%)

92% those who attended the Teaching Expo agreed that the event was useful.

24% of the participating respondents attended the Kent Opportunities Fair. When split by campus 24% of Canterbury respondents attended 18% of Medway respondents attended 89% of those who attended the Kent Opportunities Fair were undergraduate 11% were postgraduate (PGT 9%, PGR 2%)

83% those who attended the Kent Opportunities Fair agreed that the event was useful.

Attendance at workshops/discussions and other events

The 663 survey respondents participating in Employability Week indicated that they attended 1,137 workshops/discussions events (up from 943 in 2013), making an average of 1.7 specific events (outside the 3 major events) attended by each of the participating respondents.

Impact of Employability Week

65% of the respondents who attended one or more events at Employability Week think that they have now a better understanding of how to make themselves employable (this varies according to the student type: UG 67%, PGT 57%, PGR 52%) 34% said that they had the same understanding (up from 32% in 2013) 1% claimed to have less understanding (down from 2% in 2013); by study level this is, UG 1%, PGT 2% and PGR 0%

Themes from student comments:

Discovering previously unknown graduate employers

Students liked speaking directly with employers to find out exactly what they are looking for

Students would like to attend more events and would like support from their Schools to do this

Students would attend more sessions if they did not clash with lectures/seminars

Wide and interesting range of companies for Fair but further work needed to ensure more disciplines are represented especially in the creative industries and sciences.

More events for postgraduate students

Impact of Employability Week 2014

Careers Employability Award (Moodle) Registrations:

25th October 26th November (2014) - 106 registrations during this period.

ProspectsNet users:

23rd November 2013 9389 users

23rd November 2014 12744 users

Kent Union Volunteering:

MEDWAY 2014*

Nov 3rd Nov 7th

Nov 8th Nov 21st

Volunteering Hours

146

370

Students Registering on Toolkit

7

12

*These are combined figures of Kent students at Medway using the Kent Union and GK Unions Toolkits.

Canterbury 2014

Nov 3rd Nov 7th

Nov 8th Nov 21st

Volunteering Hours

1,102

2,683

Students Registering on Toolkit

28

56

Employability Points Scheme Registrations (from 27/10/14 to 17/11/14):

27/10/14 2495

03/11/14 2588

10/11/14 2976

17/11/14 3735

The Employability Points Coordinator concludes that following Employability Week, 1,147 new students started actively engaging with the scheme, largely as a result of the sign-up sheets used in Employability Week sessions.

Organisations attending 2014 Careers Fair

Careers and Employability Service December 2014Page 2

Hall 1

1 DSTL

2 IBM

3 Xerox

4 McDonalds

5 Decathlon

6 Vodafone

7 TK Maxx

8 Philips UK

9 Dovetail Games

10 Majestic Wine

11 Coca-Cola Enterprises

12 Beadles Group

13 Aldi

14 Mercedes-Benz

15 Communications and Network Consulting

16 startmybiz

17 REL Field Marketing

18 Careers & Employability Service

19 Cummins

20 Access UK Ltd

21 Accenture

22 BAE Systems

23 Cisco

24 Entity Group Ltd

25 ISG

26 Schneider Electric

27 FDM Group

28 Fujitsu Services

29 Holiday Extras

30 G-Forces Web Management

31 RAF

32 Penna

33 Royal Navy and Royal Marines

34 The British Army

35 Clifford Chance

36 G-Research

37 PwC

38 Sterling Insurance Group Ltd

39 Reeves and Co LLP

40 Willis Group

41 Vanquis Bank

42 ICAEW

43 Cushman & Wakefield

44 Market Data Services Ltd

45 Fidessa

46 FactSet

47 NCC Group

48 Aspiring Solicitors

49 BDO LLP

50 Chartered Institute of Management Accountants

51 Bank of England

52 CIPFA

53 CFA Institute

54 AXA

55 Baker Tilly

56 Deloitte

57 Lloyds of London

58 Brighton Journalist Works

59 IdeasTap

60 Kent Autistic Trust

61 Citizens Advice Bureau

62 Porchlight

63 Academies Enterprise Trust

64 Royal Engineers Museum

65 The National Trust

66 HM Prison Service

67 Marie Curie Cancer Care

68 BSkyB

69 Port of Dover

70 ASOS

71 DHL

72 Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Hall 3

73 Milkround

74 EmployAbility Ltd

75 GradsKent

76 GAAPWeb and Totally Legal

77 Employment 4 Students

78 RateMyPlacement

79 Graduate-jobs.com

80 King's College London

81 University of Sussex

82 University of Birmingham

83 The University of Law

84 Knowledge Transfer Partnerships

85 Kent Union Student Advice

Centre

86 Absolute Internship

87 Kent Wildlife Trust

88 Concordia

89 German Academic Exchange

Service (DAAD)

90 Pave Internships Ltd

91 Gap 360

92 Bounce

93 CRCC Asia

94 European Employment Services

(EURES)

95 Foreign and Commonwealth EU Careers

96 Civil Service Fast Stream

97 Institute of Biomedical Science

98 HM Revenue and Customs

99 Explore Learning

100 Core Assets Children's Services

101 Teach First

102 ARK Schools

103 Avante Partnership Ltd

104 Institute of Education

105 Headstart Group Ltd

106 Ashford Teaching Alliance

107 Childhood First

108 University of Surrey

109 University of Kent

110 Canterbury Christ Church

Number of student attendees at each event:

Day

Start

Finish

Event

Attendees

Monday

09:00

17:00

Poster Fair (all week)

n/a

Monday

10:00

11:00

Work Shop Shots in the School of Physical Sciences

18

Monday

11:00

12:00

Improving your career prospects by volunteering at the Citizens Advice Bureau

15

Monday

12:30

13:30

School of Arts CV Workshop

19

Monday

12:00

13:00

Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM)

5

13:00

14:00

Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM)

10

Monday

13:00

15:00

Employment Opportunities with NHS Professionals

Cancelled

Monday

12:00

13:00

How to be Successful in the Music Industry (Medway)

25

Monday

12:00

13:00

Parallel Coaching presentation (Medway)

Cancelled

Monday

13:00

14:00

Employability Opportunities with Charlton Athletic Community Trust (Medway)

3

Monday

14:00

15:00

Employability at Kent (Medway)

1

Monday

14:00

17:00

The British Army

1

Monday

14:00

15:00

What Employers Look For

77

Monday

09:00

17:00

Pro Tools 101 (Medway)

8

Monday

15:00

16:00

Employment vs. Self-Employment (Medway)

1

Monday

15:00

16:00

Getting the most out of the Careers Fair

27

Monday

15:00

16:00

Understanding Modern China

31

Monday

16:00

17:00

Guest Speakers in the School of Physical Sciences

9

Monday

16:00

17:00

Become a Red Cross Educator Teaching first Aid in the Community

11

Monday

18:00

20:00

Unexpected careers - for the Faculty of Social Sciences

90

Monday

10:00

16:00

60 Minute Takeover!

226

Monday

09:00

16:00

EDA Careers Day

155

Monday

10:00

12:00

CV Writing for Computing Students

21

Monday

10:00

12:00

How to become a Student Ambassador

8

Monday

10:00

11:00

The Legal Market and Types of Legal Employers

11

Monday

10:00

15:00

Mock Assessment Centre Day

45

Monday

10:00

11:30

Graduate Careers in the Army (Medway)

1

Tuesday

10:00

16:00

60 Minute Takeover!

see above

Tuesday

09:00

17:00

Poster Fair (all week)

n/a

Tuesday

10:00

11:00

CIPFA Presentation

11

Tuesday

10:00

11:00

Work or Volunteer?

1

Tuesday

10:00

11:30

Morgan Stanley - Assessment Centre Skills

57

Tuesday

10:00

11:00

Essential Guidance for Aspiring Lawyers

Cancelled

Tuesday

10:30

11:30

IBM/American Studies session

17

Tuesday

11:00

12:00

Insights into Commercial Awareness - Clifford Chance

25

Tuesday

11:00

12:00

How to write a CV for Journalism and Media Jobs

24

Tuesday

12:00

15:00

Annual Careers fair

2712

Tuesday

15:30

17:00

Morgan Stanley - Assessment Centre Skills (Medway)

48

Tuesday

15:00

16:00

Being an Arts Practitioner: how to work for yourself

28

Tuesday

15:00

16:00

Guest Speakers in the School of Physical Sciences

10

Tuesday

16:00

17:00

Careers at the Gulbenkian Theatre and Beyond

16

Tuesday

15:30

17:00

Q+A to BSkyB

28

Tuesday

16:00

17:00

Study in Germany

Cancelled

Tuesday

17:00

18:00

The Internet of Everything

75

Tuesday

17:00

18:00

Working in the UK for International Students

79

Tuesday

19:00

21:00

Economics Alumni evening

64

Wednesday

09:00

17:00

Poster Fair (all week)

n/a

Wednesday

09:00

17:00

Pro Tools 110 (Medway)

8

Wednesday

10:00

16:00

60 Minute Takeover!

see above

Wednesday

10:00

15:00

Museum Careers Day

19

Wednesday

10:00

15:00

Teaching Expo! (talks)

16

Wednesday

10:00

15:00

Teaching Expo!

137

Wednesday

10:00

12:00

Student enterprise how to be an entrepreneur (Medway)

9

Wednesday

11:00

12:00

Enhancing your Presentation Skills

30

Wednesday

12:00

13:00

Vanquis Bank: CVs and Applications (Medway)

3

Wednesday

13:00

14:00

South East Water: Interview Skills (Medway)

3

Wednesday

13:00

14:00

Artist Led Projects and Spaces (Medway)

11

Wednesday

13:00

14:00

Tom Christian speaks about his experience at KU c

Cancelled

Wednesday

13:00

14:00

'What am I gonna do now?' The Complete Coach

37

Wednesday

13:00

14:30

Introduction to SECL Employability modules

24

Wednesday

13:00

15:15

Biosciences talks (4 events)

114

Wednesday

13:30

15:00

Returning from a Year Abroad: Employability Workshop

36

Wednesday

13:30

15:00

So you want to volunteer? Litter Pick!

6

Wednesday

14:00

15:30

Careers for Linguists in the EU

77

Wednesday

15:30

16:30

British Council Opportunities for Languages

24

Wednesday

14:00

16:00

Excel for Business (Medway)

14

Wednesday

14:00

16:00

Group Skills Workshop

4

Wednesday

14:00

16:00

How to succeed with psychometric testing

80

Wednesday

14:00

16:00

Student Media Centre Open Afternoon

42

Wednesday

14:00

15:00

Fuel the Firework! running a successful campaign

13

Wednesday

14:00

15:00

Airbus talk

15

Wednesday

14:00

16:00

Commercial Awareness

52

Wednesday

14:00

15:45

SMSAS Employability Seminar

20

Wednesday

15:00

16:30

JobShop Drop-in (Medway)

3

Wednesday

15:00

16:00

Airbus PGR

13

Wednesday

15:00

16:30

So you want to be an intern?

37

Wednesday

16:00

17:00

SMSAS CV Clinic

40

Wednesday

15:30

17:00

Returning from a Year Abroad: Employability Workshop

36

Wednesday

16:45

17:45

Employability Week PGR talk School of Physical Sciences

10

Wednesday

16:00

18:00

Radio, television, print and online journalism

29

Thursday

09:00

17:00

Poster Fair (all week)

Thursday

09:00

12:00

EW Scenes of Crime Room

1

Thursday

10:00

11:00

Careers at the Marlowe Theatre and Beyond

9

Thursday

10:00

11:00

Arduino Workshop MzTEK (Medway)

8

Thursday

11:00

12:00

Interested in Working in a Gallery? Find out more!

8

Thursday

11:00

12:00

Producing Projects, Events and Tours in the Music Industry Third Ear (Medway)

6

Thursday

11:00

12:00

Getting into Law (Medway)

1

Thursday

12:00

13:00

Think Big Choose Small (Medway)

1

Thursday

12:00

13:00

An Introduction to KSCV Platinum

8

Thursday

12:00

15:00

Kent Opportunities fair

163

Thursday

13:00

14:00

Essex County Council's National Graduate Development Programme (Medway)

1

Thursday

13:00

14:30

International Placements

42

Thursday

14:00

15:00

England Handball Association - a workshop by CEO, David Meli (Medway)

8

Thursday

14:00

15:00

Identifying your Transferable Skills

24

Thursday

14:00

16:00

How to Prepare yourself for a Career in the Arts Industry Arts Admin (Medway)

9

Thursday

14:00

16:00

The Music Business and Q+A with ACE from Skunk Anansie (Medway)

3

Thursday

14:00

16:00

Excel for Business

28

Thursday

14:00

16:00

Where are they now?

18

Thursday

14:00

15:00

Humanities Placement Year - Find out more!

18

Thursday

15:00

16:00

Working in Human Resources

35

Thursday

16:00

17:00

The International Students of History Association

6

Thursday

16:00

17:00

Getting the most of the E&V Toolkit (Medway)

2

Thursday

16:00

17:00

Networking Know-How

Cancelled

Thursday

16:00

17:00

EW Knight Optical

3

Thursday

15:00

17:00

Writing Skills Workshop

11

Thursday

16:30

20:00

Alumni - Networking Event.

28

Thursday

17:00

19:00

Focus on what Matters and Gain Confidence

8

Thursday

17:00

19:00

School of Computing Social

20

Friday

09:00

17:00

Poster Fair (all week)

0

Friday

11:00

12:00

IBM - Employer Presentation

26

Friday

11:00

12:00

Working in the Museum and Heritage Sectors

35

Friday

11:00

12:00

SELF-EMPLOYMENTWhat is it all about?

11

Friday

11:00

12:00

Become a Red Cross Educator Teaching First Aid in the Community

8

Friday

11:00

13:00

Internship Opportunities in the Creative Sector

15

Friday

12:00

13:00

What is Student Enterprise and how does it benefit me?

9

Friday

12:00

14:00

Mercedes-Benz UK Graduate and Industrial Placements

21

Friday

13:00

14:00

Working Abroad: Your Future Now! (Capita Education)

Cancelled

Friday

13:00

14:00

The 10 Challenge Competition Launch!

40

Friday

13:00

15:00

Employment Opportunities with NHS Professionals (Medway)

3

Friday

14:00

15:00

Employability Opportunities with Charlton Athletic Community Trust

12

Friday

14:00

15:00

Ideas Generation Workshop

16

Friday

14:00

17:00

Bring your CV to a Careers Adviser (Medway)

5

Friday

15:00

17:00

Maximising your Presentation Technique

11

Friday

15:00

16:00

Employment vs Self Employment - The Gloves are off!

9

Friday

15:00

16:00

Alumni Presentations and Meet the Past

7

Friday

09:00

10:00

Enterprise Society - Enactus Kent!

8

Friday

17:15

18:30

SPS Alumni PGR Networking

54

Friday

10:00

11:00

Being an entrepreneur is an achievement in itself

18

Friday

10:00

11:15

What its like working in Higher Education Professional Services

7

Medway Campus

Employability Fair 2014

Wednesday 15 October, 1pm-3pm, Pilkington Building Open Space

The Careers and Employability Service worked in partnership with GK Unions to stage the Employability Fair at Medway. The Pilkington Building Open Space was filled with 52 stands from a wide range of organisations providing information on career options, industry sectors, volunteering, part-time job opportunities, employability skill development and postgraduate study options. Organisations included Rate my Placement, Projects Abroad, Activate Sport, SoundHub, HM Prison Service and Medway Council. The fair was attended by 647 students (an increase of over 80% on last years Student Futures Fair, which took place in week 6 of 2013).

Feedback from students attending the Employability Fair

183 students took part in the survey following the Employability Fair. They were asked how they heard about the events:

33% heard about it via emails sent to them

15% were informed by staff in their Academic School

14% saw posters and banners around campus

12% heard via the Careers and Employability Service

The remaining 26% found out about the event from other sources including word of mouth, social media, CES website, Student Guide website.

Impact of the Employability Fair:

94% of the respondents who attended the Employability Fair thought it was a good event.

Student comments:

Very friendly staff well organised event student from School of Music and Fine Art.

I found a place where I can make myself known as an artist student from School of Music and Fine Art.

The amount of people to network with was extremely impressive student from School of Computing.

Opportunity to possibly work during holidays student from School of Sport and Exercise Sciences.

I like how they let you know how places for jobs are going and things that would be good to add on your CV student from Kent Business School.

Showed a variety of informative stalls about volunteering and employability student from Kent Business School.

A lot on offer student from Kent Law School.

It was nice that the University has considered the range of academic levels of students that would be attending. There were stalls catering to people of all year groups and a range of professional fields student from School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research.

Feedback from exhibitors that attended the Employability Fair

45 exhibitors completed evaluation forms after the fair. They were asked to rate it on a 3-point scale. 40 gave it the top rating and five the middle rating.

Comments from exhibitors:

A well run event with a good range of exhibitors. Well done! Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust.

Brilliant event Medway Youth Trust

Very enthusiastic students nearly 70 students! Projects Abroad

Students are so eager to find out more and they loved hearing about RMPs opportunities! Rate My Placement

Recommendations for next year:

Continue to hold the fair in the Pilkington Building Open Space this has proved to be a good central location. Booking the space, however, is a problem - it took over two months for the booking to be confirmed and even longer to get the atrium and furniture storage room booked. CES will continue to liaise with the room booking team at Medway to ensure we can secure the open space and atrium earlier, although we have been told that the furniture storage room booking will still be delayed until September and we will have to work around this.

Hold the fair in Week 3 again (as opposed to Week 6) having the fair earlier had a positive impact on attendance and provided an opportunity to promote Employability Week and the Careers Fair. Canterbury CES staff were also available to fully support the event.

Keep the fair free to exhibitors and continue to provide them with refreshment vouchers.

Consider widening the criteria of organisations attending to include inviting employers who recruit graduates locally.

Provide additional security staffing depending on the nature of employers that are invited (this would require a modest additional cost).

Provide additional administrative support located at Medway in order to aid with the organisation of the Employability Fair as well as Employability Week.

Medway students attending the Careers Fair at the Canterbury campus

Tuesday 4 November, 12pm-3pm, Main Hall and Hall 3 of the Sports Centre

Following a request from Academic School staff at the Medway campus, CES provided an additional Campus Shuttle bus for the Careers Fair. It left the Medway campus on Tuesday 4 November at 11.00am and returned from Canterbury at 3.00pm. Although there were some empty seats, this additional Campus Shuttle was well-used. The additional coach (which cost 420) was used for 63 passenger journeys (6.67 per passenger journey).

However, despite this extra Campus Shuttle running alongside the existing shuttle, some students gave feedback that it was difficult for them to attend the Careers Fair because it clashed with lectures. Some academic staff arranged lectures around the Careers Fair (they had been given advanced notice of the date and time) but most Academic Schools did not offer this flexibility to students. It has been suggested that the Careers Fair be held on a Wednesday so that it does not clash with lectures. However, if it were to be held on a Wednesday the event would have to be significantly smaller because the sports hall would not be available. It has also been suggested that an event equivalent to the Careers Fair could be held at the Medway campus. In response to this the CES will encourage more local companies offering employment opportunities to attend the Employability Fair at Medway, but it will not be possible to completely duplicate the scale and diversity of the Careers Fair because of the smaller number of students on campus: graduate recruiters concentrate their recruitment event budgets on fairs with the potential for significant student attendance.

Recommendations:

CES to consider widening the criteria for organisations invited to exhibit at the Employability Fair at Medway.

Continue to provide and promote the availability of an additional Campus Shuttle to enable Medway students to attend the Careers Fair in Canterbury.

Encourage Academic Schools at Medway to offer flexibility in their lectures on the day of the Careers Fair so that students from the Medway campus are able to attend more easily.

Employability Week (Medway), 3-7 November, Week 6

Student attendance at Employability Week events at the Medway campus, with some exceptions, was largely disappointing. The Assessment Centre skills session delivered by Morgan Stanley was well-attended, attracting 48 students. The average attendance per session was six students and is not enough to warrant employers travelling to the campus.

Despite the poor attendance, 69% of the respondents who did attend events said that they gained a better understanding of how to make themselves employable as a result.

Recommendations:

Conduct a student focus group to consider student attendance, external organisations and marketing methods.

Invite opinion from Medway staff on Employability Week and share ideas on moving forward and/or looking at alternatives to Employability Week at Medway.

Student Attendance by Level of Study and Year of Student

UGYear 1Year 2Year 3Year 4616504339341PGYear 1Year 2Year 3Year 43292327

Student Attendance by Faculty compared with Events Coordinated by Faculty

Attended byHumanitiesSciencesSocial Sciences520859939Coordinated byHumanitiesSciencesSocial Sciences467692547