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AHECS
PROMOTING AND ENCOURAGING EMPLOYABILITY
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www.ahecs.ie
Photography: Courtesy of Gary Hoctor, info@hellocamera.ie Design: info@designetc.ie
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AHECS The Association of Higher Education Careers Services (AHECS) is the representative association for careers advisory and placement professionals in higher education in Ireland. Its mission is to lead, support and facilitate collaboration among higher education careers services throughout Ireland and be the recognised authority on graduate career development, learning and employability. Included among our members are 27 Universities, Higher Education Institutes and Institutes of Technology.
CONTEXT We are not living in easy economic times. The graduates of 2011 are facing into one of the most difficult labour markets for many years. The children of the Celtic Tiger are now the graduates of the Credit Crunch. For these graduates, brought up in an era of affluence and certainty, the challenges of managing their careers in an environment marked by uncertainty and change are immense. Notwithstanding the difficulties in the market, it is clear to AHECS that employers are still looking for graduates that will be the engine of Ireland’s 21st century economy. They are looking for graduates who will come up with the next generation of products and business processes. They are looking for graduates with knowledge but they are also looking for graduates who are innovators, thinkers, masters in execution, and alliance builders in the worlds of business, finance, services, community and the arts. This requires a combination of academic skills, experience and key transferable skills which will ensure the future employability of graduates throughout their lifetime. AHECS has identified a need to put skills on the agenda of all higher education institutions and to embed these employability skills in the formal curriculum.
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THE EMPLOYABILITY AGENDA The issue of employability skills has been raised in a range of reports, most recently by the Hunt Report and the reports from IBEC, and the Expert Group for Future Skills Needs. Indeed AHECS’s commercial partner surveys employers annually on their skills needs. The Hunt Report addresses the issue of future skills for Irish graduates and states that one of the most fundamental questions in planning for the future is “what are the right skills for the graduates of 2015—30 and what mix of skills should we pursue as learning outcomes in higher education?” Hunt reinforces the AHECS view that the undergraduate curriculum should explicitly address the generic skills requirement for effective graduate engagement. AHECS members are ideally positioned to enable students to develop the employability skills that will allow their successful transition from education to the world of work and to maintain their employability throughout their working lives. Careers Services are already engaged in helping students make the transition to the working world. However a strategic change in direction in HE is essential to ensure that employability is placed at the heart of the curriculum development and of the student experience. A world class economy requires a world-class graduate workforce. Equipping Irish graduates to compete requires a commitment to employability and teaching. AHECS Career Services are ideally positioned to take the lead in empowering graduates to be future fit for the challenges of the 21st Century.
AHECS AWARDS The purpose of the AHECS awards is to encourage, reward and share bestin-class practice among Higher Education career practitioners and employers in the area of employability. There are thirteen nominees this year, reflecting the breadth and depth of employability initiatives across careers services in Ireland. The diversity of the submissions is clear, ranging from initiatives for undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers, to international and volunteering programmes, mentoring and career development programmes, and involving employers across the sectoral divide viz. public and private, SME and large organisations, indigenous and multinational, services and industry. Most importantly, these quality-driven, innovative projects have equipped students to make the transition from second to third level and from third and fourth level to the world of work.
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DUBLIN CITY UNIVERSITY
The Uaneen module The Uaneen module is a unique scheme that awards academic credits to students who submit a portfolio showcasing the work done and learning acquired by them through their extra-curricular activity. DCU is the only third level institution in the Republic of Ireland to reward extracurricular activity in such a manner and the Uaneen committee includes an independent chairperson from IBEC, The President’s Office, The Office of Student Life, Careers Service and Academic Representation. www.dcu.ie/uaneen/index.shtml
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DUBLIN CITY UNIVERSITY
Joint alumni/careers mentorship programmes The Mentorship programme is a collaboration between the Careers Service and the Alumni office. This innovative creative mentorship programme enables DCU students to explore career planning, develop networks, enhance employability skills and learn from role models by partnering with DCU graduates and employers. There is both a Structured Mentorship and e-mentorship programme. www.dcu.ie/alumni/mentoring.shtml
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DUBLIN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Creative cv guide How to make an impression in the creative industries The creative cv guide was developed by the DIT Careers Service in collaboration with a number of industry, academic and professional (AHECS) colleagues as a comprehensive ‘one-stop-shop’ for students and graduates in response to ongoing requests from students for advice on the best ways to make an impression in the creative industries. It looks at how students can enhance their employability through the better presentation of themselves and their work and the establishment of their own ‘personal brand’. www.dit.ie/campuslife/careers/finalistsvacancies
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DUBLIN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Careers development skills programme (CDSP) Drawing on contemporary theories of career decision-making, (incl. constructivism; systems and chaos theories) our day long ECTS accredited CDSP provides students with a framework for reflecting on and understanding personal career motivations as well as practical tips, tools and techniques for implementing career decisions. CDSP programmes are incorporated into 80% of academic courses at under/post graduate level institute-wide and are specifically tailored for each course. www.dit.ie/careers
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TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
Civic engagement initiative The Civic Engagement project serves to address two of the most pressing needs of our society: 1. Student and graduate employability. 2. Community services under increased demand but with fewer resources. The programme involves a range of initiatives which included: developing links with community organisations, brokering volunteering and service relationships with students, redeveloping the Civic Engagement website, developing the Dean of Students’ Roll of Honour, a Trinity Volunteer Fair and a monthly Voluntary opportunities newsletter www.tcd.ie/community
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TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
Careers support for international students International students face a number of unique challenges when seeking employment in Ireland and a recent survey of TCD international students highlighted employability as a key issue. This initiative provides range of services for international students designed to enhance employability including an online international mentoring programme; language support; tailored workshops; speciďŹ c web information; international employer visits and a newsletter. www.tcd.ie/careers/students/international
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TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
Contract researchers: thinking inside and outside the box The Careers Advisory Service in collaboration with WiSER (Women in Science, Engineering and Research), and the Staff Development Unit at Trinity College Dublin designed and delivered two workshops to enhance the employability of Contract Researcher staff. The workshops focused on self-awareness to identify career options together with job hunting techniques including cvs, networking and optimum interview performance. www.tcd.ie/careers
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TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
Planning and managing your research and your career’ ECTS accredited module for PhD students The ‘Planning and Managing your Research and Your Career’ module for research PhD students was designed and developed by the Trinity College Careers Advisory Service and Student Learning Development. The module elements include self-study, assessments and face-to-face workshop sessions focussed on employability and research planning (career planning, effective presentations, team working, job-hunting essentials, stress management, research planning, thesis writing and viva preparation). www.tcd.ie/Careers/downloads/plan_mng_career.pdf
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UNIVERSITY COLLEGE CORK
Food graduate development programme The Agri-food sector is a very signiďŹ cant employer in Ireland being responsible for 8.5% of total employment. The FGDP funded by the Department of Agriculture and Food and is an inter-institutional programme linking all postgraduate students in the agri-food sector. The aim of the programme is to provide employability skills training which has a strong emphasis on the skills required of leaders in the agri-food sector. www.foodpostgrad.ie
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INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, TRALEE
Steps 2 success Steps 2 Success is a unique careers education programme developed by the Careers Office in association with IT Tralee Management and the School of Business. Participants identiďŹ ed their personality traits and discovered their skill set before learning to market themselves to employers. The programme also focused on the hidden jobs market and how to access it and local employers were involved with the initiative. The sessions culminated in each participant making a pitch to a panel of employers utilising the skills and techniques they develop throughout the programme. www.ittralee.ie/en/informationfor/currentstudents/careersoffice/employers/steps 2success
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DUNDALK INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Accelerating campus entrepreneurship (ACE) The ACE Initiative is a joint collaboration of Cork Institute of Technology, Institute of Technology Blanchardstown, Institute of Technology Sligo and National University of Ireland Galway and is being led by Dundalk Institute of Technology. This project aims, through a collaborative approach, to create entrepreneurial graduates by embedding entrepreneurship education into third level programmes and effecting organisational change within and between the institutions. ww2.dkit.ie/research/innovation_and_enterprise/ace
Above: Paul Kerley, founder and CEO of Norkom Technologies, Dr Cecilia Hegarty, and Denis Cummins, President, Dundalk IT. Right: Dr Cecilia Hegarty, manager of ACE Consortium.
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UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
Computer science in practice/at work This embedded 5 credit module developed in collaboration with academics and employers aims to engage 1st year students in personal and professional career development. A high level of employer input has helped students learn more about the wide range of careers open to them, the labour market, the skills employers look for and to assist students in making an early career decisions. The programme included a bootcamp event, inputs on the importance of campus engagement, self-assessment, industry visits and networking events. www.ucd.ie/vavctest/brianmedia/temp/_careers_ďŹ nalcut.mov
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NUIG GALWAY
Integrating employability into the school’s undergraduate programmes A comprehensive and ECTS credit bearing initiative which integrates employability into each year of the Business School’s undergraduate programmes using creative and innovative learning methodologies, incorporating student engagement and collaboration with careers, employers, industry professionals and community partners. A recent employability survey highlighted that 78% of participating students agreed they had developed strong employability skills during their degree citing this initiative as the main contributing factor. www.nuigalway.ie/careers/staff/transferable_skills.html
Above: Mentors and Academic Staff following mentoring event. Right: Winners of the ICE Project 2010 L — R Pádraig O Céidigh, CEO Aer Arann and Adjunct Professor NUI Galway, Zhongyi Ellen Ren, Patrick Farrell, Patrice Lacken & Dr. Emer Mulligan, Head of JE Cairnes School of Business & Economics.
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AHECS
PROMOTING AND ENCOURAGING EMPLOYABILITY