IED Trans Design Week Career Planning Workshop 2017 Report Presented by Ad Astra Group
Introduction
This report, produced by Ad Astra Group, is a follow-up to the Career Workshop led during the TransDesign week at IED Barcelona in February 2017. It provides an overview of the 4-day workshop rationale and shares learnings which could be implemented in future program design and development both by the IED network and Ad Astra. It is our intent to accurately convey student opinions, needs, and interests throughout this report. Included in the pages to come you will find: rationale for the workshop, the course format, teaching framework and pedagogy, student feedback, our learnings, takeaways and suggested future considerations. The report will end with a conclusion which outlines our understanding of IED plans related to career planning services and our proposals for future collaboration.
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At a Glance Context Workshop Details Feedback & Takeaways Future Considerations Conclusion About Ad Astra Ad Astra Services
Ecuador BA in Graphic Design Argentina Masters in Fashion Marketing Mauratania BA in Interior Design Spain Masters in Fashion Marketing Austria Masters in Design Marketing Montenegro Masters in Fashion Management Lebenon A Year in Global Design Ukraine BA in Graphic Design India BA in Auto Design A Year in Global Design 4
At a Glance Workshop Title Career Planning “Make the most of your degree: How to score your dream job.” Location IED Barcelona Biada 11; 08012 Barcelona - 11 España Number of Participants 10 students, freshmen - graduate level, from 10 different countries Working Language The workshop was conducted in English Duration The workshops was implemented over the course of four days (16 hours total). Following the workshop, learners participated in the final exhibition of their work. Background “The Trans Design Week 2017 is an initiative where students from the school take part in multi-disciplinary workshops to learn about methodologies, techniques and strategies linked to design and creativity. The workshops’ intentions are to demonstrate how cross-sectional trainings can improve design thinking.” Aim The overall scope of this workshop is to help students realize personal and professional goals, identify employment opportunities, and understand what specific professional skills, in line with their design studies, they will need to succeed. Services Provided by Ad Astra 4-day curriculum design and delivery, program coordination, two workshop moderators, Ad Astra workbook in English, 14 worksheets, professional head-shots, video CVs.
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Facts & Figures Youth Employment
Labor Market Readiness
18.6%
of Youth in Europe are currently unemployed 1
42.9%
of Youth in Spain are currently unemployed 1
74% 38%
of Students feel prepared for the world of work post studies 2
35%
of Employers that feel recent grads are ready to work 2
79%
Creative Industry Opportunities
of education providers are confident they prepare students for the world of work 2
of European students are frustrated by lack of career support or job prospects post education 2
>50%
of Employers are satisfied with workforce skill levels 2
41.4%
of youth make up the workforce in Europe’s creative industries 3
2 million 6 billion
projected jobs are set to be created from implementing circular economy* into all businesses across Europe by 2020 4
net annual savings are projected to be saved by companies which incorporate circular economy into their businesses by 2020 4
* A circular economy is an industrial economy that promotes greater resource productivity aiming to reduce waste and avoid pollution by design or intention. 1 EU: youth unemployment rate by country 2016 | Statista 2 Education to employment: Getting Europe’s youth into work. (2014) | McKinsey & Company 3 Creating Growth - Measuring cultural and creative markets in the EU. (2014). | Ernst & Young 4 Supporting the key role of design in the Circular Economy. (2015) | BEDA 6
Design Skills
IED Career Services & Alumni Community
Work Skills
Context
The youth employment climate in Europe demonstrates both challenges and opportunities for young professionals. In Spain the youth unemployment rate is 42.9%. On one hand, over 50% of European employers are dissatisfied with the skill levels of youth graduating from higher education institutions. Paired with this youth themselves lack confidence in their own abilities, with only 38% feeling prepared to enter the world of work. On the other hand, institutions of higher learning seem to be out of the loop, with 74% believing that they do prepare youth for the world of work. Despite this disconnect between education and the world of work, opportunities for gainful employment are growing. Creative professionals are uniquely positioned to take on more than two million jobs which will be created as part of the EU policy-level efforts to expand design practices in a wider range of industries. Young professionals make up more than 41% of the workforce within cultural and creative industries, and therefore must be equipped with a sense of agency to take on these opportunities. In order to better prepare youth for entry into the world of work, three things must be considered: Foster Agency: Support young people’s development of professional mindsets which give them a sense of ownership and confidence in positioning themselves in the world of work Develop Skills: A focus on gaining industry-relevant hard and soft skill will help young people become responsive to market needs. Grow Ecosystem: Building an ecosystem where young professionals can continuously learn, practice and grow within their industry. Takeaways and suggested future considerations: Higher education institutions provide opportunities for skill and personal development on campus and through their networks via passive channels like mailing lists and announcements, yet 79% of European students feel frustrated by lack of career support or job prospects (post education). During their studies students are expected to be proactive, however, due to a lack of student agency and motivation, campus career services often go unused or unnoticed. By creating a strong school ethos of professional development and growth, both for current students and alumni, the university can increase the number of recent grads finding gainful employment as well as build notoriety in their success as an academic institution.
Student feedback: Students came into the workshop with very precise goals and objectives. Based on student feedback we understood that the workshop aligned with students’ needs. It was clear to us that students were unaware of the ecosystem and the wide range of opportunities provided on campus. Students who were aware of these opportunities did not feel equipped to take them on, demonstrating a lack of agency. For any higher education institution, it is important to not only list opportunities, open career centers, and build a spaces for creation, but to foster a school-wide mindset and culture where students see themselves as agents (participants and shapers) of an ecosystem and thus, of their personal career and lifestyle.
Format: Using the framework called “Three Steps to Discovering a Lifestyle You’ll Love,” we addressed agency, skills, and ecosystem by teaching students to explore their skills and interests, identify ways to test and improve them, and practice ways to connect to the world of work. Pedagogy; The Teaching for Understanding Framework: A generative question anchored daily discussions, a list of topics to be covered was clearly outlined, and a final portfolio of student work was produced to ensure understanding of concepts.
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Workshop Details Goal Prepare students to lifestyle and career plan so they may successfully and confidently transition their skills and education from IED Barcelona into the world of work. Objectives 1. Teach the practice of self realization so students may better understand from where they are coming so they may efficiently plan where they are going and gain a sense of agency over their own career path. 2. Train students in best practices for applying to jobs and personal marketing to give them their best chance to stand out and succeed in the competitive job market. 3. Provide students with the resources and know-how to effectively search for and find, or to create, career opportunities in their chosen fields of study. 4. Prepare students to network effectively through knowing what they want, discovering where to connect, and providing them with the confidence to talk with and pursue those connections. How We Achieve Our Objectives:
Throughout the workshop, worksheets and resources were given for students to work on individually and as a group. At the end of the week, these materials were compiled into “A Career Planning Portfolio”. This portfolio is intended to be a compilation of tools to help students think strategically and introspectively about their lifestyle and career choices in and beyond the course. It begins with the Explore phase during which you assess your skills, values and traits, conceptualise your lifestyle, and streamline your vision and goals. This elicits a hypothesis about who you are and what you hope to become.
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In the Experiment phase, you put your hypothesis to the test. You seek out and take on opportunities such as job shadowing, volunteering, freelancing, online courses, competitions and other activities which help to test your assumptions about the world of work or field of study. Finally, in the Connect phase is about pooling resources and learnings together as students build tools, such as their CV, Bat Signal, Visual Resume in order to make connections with
companies through informational interviews, networking, and internships. The three step process to discovering a lifestyle you’ll love is a constant work in progress. It’s an iterative process which evolves as students learn and grow. The collection of work which was compiled by students over the course of a four day workshop became the basis for further growth as well as personal and professional development.
Teaching Methodology The Teaching for Understanding Framework is the pedagogical foundation for this course. It uses three design elements which help learners connect to the course topics: a generative question, understanding goals, and performances of understanding. The generative question is an anchoring element which helps participants understand the theme and purpose of the course: “How can understanding myself and the world around me help me to discover and pursue a career I will thrive in and love?” This question permeates daily group discussions and guides activities. The second element is a clearly outlined list of course take-aways, or understanding goals, such as: broad concepts (i.e. what is a lifestyle?), definitions (i.e. a skill is an ability which I have learned and developed), strategies (i.e. networking is a way for me to grow positive, professional, and collaborative relationships with peers and mentors), frameworks (i.e. there are 5 ways to experiment, or put my skills to the test). Thirdly, built-in performances of understanding allow students to demonstrate their learning as individuals, as small teams, and as a group. Learners gain, test, and solidify their knowledge by building their Career Planning Portfolio, a compilation of tools explored in class and a demonstration of their understanding which accrues as the workshop progresses.
Student’s ResultsThe Career Planning Portfolio Generative Question
“How can understanding myself and the world around me help me to discover and pursue a career I will thrive in and love?” Understanding Goals
Students were taught strategies which they could apply to any future transitions from education to employment: • Define the ideal lifestyle • Assess skills, values, traits • Visualize, capture, and communicate your goals • Test hypotheses about self and the world of work • Compare company mission and vision with your own • Understand the overlap (of mission/vision) and identify gaps • Experiment with opportunities • Write and edit CV by adapting content to vacancies • Communicate your objectives in the world of work Performances of Understanding
To demonstrate their understanding of concepts learned in the course participants compiled a Career Planning Portfolio: • Self-Assessment of your Skills, Values, and Traits • Vision and Goals for 1,5, 10 years • Company Target List - 5 companies of choice • 5 Dream Jobs • 3 CV Drafts and Edits • 30 Second elevator pitch • Final CV content and layout
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“
We learned to express our accomplishments more, using action verbs and better communicating our work.
We discovered networking resources to find better job offers that provide more tangible connections than on-line postings.
The table with action verbs was a very useful table, you usually always use the same ones, but using a variety of action verbs helped me a lot to differentiate my CV.
The exercise for self reflection on skills, values, and traits really helped me, I got some ideas to write more about my experience.
I’m more sure of what I want and where to search for it.
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”
Feedback Self Reported Skills Learned by Students Throughout the course, students were encouraged to reflect on their expectations and takeaways using post-it notes, digital surveys and group discussions. Students shared personal thoughts and then worked collectively on poster board to outline overall workshop outcomes. Here all the responses are summarized and combined to demonstrate the variety of expectations and take-aways students reported. Students’ Expectations
Students’ Takeaways
• Discover how to search for and find jobs and opportunities • Improve how to apply for jobs • Focus their career search to find work they love • Write a professional CV with good content and appealing design • Become more professional • Promote and position themselves as professionals • Prepare for job interviews locally and internationally • Gain confidence for the future • Discover new resources
• • • • • • • • •
Ability to find a dream job Improved content and presentation of their CV Tailored CVs to specific jobs or industry profiles Highlighted key information in their CVs and in personal pitches Ready to present their CVs for jobs and opportunities Can apply tools such as Elevator Pitching and CV writing to the job search Improved networking abilities in communication and how to connect/grow professional networks Gained confidence in their CVs, personal presentations, and ability to continue with professional self improvement Pinpointed goals and planning how to achieve them
Students’ takeaways were in line with their goals and expectations for the course, establishing their own agency in career planning as they move forward. They finished the workshop with an understanding of next steps, a commitment to learning professional skills, greater dedication to spending time in their job search, and the ability to update and improve their CVs. 11
Future Considerations Participants: Workshop participants were of varying ages ranging from 19-29, backgrounds (France, India, Mauritania, Argentina) education levels (Masters, Freshman, Global Design) and experience levels 0-5+ years of work experience.
We believe that education needs to be adapted to the context where students live and learn, we review and revise the workshop plan daily to ensure that students’ needs are being met. 2-3 hours is spent on reflection and adaptation of content based on student feedback.
Interest and Motivation: Despite the diversity in background and experience levels, all participants came in with specific and similar objectives, all wanted to become equipped with skills to pursue professional opportunities during and after their studies at IED. As a self-selected group participants were highly active and motivated during the workshop.
Venue and Setup: In preparing for the workshop, the look and feel of the classroom space is taken into consideration as a teaching tool. The room is rearranged daily based on the topics covered for that day. Students are paired, grouped, or brought together around a long table depending on the nature of work for that day.
Recommendations: Collecting information about participants prior to the workshop would be recommend for future iterations. This will allow workshop designers to personalize topics to students’ areas of interest. Encouraging participants to reflect on their interests and motivation will help them to think deeper about their desired outcomes.
Access to a nice space which was equipped with internet, computer, and a whiteboard is useful and important. Access to printing materials and support of IED staff was important. These materials were helpful in delivering workshop content in an interactive and adaptive mode.
Preparation: For us, planning a workshop means developing an understanding of the context and the needs of our students and partners. When possible, we work with the client organization to understand their needs and long-term vision. For IED we designed a 4 day workshop which included 16 hours of in-class teaching time. After this initial research about 50 hours of work was devoted on curriculum design, content development and layout.
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Conclusion This report was written with the intent to share the rationale and findings of the Ad Astra career workshop conducted during the IED TransDesign week in February 2017. Having better understood the long-term vision and goals of the administration through brief discussion, we strive to conclude the workshop by sharing a brief overview of our findings, suggestions for the future, and opportunities for future collaboration. Taking into account the current employment climate in Europe and specifically Spain, and the policies which are blossoming around the creative and design industry, we believe that IED is uniquely positioned to prepare students and alumni for thriving and gainful careers. Providing career services, building an employment website, bringing together alumni, and developing a business incubator are inspiring and necessary ways to support students. Based on our work with students in the context of career guidance we understand that simply providing these resources, as is currently done, will not be enough. We find that In order to better prepare youth for entry into the world of work, three things must be put into place by higher education institutions: Foster Agency: Support young people’s development of professional mindsets which give them a sense
of ownership and confidence in positioning themselves in the world of work. Develop Skills: A focus on gaining industry-relevant hard skills, and personal and professional soft skills will help young people become responsive to market needs. Grow Ecosystem: Building an ecosystem where young professionals can continuously learn, practice and grow within their industry. Having worked directly with over 5,000 students, government institutions in the EU and US, and private companies large and small, we understand how to create internal systems which can help educational institutions build agency, skills, and ecosystems thus helping their students thrive. Institutions, their students, and the surrounding professional community must all work together to prepare the lastest generation of designers to be a part of the work force. Ad Astra works as the bridge between all these parties. IED Should
IED Students Should
Ad Astra Can Support IED with:
Foster Agency: help young people develop ownership and confidence to position themselves in the world of work.
Explore: Students explore their skills, values, and traits.
Career workshops Self-Assessment tools
Develop Students’ Skills: encourage students to be responsive to market needs, equip them with technical and interpersonal skills.
Experiment: Students put their skills to the test and gain new ones by experimenting with the world of work.
Guest Speakers Seminars Competitions Free Education suggestions Entrepreneurship training
Grow an Ecosystem: provide opportunities to practice, share, and grow within their industry to ensure a culture of continuous development and development and collaboration.
Connect: Students make connections with people and organizations they admire.
Internship opportunities Work-based learning connections Networking events Alumni relations Career Fairs and Parties 13
About Ad Astra We love the work we do and believe that everyone else should love theirs too! Ad Astra was developed by people who came together to make this concept a standard for unemployed youth in Europe. Since our founding in 2011, we’ve expanded this idea and our scope of work from grassroots workshops to national level forums and international projects led by the Council of Europe and US development agencies. At Ad Astra we design, develop, and deliver career guidance services and programs for young professionals, educational institutions, and youth organizations. Our Mission is to help students and young professionals make smooth transitions into the world of work by bridging the gap between education and employment. Our Vision is a world where young people discover and pursue their passions in order to do meaningful, rewarding, and fulfilling work. Our values are simple, find and follow your passion, do work you love with people you admire, create positive change in your communities; locally and globally.
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Our Services For Educational Institutions Career Guidance Strategy
Curriculum Design
Outreach Strategy
Support educational institutions with the development of context specific career guidance strategies which align the school’s core mission, student needs, and labor market.
Provide educators with scripted, ready-to teach career guidance programs designed to be contextspecific, experiential, project and competency-based.
Leverage the ecosystem of the educational institution by optimising and expanding existing partnerships with alumni, public, and private institutions.
Program Development
Professional Development for School Leaders and Educators
Plan and lead youth-focused events; forums, competitions, extracurricular activities, which support the learners’ personal and professional growth, foster lifelong learning, and build relevant skills.
Support school leaders and educators in examining the institutions operation plan, long term vision, and mission and identify improvement strategies.
For Young Professionals Professional Development for Youth Leaders
Career Guidance Workshops
One-on-One Consultations
Support youth leaders and student organizations to provide peer to peer career guidance in order to grow effective and mutually beneficial networks in the public and private sector.
Equip young professionals with transferrable skills to plan their transitions from education to employment and engage in proactive career planning.
Provide one-on-one career planning consultations to students and young professionals.
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Career Planning Experts
Our mission is to bridge the gap between education and employment in order to see young professionals placed in careers they thrive in and love.
adastragroup.org info@adastragroup.org USA +1 (571) 274-6401 Spain +34 684 070 394