+44 (0)1227 823164 www.kent.ac.uk/employability1

KENT EMPLOYABILITYNEWSLETTERMAY 2012

INTRODUCING THE NEW EMPLOYABILITY ADVISERS“Hello, we are the new Employability Advisers: Kathryn Segal,Nicola Urquhart and Natalie Smith.”

“We’ve recently joined the Careers and Employability Service to offer support andguidance to University staff and students on the different employability initiatives atKent and how everyone can get involved. Please get in touch if you would like moreinformation. We look forward to working with you!”

Contacting us and keeping up to date With so many great employability initiatives happening on campus, why not keep up-to-date with events, web-links, awards and opportunities online:

Twitter: @UniKentEmployFacebook page: University of Kent Student EmployabilityWebsite: www.kent.ac.uk/employability/Email: employability@kent.ac.uk

So what is employability?“A set of attributes, skills and knowledgethat all labour market participantsshould possess to ensure they have thecapability of being effective in theworkplace – to the benefit of themselves,their employer and the wider economy.”(CBI, March 2009)

Graduate employers across all industries want morethan just a degree; they want graduates who candemonstrate a wide range of other skills, attributesand knowledge, often called ‘employability skills’.Examples include communication skills, planning,team-work, enterprise skills, problem solving,reflection, numeracy skills, IT skills, leadership skillsand commercial awareness.

Why are employability skills so important?In a competitive and fast-moving global economy,graduates need to stand out to get the jobs theywant. Graduate selection procedures are tough andthere are large numbers of applicants for each

vacancy. Applicants are required to provideevidence of their employability skills on applicationforms and then demonstrate their skills atassessment events. If you only start thinking aboutthis in your final year, this puts you at a disadvantagecompared to other students!

How can you develop and proveyour employability skills?Your courses are already helping you to develop awide range of employability skills, from reportwriting to presentation skills. In addition, theUniversity and Kent Union provide many

extracurricular schemes to help you to develop your skills further. You can volunteer, take part inclubs and societies, work part-time, become astudent ambassador or mentor, learn a languageand complete a Careers Employability Award onMoodle. You can also gain Employability Points foryour efforts and record and reflect on youremployability skills in MyFolio and the Employability Toolkit.

You can find information on Kent’s employabilityinitiatives in this newsletter, as well as on ouremployability webpageswww.kent.ac.uk/employability

WELCOME…Welcome to our new EmployabilityNewsletter! The University of Kentprovides many initiatives to helpour students develop theiremployability skills and succeed inthe graduate labour market. Thisnewsletter is designed to give youinformation and updates on theseschemes, as well as bringing youother employability-related news.

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KEEP IN TOUCHAll former Kent students automatically become a part of our vibrant alumnicommunity, with over 120,000 members spanning more than 200 countries. By staying in touch with us after you leave, you’ll not only keep up-to-date with the latest developments at the University, but also have the opportunity to join your fellow alumni for networking opportunities and reunions, alongside access to careers advice and support.

We have a regular programme of networking events catering for alumni working in law, business and the creative industries, as well as informal pub nights and reunions, which alumni are welcome to attend. If you move overseas after graduation, you could have the chance to join us at a Kent event near you – we have official alumni groups across Asia and the USA, and our international team regularly host alumnievents when they are travelling around the world. If we don’t have a group near you, we’d be delighted to help you start one.

As a Kent alumnus, you are also welcome to access the Alumni Careers Network, which is made up of Kent alumni happy to speak to current and former students, and offer valuable advice and insight intoworking in a particular role or field.

In order to make the most of the opportunities available to you as a Kent alumnus, it’s important that we have your most recent contact details. When you graduate, register on our website to update your details, so we can keep you up-to-date with all the latest news.

For more information about the Kent alumni community see www.kent.ac.uk/alumni

EMPLOYERFOCUSThe Careers and Employability Service hosts aCareers Fair in November each year in EliotCollege. It’s a great opportunity to discuss howto get into certain careers and discover theemployability skills that well-known companieslike IBM, Abercrombie and Fitch and Coca-ColaEnterprise want from graduate employees.

Employers who have confirmed so far this yearare: Fidessa, Frontier, Capita, Teach First andthe Institute of Chartered Accountants forEngland and Wales. For Medway students, freetransport will be available. Watch this space forfurther details…

CAREERS ANDEMPLOYABILITYSERVICEThe Careers Advisory Service has changed itsname to the Careers and Employability Service(CES). This name change emphasises theimportance of helping students developemployability skills to prepare them for life afteruniversity and coincides with the recruitment ofthree new Employability Advisers. Now, as wellas offering careers advice and guidance, wewill help you understand what employers arelooking for, and to develop the skills andexperience needed for your chosen career.

We are doing this in a number of ways: • Talks and workshops (some delivered withacademic schools)

• Our Moodle Careers Employability Awardwww.kent.ac.uk/careers/moodle.htm

• One-to-one advice on making applications.

Future plans include an increased focus onhelping students gain placements andinternships and a relaunch of the AlumniCareers Network – www.kent.ac.uk/careers/careersnetwork.htm – to put you intouch with Kent graduates for advice and workexperience opportunities.

For more about CES and our activities, see ourwebsite www.kent.ac.uk/ces and follow us onTwitter @UniKentEmploy

MYFOLIO: A PERSONAL RECORD OF YOUR DEVELOPMENTMyFolio is Kent’s new e-portfolio, designed to support students’ personaldevelopment planning and employability. The software, introduced campus-wide this academic year, will help you build a holistic picture of your unique

experience at university.

MyFolio is a space to gather evidence of yourachievements, experiences and skills, for reflectionand personal development planning. Everyoneproviding students with development opportunities –from stakeholders to academic schools and studentservices – has had an input. This helps you to seethe links between experiences on your academicprogrammes, student union activities orvolunteering.

Last term, the Unit for the Enhancement of Learningand Teaching held an event to promote the use of MyFolio in curricular and extracurricular activities.‘Embedding E-portfolios for Employability’ showcased staff and students’ work with MyFolio, including:• A learning journal to reflect on required reading in Social Sciences• Record of professional competencies in Pharmacy• Online sketchbook in Architecture • Employability skills record in Classics

The full potential of MyFolio is well illustrated in the students’ pages – for example, Rosie Mockett’s foliodetails her academic development, volunteering activity and political commitments, as well as herentrepreneurial side as a cake decorator!

To use MyFolio, follow this link https://myfolio.kent.ac.uk/myfolio/ To join the MyFolio Community of Practice,login to MyFolio and search for it under ‘groups’. For further information, contact Louise FrithL.J.Frith@kent.ac.uk

KENT EMPLOYABILITY NEWSLETTER MAY 2012

KENT UNIONGraduate employers want morethan a good degree – they want toknow that you’ve got the skills toget on, work effectively and be anasset to the organisation. Whatskills have you got to offer?

Since 2003, when the KSCV awards scheme(Kent Student Certificate for Volunteering)started, Kent Union has been aware of the clearlink between volunteering and developingstudents’ employability skills.

The online Employability Toolkit not only makesthe link between volunteering and employabilitymore obvious, but it also pulls together otheraspects of the Union’s extracurricular activitiesin one place. The toolkit is an ideal way ofreflecting on any employment, volunteering andtraining you have undertaken and the skills youhave demonstrated as a result.

By using the Employability Toolkit, you areencouraged to consider not just what you havedone, but how you did it and the associatedskills developed. It also encourages you toconsider any gaps in your skill-set and identifyways of filling the gaps.

This term, Kent Union will be running focusgroups to collate your opinions on the toolkit.Improvements will be made over the summerwhen the toolkit will also be merged with theexisting volunteering database.

Using the improved system, you will also be able to:• Identify a range of volunteering opportunities• Log your volunteering hours• Complete your KSCV review and submit awritten reflection

• Book ‘Stand Out’ training

To join the focus groups, go towww.kentunion.co.uk/employability/home oremail Suzanne Payne, S.Payne@kent.ac.uk

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APPLYING FOR WORK OPPORTUNITIESHaving a last-minute panic about whatto do after graduation? The Careersand Employability Service has avacancy database which advertisesover 300 vacancies including graduatejobs, sandwich placements, vacationwork and internships. Some employersare particularly looking for Kentstudents and many are located in Kentand the South East.

You can view these vacancies athttp://kent.prospects.ac.uk. All you need to do isregister and search for the vacancies that you areinterested in. You can also set up email alerts of newvacancies and search the careers events calendar.

If you are looking for part-time casual work whilestudying remember to register with Kent UnionJobshop which advertises a variety of opportunities.For more information, go towww.kentunion.co.uk/jobs

STUDENTS COLLECT POINTS TO WIN WORKA prestigious rewards ceremony at the University next month (June) willcelebrate some of our most highly employable students. The event is sponsoredby the Chaucer Group who last year offered two internships to two Kentgraduates as part of the Employability Points scheme. Both graduates havesince secured full-time jobs within the global consulting firm and Chaucer aredelighted with their recruits.

Based on a clubcard style model, the Employability Points scheme rewards students for engaging inactivities which are not part of their degree, but enhance the individual’s transferable skills to stand out to apotential employer.

You can receive points for activities such as fundraising, charity work, being involved in a society, part-timework, volunteering, participating in a business competition or learning a foreign language. Studentscollecting the most points are rewarded with prizes that increase their employability even further.

Prizes are sponsored by companies who offer internships, work experience placements, training coursesand vouchers. The impressive list of 80 sponsor companies includes well- known brands such as Tesco, TheNational Trust, Skanska, Penguin Books and Coca-Cola Enterprises. Together, the sponsors are giving out265 rewards which will go to the most engaged students at Kent. Many local and regional employers areinvolved in the scheme which has so far encouraged over 2,000 students to take part.

Stephanie Barwick, Business Engagement Manager at Kent, who launched the scheme last year said: ‘Wehave so many fantastic students at this university who really do put themselves out and deserve theseopportunities. The scheme is a ‘win-win’ for both students and employers. Students who can demonstrate animpressive CV, not only in terms of qualifications, but also in terms of the softer ‘life’ skills that employers arelooking for, are being rewarded with work opportunities. Employers can access the best students without acostly and lengthy recruitment process.’

Chancellor of the University, Sir Robert Worcester, will open the Employability Points Rewards Ceremony inthe Gulbenkian Theatre, Canterbury campus on 7 June 2012. To find out more about the ceremony and/orthe scheme, contact Stephanie Barwick, S.R.Barwick@kent.ac.uk

Learning about employability skillsSecond-year students from the School of Maths,Statistics and Actuarial Science (SMSAS)attended an employability session as part oftheir Value Plus programme. The sessionhighlighted the importance of gainingemployability skills and information on how to dothis. The Careers and Employability Service, incollaboration with SMSAS, arranged for eightspeakers from various employability initiativesaround the University to attend the event.According to SMSAS, the session was a successand several students have already expressed aninterest in signing up for various initiatives. TheCareers and Employability Service is hoping torun similar sessions next academic year.

Every year, a number of our undergraduate and postgraduate students arerecruited and trained as Student Ambassadors.

Ambassadors work with the University’s PartnershipDevelopment Office, Academic Schools and otherProfessional Service Departments on projectsaimed at raising aspirations within a wide range ofprimary and secondary schools throughout Kentand Medway. Up to 200 paid student ambassadorssupport events both on and off-campus.Employment opportunities range from working on‘Stepping Up’ modules (designed to guide studentsthrough the decision-making process andapplication to higher education) to residentialsummer schools and mentoring (both subjectspecific and general).

As an Ambassador, you will develop a substantialrange of skills to support future employment applications. The role gives you enhanced levels of confidenceand initiative, enabling you to interact with a broad range of social groups. It also helps build independencethrough working in a professional environment. Importantly, being an ambassador is a rewarding experience– making a difference to young lives while developing your own employability skills.

For further information, or to make an application, contact the Outreach Team at outreach@kent.ac.uk or bycalling 01227 824149. Applications are welcome between September and January.

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FUTURE DATESTalks and seminars aboutdeveloping your employabilityskills are scheduled throughoutthe summer term. They include:

Canterbury• Tour of the Careers and EmployabilityService

• Career planning for your final year

Medway• Effective CVs and covering letters• Job hunting – get strategic!

Find out more atwww.kent.ac.uk/employability/calendar.html

Kent Union will also be running ‘Stand Out’training sessions including:• Working with young adults in theatre andeducation

• Introduction to the print industry• Chairing meetings

Find out more at www.kentunion.co.uk

For IT skills workshops please see:http://www.kent.ac.uk/student/skills/it-skills/index.html

For language courses please see:http://www.kent.ac.uk/languages/

Remember to also check your AcademicSchool website for events and sessions.

To suggest future employability-related events,email employability@kent.ac.uk

COMING UP IN THE AUTUMN TERMEMPLOYABILITYNEWSLETTERGlobal Skills Award forpostgraduate students

Approaches to employability –Academic Schools

Real life experiences of Kentstudents

STUDENT AMBASSADOR SCHEME

LANGUAGES AT KENT Learning another language, from Arabic to Mandarin, can enhance youremployability prospects. It is also a fun way to broaden your horizons andexperience the world from an alternative perspective. Language studyoptions available at Kent will help you to:

• Improve your communication skills both in a new language and in your mother tongue• Develop intercultural awareness • Better understand the international community that you live and work in • Consider different standpoints and perspectives• Appreciate different approaches to learning and working• Make connections with a wider group of people both for employability and social reasons• Prepare for the global marketplace that you are likely to be competing in after graduation• Enhance your CV• Extend the possibilities of your job search

For further information on languages available, see www.kent.ac.uk/languages