UCD Career Development Centre www.ucd.ie/careers
UCD Career Development Centre ANNUAL Report
2011/2012
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Welcome to the UCD Career Development Centre and this summary of our main activities during 2011/12. The 2011/12 academic year saw staff at the Centre develop, deliver and evaluate an expanded range of activities designed to promote student engagement on campus, enhance students’ graduate attributes and skills and counteract the effects of the economic situation on students’ progression into graduate employment and graduate study. The work of the Centre breaks down into two main spheres, services traditionally associated with Career Services such as Careers Fairs (attending employers have vacancies), transferable skills training workshops, developing an effective CV, creative job search sessions and one-to-one career guidance and secondly partnerships with academic staff that have introduced credit bearing personal and career development into the academic curriculum. During the 2011/12 year, modules were delivered in Nursing, Psychology, Information and Library Studies, Computer Science, and Springboard courses in ICT, Biopharmaceutical and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Since the mid 1990’s significant growth in embedding career and personal development provision has been evident in many countries as careers professionals and institutions have worked to better prepare students for life beyond university in what is increasingly a demanding and sophisticated graduate recruitment market. In Spring 2012, a rigorous evaluation of personal and career development modules at UCD demonstrated clear support for these developments amongst academic staff, students and employers and helped ensure plans for 2012/13 are informed through feedback. We recognise that credit bearing modules in personal and career development may not be relevant or appropriate for every School and therefore Career Development Advisers are happy to develop and deliver bespoke provision across UCD with well developed programmes evident in many areas.
Contents Welcome to the UCD Career Development Centre
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Work with Students
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Work with Academic Staff
7
Work with Employers
11
First Destination Survey
14
Examples of Career Development Centre Activities
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While graduate recruitment and selection remains very competitive, a number of employers across a range of sectors are experiencing difficulty in filling their graduate vacancies. The UCD Career Development Centre works to develop students who can clearly demonstrate and articulate their academic success, apply their skills to work and demonstrate clear commitment to ongoing personal and professional development.. Growing the number of job vacancies for UCD students is more important than ever and to enhance opportunities for UCD students, in the staff at the Career Development Centre has developed a broader range of local, national and international employer contacts. As a result our range of Careers Fairs and advertised vacancies have grownwith further enhancements planned for 2012/13. The success of our third Corporate Finance Study Visit to City of London has led to a new development and in 2013 around 30 students from UCD Quinn School of Business will be joined by 14 students from the School of Law as delegates in parallel Corporate Finance and Corporate and Commercial Law Study Visits during March 2013. I do hope that you will enjoy finding out more about our work and please do contact me should you wish to discuss how we might work with you to better meet the needs of your School and students.
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The UCD Career Development Centre stresses the importance of early planning and the development of a set of core skills for working life...
Working with Students The UCD Career Development Centre stresses the importance of early planning and the development of a set of core skills for working life, encouraging students to engage in centrally offered support at the Centre and in bespoke programmes of career education, information and guidance delivered within Schools
As mentioned, our work involves the provision of lectures, skills workshops, careers fairs and other programmes. Our work is backed-up with in-house publications such as the annual UCD Career Guide, a professionally produced and published “one-stop-shop” of information, advice, articles and profiles of UCD graduates at work to help students plan and realise their career goals. A comprehensive website allows students to make appointments on-line to meet with careers advisers, provides access to computer aided career planning tools, podcasts and video materials, a searchable database of internship and graduate vacancies and a range of practice numerical, verbal and spatial reasoning ability tests and of personality type-indicators with feedback. This year we enhanced our electronic provision by launching social networking accounts and between September 2011 and April 2012, over 2700 students “liked” us on facebook. With the services we offer directly to students at the UCD Career Development Centre, through combined services delivered within the curriculum and on-line, it should be possible for every student at UCD, and for graduates, to access services which may help them in their career development.
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2918
students attended Careers Fairs to network with employers recruiting for intern and graduate positions.
2510
students attended skills workshops and graduate recruitment presentations on campus.
1430
students made use of our one-to-one career guidance services.
600
students enrolled on our credit bearing modules this year, ranging from first year students in Computer Science to graduate students on Springboard courses.
400
students attended workshops on developing an effective CV, preparing for interview and career planning, delivered at the Career Development Centre.
6800
66
3000+
60
unique users visited the Career Development Centre website during the academic year.
first year students attended some 40 introductory sessions with first year students, stressing the importance of active studentship through, for example, engaging in volunteering, sports, clubs & societies.
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stand alone lectures and workshops designed for specific groups of students were delivered at School level by Career Development Advisers.
students were awarded non-credit bearing Certificates in Skills for Working Life (a series of eight weekly two- hour interactive employer led skills workshops) and Work Based Learning (a week long study visit comprising presentations, case studies and business games at financial institutions in the City of London).
Students said: “Thank you so much for all of your help. I should have gone to you in first year! The websites you recommended are very useful, especially the ones with aptitude tests. I am very happy with the resources you have given me.” Arts & Celtic Studies, final year student “My advice to current students is to go to the Career Development Centre as soon as possible, in first year ideally. The detailed and very realistic advice and insight into the way firms recruit is an invaluable resource.” BCL European, graduate
“I was discussing the Career Development in Psychology module with my friends today and we’re all finding it extremely beneficial. I really needed something like this to help me focus on my goals and the future a little more. It’s such a great resource to have as a Psychology student and that’s the general class consensus.” School of Psychology, final year students “I found out about the opportunity at Ferrari via a notification from the Career Development Centre to the School of Mechanical Engineering.” School of Mechanical Engineering, PhD student 5
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Increasingly, much of what we do is through discussion and partnerships with academic staff...
Working with Academic Staff Increasingly, much of what we do is through discussion and partnerships with academic staff, ideally as part of an existing module or in timetabled lectures sitting outside the modular structure either for or not for credit. Career Development Advisers are allocated caseloads of academic Schools to support the career education, information and guidance needs of groups of students over and above delivering core programmes at the Centre. Typically, services at the Centre can be used by students of any degree discipline whereas those delivered in Schools are generally tailored to the needs of specific groups. Career Development Advisers can help Schools by: Supporting career and personal development within the curriculum. Providing expertise in relation to skills development, work based learning, career planning and graduate opportunities. Providing an informed view of the graduate labour market through contacts with employers, professional bodies and associations and statutory bodies. Facilitating the development of links to employers and organisations that can support School developments, initiatives and opportunities for students.
Our experience, and that of other universities, suggests that tailoring career related provision to the needs of students works best when one nominated academic point of contact exists within each School. We are particularly pleased to have developed such relationships with staff at the School of Law (Dr Oonagh Breen) and the School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Sciences (Dr Hilary McMahon) who are designated Career Development Liaison Officers. This ensures that career programmes are well planned, relevant and evaluated against the changing needs of both the School and students. While recognising that different Schools will adopt different practices, I do hope that more Schools will recognise the benefits in nominating Careers Development Liaison Officers.
Career Development Liaison Officers ... ensure that career programmes are well planned, relevant and evaluated against the changing needs of the School and students
Supply regular updates on internship, job vacancies, skills workshops, careers fairs and employer presentations for students.
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Academics said: “The School of Law greatly values its ties with the Career Development Centre. In my role as Career Development Liaison Officer, I have worked closely with David and Ena in the provision of Careers Talks and guidance to students contemplating graduate and job opportunities and have seen firsthand the quality of the service provided. The support of the CDC has been invaluable in the facilitation of the UCD Law Fair, now entering its third year, which has provided opportunities not just for student recruitment but also for better School of Law/Employer networking opportunities. Further testament to the strong relations forged between the CDC and the School of Law is evidenced by the planned March 2013 London Law firms Study Visit- a truly collaborative joint venture which will provide students with greater insight into internship and trainee opportunities”
Dr Oonagh Breen, Senior Lecturer/Career Development Liaison Officer, UCD School of Law
“Working directly with the UCD Career Development Centre over the past few years on a range of programme enhancements has been a very positive experience for both staff and students at the Quinn School of Business. Initiatives introduced with the help of the CDC include the introduction of a formal requirement within the BComm for students to engage in Personal Development Planning, and in the provision of discretionary internship opportunities for Business students during their programme of study at UCD. Being able to avail of the expertise and contacts within the CDC has been a crucial factor in enabling these initiatives to proceed. CDC staff provide vital support for academic staff moving away from their area of expertise with the objective of expanding students’ educational horizons within UCD. At all times, the CDC staff offer support with dedication, professionalism and genuine interest in providing an integrated suite of supports for Quinn School students”
Professor Aileen Pierce, UCD Quinn School of Business
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“The CDC has offered a career development module to single honours psychology students for the last two years. The module is offered in the final year of the degree and has been very heavily oversubscribed by the students. The module was designed by CDC with the short term and long term career development and planning needs of our students in mind. Feedback from the students suggests that they find it engaging and stimulating and that they believe that it is extremely useful. The School has been very impressed with the exceptional quality of the staff delivering the module and believe that it is an important element of the overall suite of modules available to our students. The CDC has worked closely with the School of Psychology to offer a range of lunchtime sessions to students at all levels of their degree programme to ensure that the career development needs of our students are met. The School has greatly appreciated the flexibility and professionalism of the staff in the CDC in delivering this range of services to Psychology students”
Dr. Eilis Hennessy, Head of School, UCD School of Psychology
The Career Development Centre Team for 2012/13 is: Dr David Foster Director College of Arts and Celtic Studies
Ms Sorcha Mulcahy Deputy Director, College of Human Sciences*
Ms Carol Hunt Career Development Adviser, College of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, College of Health Science
Ms Ena Maguire Career Development Adviser (part-time), College of Business and Law
Ms Dee Murphy Career Development Adviser College of Engineering and Architecture Springboard programmes- ICT/Biopharma, Pharmaceutical Science and Synthetic Chemsitry
Ms Sarah Brown Career Development Adviser, College of Science inc Springboard programmes
Mr Mark Cumisky Career Development Adviser (Postdoctoral Research Fellows).
Dr Aoife Collins Employer Liaison and Events Assistant
Ms Caroline Bonser Information Assistant (Web and Social Media)
Ms Jessica Coyle (part-time) Executive Assistant. *On leave from May 2012 until January 2013. Interim Deputy Director, Edel Caraway is in post.
The UCD Career Development Centre has a sister centre at the Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School with strong connections to the MBA Careers Service Manager and the Admissions, Careers and Placement Manager in place. This report is based on work undertaken at Belfield Campus only.
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Working with Employers The Career Development Centre promotes and develops links with employers to enable UCD students to develop experience of the world of work, develop skills employers want and find jobs. To meet this objective, we seek out high quality internship and graduate job opportunities and where possible and appropriate, bring students and employers together through guest lecturers, in delivering interactive soft skills training in non-credit bearing Certificate in Skills for Working Life, in networking fora and at Careers Fairs. We provide advice to employers on strategies to access students they are seeking, often acting as a conduit between employer, School and student and on raising their profile on campus. Often, in our regular meetings with employers we uncover interest in sponsoring academic prizes or events and refer such interest on to the School concerned. This is easiest when a nominated member of academic staff is a Careers Development Liaison Officer. In addition to working with employers targeting UCD students for recruitment purposes, staff target specific employers and during 2011/12 were able to advertise 100’s of additional internship and graduate vacancies over and above those notified to us. Our outward facing search brought UCD students vacancies at, for example, Ferrari, United Kingdom and Northern Ireland Civil Services, Jaguar Land Rover, Thames Water, London Underground, Harrods, Thales and The Royal Mail.
We provide advice to employers on strategies to access students they are seeking, often acting as a conduit between employer, School and student and on raising their profile on campus. Helping employers recruit interns and graduates Employers are able to up-load internships, graduate vacancies and experienced hire positions onto a searchable vacancy database via our customer relationship management system. If the vacancy passes our internal quality assurance checks it is published on our database and can be searched by UCD students and registered graduates. Details on services we offer employers can be found at www.ucd.ie/careers/employers Each year, the UCD Career Development Centre connects UCD students to 100’s of employers on campus and to 1000’s of local, national and international vacancies by exploiting social media, soft and hard copy channels. However, we are always keen to hear from Schools looking to develop a line of communication to help students’ access internship and graduate job vacancies. In addition to advertising vacancies on our website, notifications are sent to specific Schools where a relevant subject specific vacancy is received.
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Our Careers Fairs focus on presenting students with job opportunities and our exhibitors are actively involved in seeking high quality students for internships and graduate positions. During 2011/12, the following Career Fairs helped graduate recruiters connect with future employees: On Campus Careers Fairs 2011/12 Fair
Student attendance
Exhibitor attendance
Nursing & Midwifery
203
11
Law
300
20
General Careers
1000
49
Science Careers
551
13
Languages Careers
251
15
Internships & Volunteering
445
24
Education Careers
94
14
Computer Science Opportunities Day
74
23
Total
2918
169
For 2012/13, our Careers Fairs have been re-organised and the General Careers Fairs is replaced by a Business, Management and Administration Fair and a Science, IT and Engineering Fair incorporates the existing Science Careers Fair.
In addition to attending Careers Fairs:
907 494 120
internship and graduate vacancies were loaded directly onto our vacancy service by recruiters.
new employers registered to advertise vacancies with the UCD Career Development Centre.
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employer led recruitment presentations, lectures and workshops were attended by 2510 students.
“Deloitte was delighted to be involved in the Skills for Working Life programme. This is an excellent initiative bringing students, employers and career professionals together through an interactive learning experience. It is refreshing to see a university taking such an innovative approach to developing students’ transferable skills for the workplace.”
Dr Mary Collins, Head of Talent Development & Learning, Deloitte
“A very useful event (UCD Law Fair) - lots of intelligent, focused questions. Great to see so many well informed and confident students”.
Graduate Recruitment Team, Allen & Overy LLP
“Good turnout of very interested students at the Science Fair. We are interested in having many of these students work with Genzyme in the future”.
Graduate Recruitment Team, Genzyme
32.8%
First Destination Survey (FDS) UCD Career Development Centre carries out an annual First Destination Survey on behalf of UCD to meet UCD’s obligation to supply the Higher Education Authority with data concerning the first destination of graduates. The survey is undertaken between March and July each year in line with an HEA requirement that students are surveyed 9 months after course completion with data submitted to the HEA by 31 July each year.
Methodology Hard copy questionnaires are issued to the target population with follow up telephone calls to nonrespondents taking place to ensure UCD exceeds the minimum known destination response rate of 60% as set by the HEA. In 2011, staff at the CDC recorded known destinations for 68.4% of the graduate population. Figure 1 below illustrates first destination career outcomes for the class of 2011, Graduate Destination Statistics for all students completing Diploma, Degree and 2.6% Graduate Qualifications at UCD in 2011. 7.7% 7.7%
2.6%
7.7%
2.6%
32.8% 32.8%
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The current economic situation is well documented and many students face challenging times in securing their first job after completing their studies. However, there are sectors of employment that are vibrant and struggling to fill vacancies, many recruiting from all degree disciplines. These sectors include accountancy, financial services, investment banking, corporate law (particularly in London), agri-food, agriculture, IT and professional services. In these areas where graduates with specialist knowledge and skills are sought, often in large numbers , there remains need for graduates of other disciplines to enter careers in areas such as human resources, training and development exporting, marketing and sales. With an estimated 70% of Ireland’s vacancies not advertised, students need to develop a strategy to access the hidden job market and staff at the Career Development Centre can help them do just that.
Current FDS Developments The staff at the Career Development Centre has worked with colleagues in Information Services to develop new systems to make the data collected on destinations more accessible to relevant staff. From autumn 2012, designated members of UCD staff will be able to access graduate destination data for the Institution, their College and subject majors via Infohub. More information on this new service will follow later in the Autumn and it is hoped colleagues will find this information helpful in areas such as programme review and planning. In line with data protection legislation, data made available will be in summary format and will not relate to named individuals.
56.9% 56.9%
56.9%
Employed Further Study and Training Seeking Employment Employed Employed available for employment Further Study Further and Training Study andNot Training Seeking Employment Seeking Employment Not available for Notemployment available for employment
Career Development Centre Activities Employability Forum
Dr David Foster addressing delegates at the recent AHECS Employability Forum for Careers Adviser and Graduate Recruiters.
CDC Open Day
Promoting services at the Centre’s 2011 Open Day.
Gradireland Awards
Dr David Foster pictured (far right) presenting the award for Graduate Employee of the Year to Abbott’s Connor Barry at Gradireland’s Graduate Recruitment Awards at the Mansion House with Gavan O’Brien, Commercial Manager, Gradireland (far left).
Skills for Working Life
Rewarding Achievement. Orla Graham, Head of HR, Deloitte addresses students at the Skills for Working Life award evening.
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Career Development Centre James Joyce Library Building, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4 Tel: +353 1 716 7574 Fax: +353 1 716 1159 Email: careers@ucd.ie Web: www.ucd.ie/careers www.facebook.com/ucdcareers @UCDCareers