The journey of Careers Service

byNazrana ParkerandWinston Middleton

As UWC celebrates our 60th Anniversary, we have compiled a story graphic of the journey of career services on campus from an add-on support service to a self-suffi cient, award-winning entity.

1970 1983

THE CHILD GUIDANCE UNIT, under the leadership of Dr. Edna van Harte facilitates campus interviews for students with recruiters and company presentations with the assistance of Ms Evadne Abrahams. MR ERROL NOURSE of the then Institute of Counselling takes over the Recruitment Programme with the assistance of Ms Abrahams. JOB SEARCH SKILLS PROJECT implemented to assist students prepare for the job search and interviews.

1990

1992

GRADUATE RECRUITMENT SUPPORT becomes the responsibility of Mr Winston Middleton.

STARTS NETWORKING with career services at other universities.

FORMAL GRADUATE RECRUITMENT PROJECT established to include active recruitment of prospective employers, including job search skills training for students. FUNDING PROPOSAL SUBMITTED to the South African Norwegian Tertiary Education Development Programme (SANTED) to develop a Career Development Programme.

2001

MR MIDDLETON APPOINTED as Head of the Offi ce for Student Development (OSD) reporting directly to the Vice-Rector: Student Aff airs.

SEPARATE OFFICE ESTABLISHED in the University Centre.

GRADUATE RECRUITMENT PROGRAMME RE-IMAGINED to become a comprehensive Career Development

1983 1987

1988 1989

1999

2000

Programme.

FUNDING PROPOSAL APPROVED.

2002

FIRST GRADUATE PLACEMENT OFFICER, Ms Melody Windvogel, appointed in OSD.

FIRST CV MANUAL PUBLISHED.

FIRST CAREER MAGAZINE PUBLISHED.

2002

FIRST PC for the OSD Resource Centre donated by Ms Cathy Sims, Graduate Recruiter at Accenture.

2003

2004

2005

FIRST CAREER XPO held in April, 10 companies present.

PILOT MOCK INTERVIEW PROJECT and the Skills Development Project launched.

UWC BECOMES AN AFFILIATE MEMBER of the newly established South African Graduate Recruiters Association (SAGRA).

OSD RELOCATED to the current offi ce space in the University Centre.

CAREER SERVICE RESOURCE LIBRARY LAUNCHED. FUNDING FROM SANTED ENDED and UWC takes over funding OSD. MS SINETTE JOOSTE appointed as Career Development Programme Coordinator. MS NAZRANA PARKER appointed as Career Development Programme Coordinator.

2010

2011

2012

2013

FIRST SEPARATE LAW CAREER XPO HELD.

FIRST SEPARATE ACCOUNTING XPO HELD.

RELAUNCH OF THE MOCK INTERVIEW PROGRAMME with Bowmans and Accenture.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME RENAMED “Careers Service” (CS) in line with national trend.

UWC CAREERS SERVICE FACEBOOK page launched.

UWC CAREERS SERVICE VOTED 5TH PLACE for the “Best Careers Service” and “Best Career Fair” categories of the SAGRA Employer Benchmarking Survey.

FIRST ‘JOB SEARCH SKILLS PREPARATION’ EXERCISE embedded into a second year Life Sciences 152 module. MS NATALIE THOMAS appointed as Administrative Assistant – Programmes. VOTED 2ND FOR “BEST CAREERS SERVICE” and 3RD FOR “BEST CAREER FAIR” in the SA Graduate Employers Association (SAGEA) Employer Benchmarking Survey.

2014

2015

‘JOB SEARCH SKILLS PREPARATION’ exercise embedded into a fi nal year Oral Hygiene module.

FIRST STUDENT INTERN, MS LAUREN FRANKE, appointed at OSD and a new intern every subsequent year.

VOTED 4TH FOR “BEST CAREERS SERVICE” and 6TH FOR “BEST CAREER FAIR” in the SAGEA Employer Benchmarking Survey.

JOINT WINNERS OF THE SAGEA AWARD FOR “BEST EMPLOYABILITY / WORK READINESS INITIATIVE” at the SAGEA Annual Awards for our re-imagined Mock

2006

2007

2009

2014

Interview Project.

2016

PURCHASED AND STARTED CUSTOMISING the online Career Service Management tool by Symplicity.

2016

VOTED 5TH FOR “BEST CAREERS SERVICE” and “BEST CAREER FAIR” in the SAGEA Employer Benchmarking Survey.

2017

UWC “CAREER XPLORA” ONLINE CAREERS SERVICE PORTAL LAUNCHED greatly enhancing the effi ciency and quality of our services to recruiters and students.

TWITTER HANDLE “@UWCCareerXplora” and UWC CAREERS SERVICE YOUTUBE CHANNEL launched.

FIRST UWC CAREER XPLORA VIDEO TUTORIALS produced in-house. UWC VOTED 4TH FOR “BEST CAREERS SERVICE” and 7TH FOR “BEST CAREER FAIR” in the SAGEA Employer Benchmarking Survey. FIRST SEPARATE TECHNOLOGY CAREER XPO HELD. CAREER XPLORA REACHES 5000 STUDENT ‘LOG INS’ since launch.

2018

VOTED 6TH FOR “BEST CAREERS SERVICE” and “BEST CAREER FAIR” in the SAGEA Employer Benchmarking Survey.

EXPLORATIVE RESEARCH ON A WORK READINESS PROGRAMME for students initiated. Report of the Graduate Competency Development Programme adopted.

FACILITATED THE ‘YOUNG ALUMNI CAREER WORKSHOP’ in collaboration with the Alumni Relations Offi ce.

2019

JOB SEARCH SKILLS PREPARATION’ EXERCISE embedded into a fi nal year Dentistry module. CAREER XPLORA REACHES 10 000 STUDENT ‘LOG INS’ since launch. JOINT WINNERS OF THE SAGEA “BEST EMPLOYER REPRESENTATIVE” Award at the SAGEA Annual Awards.

2019

WINNER OF THE SAGEA “BEST WORK READINESS INITIATIVE” AWARD at the SAGEA Annual Awards for the UWC Career Xplora.

VOTED 3RD FOR “BEST CAREERS SERVICE” and 4TH FOR “BEST CAREER FAIR” in the SAGEA Employer Benchmarking Survey.

FINALIST 2019 BEST CAREER SERVICE SERVICE

SCORED MORE THAN THE INDUSTRY AVERAGE OF ALL UNIVERSITIES across six categories in the SAGEA Careers

2017

2018

2019

Service Survey.

WINNER 2019 BEST EMPLOYER REPRESENTATIVE

2019

2020

CAREER XPLORA IS FEATURED ON eNCA.

CAREER XPLORA REACHES 12 000 STUDENT ‘LOG INS’ since launch.

COLLABORATION WITH SAGEA, HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS AND EMPLOYERS in South Africa to host the fi rst national Virtual Career Expo for 2020.