This page focuses on the element ‘careers management skills and insights’. It provides a description of the element, highlights its relevance, and provides examples of careers management skills and insights in the curriculum. Description Planned space within the curriculum for students to gain career management skills and insights and to be encouraged to engage in timely career planning. Note: ‘Career management skills’ can be broadly defined as the skills, attributes, attitudes and knowledge that individuals require in order to manage their career. Relevance for student development, employability and careers This element prepares students for ongoing career management in a dynamic and uncertain labour market. This skill is critical in enabling students to navigate the job market long after their studies and make confident career choices. By embedding this in the curriculum, we ensure that all students give thought to their futures while they have full access to the support and opportunities available, and develop their capacity for successful lifelong career management. Tips and things to consider Below you will find some key tips and guidance to consider when incorporating career management skills and insights into curricular provision. Practical tips Engage students early Encourage students to engage with career learning early during their time at university; career research and planning/management can be a time-consuming process so it is key to engage early and encourage students to take ownership of this process. Career management is a lifelong process and skills that students develop now will be of benefit throughout their career as they adapt and work in a dynamic and ever changing labour market. Similarly, career decision making is not a one-off event but an ongoing process of decisions taken throughout working life. Make it appropriate to the stage the students are at Meaningful and appropriate engagement will look different at different stages in a student lifecycle, for example early years students might be encouraged to engage with the many and varied opportunities to develop their skills, while for students in later years activities will likely become more career-focused. However there is no one-size-fits-all approach to career management and students should be encouraged to engage at a time that is right for them. Protected time and developmental process Sessions and allocated time in the curriculum for developing career management skills and insights signal their importance and ensure all students engage. Sessions should be part of a developmental process that students build on and progress as students move through university. Moreover, sessions gain value from being clearly linked to a broader context rather than a ‘one-off’ at a particular point; for example how would a session for Honours students build on what early years students have done? Build on what’s gone before and give a taster of what’s to come. Build career insights by linking course content to real-world applications and career contexts Consider how your course/input can support students in building career insights for example by offering your own valuable insights as a lecturer/course organiser, highlighting the link between the course topic and the real-world/careers/possible field of work, inviting guest lectures or speakers from industry to help students make connections. When this happens in multiple courses across a field, students can start to form ideas of different possible career paths. Use reflection to deepen the impact Interventions have a particular impact when reflection is embedded as part of the process. Support and encourage students to reflect on their career planning and management, how they can chart the progress they have made and what work they still need to do in this area. Consider using careers-related assignments or assessments It might be appropriate in your context to use a career-related task as an assessment/assignment and this way support students’ development in this area. Some of the more straightforward methods can be around career transition skills, where students could submit a CV, cover letter, or PhD proposal as part of your course. Be happy to signpost your student or seek help Whatever stage your students are at, encourage them to engage with, and use, the Careers Service as a source of support. Moreover, the Careers Service and other professional services around the University are happy to sit down and have a conversation about how to embed careers into your particular context. Examples of practice in the University of Edinburgh There is diverse practice across the University that can be used to stimulate thinking about what is possible in your setting. Below is a link to a range of relevant practice from the Teaching Matters blog. The examples come from multiple parts of the student experience and relate either partially or substantially to this element. New articles are automatically added so check back in the future to discover some of the latest practice. Teaching Matters: relevant articles Further reading and external perspectives The references below provide some background on this element as well as some of the external drivers and motivations for including it. Note: ‘Career management skills’ can be broadly defined as skills, attributes, attitudes and knowledge that individuals require in order to manage their career however in much of the literature the terminology around career management is often conflated with the broader concept of employability. In the literature below you will therefore see reference to both ‘career management’ and ‘employability’. Overview These references pull together a range of literature both on strategic benefits of incorporating career learning into the curriculum, and on positive benefits for students in terms of their confidence in making career choices. Further reading Reference Description Neary, S., Dodd, V. and Hooley, T. (2015). Understanding career management skills: Findings from the first phase of the CMS leader project. Derby: International Centre for Guidance Studies, University of Derby. This paper defines career management skills and talks about the need for supporting these, alongside highlighting external drivers. Taylor, A.R. and Hooley, T. (2014). Evaluating the impact of career management skills module and internship programme within a university business school. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 42 (5) 487–99. This paper compares the graduate destinations of students who did and did not receive a curriculum-based intervention on careers management skills and a structured work placement. They found that receiving only a career management skills intervention positively influenced graduate destinations compared to no intervention, but not as much as both career management skills and structured work experience. Dacre Pool, L. and Sewell, P. (2007). The key to employability: developing a practical model for graduate employability. Education and Training, 49 (4) 277–89. This paper introduces a framework for developing students' employability and career development learning, which includes developing career management skills and building self-awareness as key pillars of graduate employability. Jackson, D. and Wilton, N. (2016). Developing career management competencies among undergraduates and the role of work-integrated learning. Teaching in Higher Education, 21 (3) 266–86. This paper explores students’ career management skills within the UK and Australia. It suggests that work-based learning can benefit certain career management skills, but others are not developed within work placements to the same extent, for example labour market understanding and career-search strategies. The implications of the findings are that higher education institutions can develop students’ career management skills using work-based learning, but should supplement this learning with more targeted interventions to develop a full range of career management skills. Jackson, D. (2014). Testing a model of undergraduate competence in employability skills and its implications for stakeholders, Journal of Education and Work, 27 (2) 220–42. This paper explores a model of graduate employability by looking at a series of skills relevant to employment and careers as well as containing a discussion on ways stakeholders can adjust curricula to enhance career management and employability. It found a range of factors influence the development of these skills, work-integrated learning being a key one. It suggests that a clear cut distinction between skills required for academic success and those boosting students’ employability is artificial; skills development will and should target both for success in either. Artess, J., Mellors-Bourne, R. and Hooley, T., (2017). Employability: A review of the literature 2012-2016 York: Higher Education Academy. A great overall resource about student development, employability and careers. It discusses terminology and definitions and reviews recent literature on the topic, with a section specifically devoted to 'career guidance and management'. This article was published on 2024-04-02
