In search of decent work after university: student handbook: a career-development learning resource for non-traditional students and graduates
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IN SEARCH OF DECENT WORK AFTER UNIVERSITY STUDENT HANDBOOK: A career-development learning resource for non-traditional students and graduates The EMPLOY project: towards enhancing transitions to meaningful and sustainable graduate careers for non-traditional students
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EMPLOY PROJECT Student Handbook 3 Acknowledgements Firstly, we would like to thank all the students and graduates who participated in the EMPLOY research project. Your stories, which you shared so generously, are at the centre of all that is useful in this handbook. We would also like to thank the employers and university staff who participated in the research and whose knowledge and experience have been invaluable in putting this handbook together. A sincere note of appreciation and gratitude to the external evaluators involved in the production of the handbook. We would like to say a particular thank you to the students across the partner countries who took the time to get involved in advisory groups that allowed us to test this handbook. Of course, the production of this handbook, and the associated research activities, would not have been possible without the funding provided through the Erasmus+ programme. Many of those who have contributed remain unnamed here, but, included in the above, we would like to thank the following: Sallyann Alexander; Magdalena Fit; Meadhbh Healy; Lisa Hennessy; Ashling Johnston; Sandra Losty; Roisín Mullen; Dawn Nelson; Suzanne O’Toole; Linda Ryan; Eliza Tomczyk; Linda Walsh; and Joanne Whelan. EMPLOY project website: employ.dsw.edu.pl EMPLOY on Twitter: @EMPLOY2016
In search of decent work after university 4 Table of Contents 5. RESPONDING TO THE CHALLENGES: STUDENT AND GRADUATE STRATEGIES ............... 21 Reflectionsfromresearch:Waysinwhich students respond to challenges of graduate employment ....................................................................... 21 Student voices on strategies ......................................... 23 6. WHAT SUPPORTS CAN STUDENTS AND GRADUATES DRAW UPON? ........................................25 Supports for non-traditional students in transition ............................................................................. 25 Informal supports ............................................................. 25 Supports at university ..................................................... 26 Spotlight on placements, internships and work experience ............................................................... 29 Supports beyond the university .................................. 30 7. STUDENT DIVERSITY AS AN ASSEST IN THE GRADUATE LABOUR MARKET ...................................35 Finalreflections ................................................................. 37 8. FURTHER RESOURCES .................................................. 39 9. EMPLOY: ABOUT THE RESEARCH PROJECT .........43 1. ABOUT THIS HANDBOOK .............................................. 5 Who is this handbook for? ................................................5 Learning from non-traditional student experiences ...........................................................................5 How to use this handbook ................................................6 Diversity of experience as a rich resource for career development ...........................................................6 Previewing the chapters ....................................................7 2. REFLECTING ON YOUR EDUCATIONAL AND OCCUPATIONAL EXPERIENCES ................................ 9 3. PERSPECTIVES ON EMPLOYMENT AND ‘EMPLOYABILITY’ FROM EMPLOYERS AND NON-TRADITIONAL STUDENTS ................................ 11 What employers are looking for in graduates ..........11 Reflectionsfromresearch:employerson graduates’ employability ................................................11 Employers in their own words ...................................... 12 Non-traditional graduates employability value ...... 14 A critical look at employability – not just the responsibility of the graduate ...................................... 14 4. WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES FOR NONTRADITIONAL STUDENTS IN MAKING THE TRANSITION TO MEANINGFUL AND SUSTAINABLE GRADUATE EMPLOYMENT? .......... 15 Reflectionsfromresearch:challengesfacing non-traditional students search for graduate employment ....................................................................... 15 Student case studies on challenges in transitioning to the graduate labour market ............ 16
EMPLOY PROJECT Student Handbook 5 1. ABOUT THIS HANDBOOK Who is this handbook for? This handbook is aimed at ‘non-traditional’ students and graduates who are looking for some support in identifying a career path that will build on their life experiences and their university education in a satisfying way. By ‘non-traditional’ we mean students and graduates from communities and groups who are, in some way, underrepresented in university. This includes quite a diverse range of groups such as mature students, working class students, students from ethnic minorities and students with disabilities. Over the past twenty years or so universities across Europe have begun to open their doors to non-traditional students. This has enormously enriched universities making them more vibrant, interesting and genuinely representative institutions. We wish to ensure that these students are fully supported throughout the various stage of their university experience including career development - not least because we know from this, and other research, that some non-traditional students continue to encounter barriers in the job market. Thespecificchallengesfacedbystudentsfromnon-traditionalbackgroundsarenotidentifiedinalotofcareer guidance material and important issues are often left unaddressed. We have developed this handbook because we think it is important to take account of the experiences and needs of non-traditional students as they seek to build their careers and make, the sometimes tricky, transition from university to employment. Learning from non-traditional student experiences The material from the handbook draws on 360 interviews conducted by researchers from a network of six universities from England, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden (further information on the EMPLOY project can be found at the back of the handbook). The research was funded by the EU through Erasmus+ and conducted over a three-year period. The research involved a very wide range of people across the six countries. We spoke to: non-traditional graduates and students; university staff; employers; representatives from various state bodies; unions; employer organisations; and professional bodies. In these interviews we asked for people’s views on what makes a graduate ‘employable’ and explored student and graduateexperiencesofeducationandemployment.Inparticular,wewereinterestedinfindingoutwhatcould help non-traditional students as they leave university and enter the job market. Thishandbookforegroundsthevoicesofstudentsandgraduatesandhighlightstheirexperiencesandspecific needs. You will, as you engage with this handbook, come across student experiences or case studies from other countries.Thismayseem,atfirstappearances,notimmediatelyrelevanttotheissuesyoufacewhereyoulive. However, this trans-European dimension of the handbook, we feel, allows us all to step outside our own local or national experiences a bit and may help us to look at the issues we face from another perspective. Thehandbookdoesnotofferalistoftipsandtechniquesforfindingwork-partlybecausetherearemany publications that already do that (please see the Further Resources section at the back of the handbook for a list of career services and useful publications). But we also think that sometimes this advice is too simplistic and suggests that unemployment or being stuck in unsatisfying work are things that can be overcome by having the ‘right attitude’. This is simply not the case. Decades of research, including the material gathered for this project, indicates that inequalities in education, work and society are deeply rooted in Europe. Such inequalities cannot be tackled by individuals alone. Consequently, we think a notion of ‘employability’ as something that is framed as the sole responsibility of graduates, and all the assumptions that frequently go with that, needs to be interrogated. It is from this critical and realistic perspective that we want look at what non-traditional students and graduates can do to enhance career opportunities. So instead of being a ‘’how to get a job” handbook, we see this, instead, as a learning resource for those who are thinking about making the transition from university to employment – and particularly as a resource that prompts you to recognise the graduate labour market worth of the diverse experiences that you already have as a nontraditional student.
In search of decent work after university 6 Thehandbookistailoredwiththeneedsofspecificgroupsofstudentsinmindandincludesmaterialon: non-traditional graduates’ experiences in making the transition from university to work what employers are looking for in graduates some of the common challenges faced by non-traditional graduates in the job market supports and strategies that can be used by graduates in seeking employment links and references to further information on employability, equality and higher education Finally, you may be interested to know that this handbook is one of two emanating from the research: a companion handbook has been produced for employers and university staff and can be found on the project website: http://employ.dsw.edu.pl/language/en How to use this handbook It is intended that the handbook will be used in many contexts and for many purposes. As such, we have chosen a simple, adaptable design. The handbook is, as we have mentioned, a learning resource and it may be used individually or collectively in a group-learningcontext.Itaimstoencouragecriticalreflectiononemploymentandemployabilityinawaythat we think may be of some use to non-traditional students exploring possible graduate career paths. Soyouwillfind,throughoutthehandbook,aseriesoflearningactivities,whicharedesignedtogetyouthinking aboutthesignificanceofyourownbiographical,educationalandoccupationalexperiencesinidentifyingand securing the kind of work you would like to do. The activities are based on adult education principles and methods which recognise lived experience as a source of rich knowledge. Anadulteducationperspectivealsohighlightstheimportanceofcriticalreflectioninpersonalandgroup contexts as a way to challenge orthodoxies which restrict opportunities for development and to identify the sources of injustice and inequality. Each chapter, then, which focuses on an important aspect of graduate employability, will usually open with an invitationforyou,thereader,toreflectuponyourownthoughtsonthemainthemeofthechapter.Itwillthen,in mostcases,containsomeofourreflectionsonwhatwefeelwehavelearntfromtheresearch. Then, there will be some evidence (case studies, stories, etc.) from the research which we invite you to read through and annotate – sometimes suggesting a question to bear in mind as you read. Following this, there are someactivitiesthataskyoutoreflect,individuallyand/oringroups,onyourreactiontothematerial. Finally,andinahopethatwecanextendandsustainthelearningandconversationsonlineyouwillfindanoteat the end of each chapter which looks like this: Continue the conversation on Twitter … @Employ2016 We have used Twitter throughout our project to share findings, resources and to talk about non-traditional students’ transition to graduate work. We would love if you could join in this conversation to share your reactions to the various activities and provocations in the handbook but also to share your own knowledge and experiences. Diversity of experience as a rich resource for career development Although there are, undoubtedly, challenges for non-traditional students in the search for good graduate work, it’s also important to focus on the wealth of diverse experience that you, as such a student or graduate, can offer. And indeed, what we have learned in our research is that there is a desire amongst many employers across Europe to move towards creating a workforce with more rich and varied experiences and backgrounds. We are keen, then, that in working through this handbook that you start to see the value in the diversity of experiencesofnon-traditionalgroupsandthatyougaintheconfidencetodeveloparichandhoneststoryofyour educational and occupational life which will be of real interest to graduate employers who know the value, in lots ofways,ofadiverseworkforce.Infact,thehandbookwillfinishonthisimportantandhopefulpoint–i.e.the diversity of non-traditional experience and background as a resource for graduate employment.
EMPLOY PROJECT Student Handbook 7 Activity 1.1: Creating a Career Development Journal A lot of the learning activities in this book are based around individual and group reflective processes. In other words, we are asking you to take time to think quite deeply about your personal experiences in a broad social context. You may be familiar with this type of process. Or it may be something very new to you. Whether you are new to reflective learning or not, it is important that you have a space somewhere to capture your thoughts and feelings that come up in response to the activities. One place to capture such thoughts is through a journal. So, we’d like to suggest, that before you go any further, that you start a Career Development Journal which will become the place for you to record and work through any learning that comes with this handbook. This ‘ journal’ can take many forms– it could be a traditional, paper-based journal, or maybe a Word-based document, or blog, or audio voice memos on your phone – whatever works for you! Regardless of its form, we hope that you will continue to use the journal long after you have forgotten about this handbook and that it becomes a fruitful space to work through some of the personal and wider challenges in your efforts to develop a career or occupational path that has meaning for you. Just a final note on reflection and journals. If you get into this process, it can become quite an emotional way of learning as we hold up the mirror to some of our past experiences. Of course, not all of these experiences are always positive and re-visiting them may have quite an impact on us in the present. If you feel that the process of reflection has unsettled you, you may need to talk it through with someone you trust or with the counselling services of your university. Previewing the chapters After this introductory chapter, we will start, then, by asking you, as we asked the participants in our research, toreflectuponyourownoccupationalandeducationalbiography.Tohelpwiththiswesuggest,andgivesome guidance, on developing a timeline. Following that chapter, we then turn to look at how employers and students feel that a university does, or should, enhance employability. We consider, and will ask you to consider, what employers think makes an employable graduate. We then move to more consideration about the challenges facing non-traditional students in making transitions tograduateemployment.Again,weaskyoutoengagewiththestoriesemergingfromtheresearchbyreflecting upon the challenges you have, or still do, in developing a graduate career path. Thefollowingchapterswilllookatstrategiesand,finally,supportswhichareavailableto,orneedtobe developed, to support non-traditional students in their efforts to develop a graduate career path.
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EMPLOY PROJECT Student Handbook 9 2. REFLECTING ON YOUR EDUCATIONAL AND OCCUPATIONAL EXPERIENCES The approach that we took in our research with students and graduates was a biographical one. What that means is that we believe that we can learn a lot about what is working and not working in society by listening, really listening, to people’s life stories. In this project we hoped to learn from stories of education and employment about what works and doesn’t work for non-traditional students as they progress into and through higher education towards graduate employment. Our hope is that you may learn something useful too by engaging in the stories and activities throughout. But,beforeengagingwithsomeofthestoriesandviewsofothers,wethinkthatitisusefulforyoutoreflecta bitfirstonyourowneducationalandoccupationalexperiencesandjourney.Wehopethat,byexploringthe questions that we pose through the text, that you can weave your own story into the stories of the participants of the project. One way of starting to think about your own occupational story is to work through a timeline. You can use a timelineasabasisforareflectivepieceofwritingwhichtellsthestory(oronestoryanyway)ofyourworkand educational journey. Or you could use a draft of your timeline as a basis for group discussion about higher educationandcareers.ItmayalsobeusefulforyouintermsofrevisingyourCV,orLinkedInprofile,into something that tells the story of your education and work that you feel would be most relevant to a prospective employer - what story do you think they want to hear? Similarly, it might be very useful in terms of preparing for an interview for a job that you are keen to get – it can help us make the connections between our experience and education in ways that may not seem immediately obvious and may help you convince an employer that your work and life story was leading up to this job! Adding in some broader socio-economic contexts to the timeline - such as times of national recession – can also help us to keep the bigger picture in mind and remember career opportunities are not dependent on individual effort alone. Activity 2.1: Creating an educational and occupational timeline Just a few words of advice on completing the timeline. The temptation might be to start when you left school, or possibly going back further, the year of your birth, but we’d suggest to keep both ends open. In our conversations with students and graduates, stories often crept back along familial timelines to talk about parents, even grandparents – our extended familial and broader social contexts are all part of our stories and it’s important to capture that detail too if we are to get a fuller picture of our own story. And you should keep it open at the future-end too - don’t finish it in the present, leave space to speculate about the midand long-term future – our learning and careers takes place across these three dimensions of time: past, present and future. Sometimes we need to travel back in time and do this work on our past to make our future. One way of approaching the timeline is to capture the ‘facts’ on one side – i.e. significant biographical dates and events – e.g. year of birth; left school; first job; or any significant life event you feel comfortable sharing. And on the other side, leave a bit more space for your thoughts and reflections on the significance of those details in your life now – don’t worry if you are not sure if it is relevant to careers or employment at this stage. As mentioned above you should consider including broader socio-economic events and moments which have a bearing on your story. We’ve started an example on the next page to show you what it might look like as you start to put it together, but be creative and add as much detail, colour and image as you like. Life can be messy so there may be some messiness in your timeline too. In the example below we have combined personal events with some wider socio-economic ones such as recessions. Once you’ve done that, start reading through the rest of the handbook – and come back to your own timeline now and again to do some more work on it. The work on your timeline never really ends.
In search of decent work after university 16 The commitment to family and place restricts many non-traditional graduates from embracing the so-called ‘flexibility’(intermsoftimeandlocation)thatmanyemployersseemtovalueingraduates. Interestingly, when we read across the various accounts emerging from the research there are some contradictions too. Forexample,insomecasesstudentsfeelthat,evenwithadegree,theyarenotqualifiedenoughandtheyneedtodoa post-graduatequalificationtogainemploymentwhich,againtoreturntofinancialchallenges,formanyisunaffordable. Yet, there are instances of other students claiming that their age combined with their higher education has made them ‘too experienced’ to get work – that they are not the pliable human subjects that many employers are looking for in younger graduates. The contradictions, of course, do not lie in the lives of graduates, but more, in the barriers placed in front of them in a highly competitive graduate labour market. One major challenge - lack of useful information - is one that, in some ways, can be more easily addressed. For some students coming to the end of their degrees, the greatest challenge was not knowing what career paths wereopentothem.Thesestudentsfeltthattheywouldbenefitfromacareersadvicethatcouldtakethetime to listen carefully to their educational and occupational stories and hopes before, during and after university. A lot of students were not quite sure what path, if any, was open to them as a graduate and regretted that these pathwayswerenotclearertothemwhentheyfirstchosetheirdegreecourse. Afinal,butsignificant,challengethatwasmentionedbysomestudents,andmaybemorepredominantlyin Ireland, Spain and Portugal, was the lack of opportunities for work. The impact of the crisis, in these countries inparticular,haspresentedthegreatestchallengeformanyhighly-qualifiedandemployablenon-traditional graduates in their search for work. Meaningful work that builds on a university education was simply not available to them due to high level of unemployment and austerity measures. Activity 4.2 Responding to the research findings on challenges: what is missing for you? We have, above, outlined in very broad terms the challenges which the non-traditional students involved in our research encountered. However, we are very aware that this is far from the full-picture. Again, reflecting on your own experience, what are the challenges which have been left out? To what extent do these challenges overlap your own ones? This activity can be done as an entry in your Career Development Journal or conducted as a group activity. Student case studies on challenges in transitioning to the graduate labour market We’ve summarised some of the challenges above, but now we’d like to zoom in on some the detail of some of the students involved in our research to develop a clearer picture of the reality of these challenges. So, in what followsyouwillfinesomeaccountsfromspecificstudentsaboutthechallengesthattheyhavefaced,ordoface, in their search for graduate work. Activity 4.3 an invitation to identify, read and actively re-read a case study on the challenges encountered by students in search for a graduate career Read through the following case studies a couple of times and, then, pick one that speaks most closely to your own experience or that moves you or engages you in some way. Read the case study over a couple of times (annotating as you go) before moving on to the activity that follows. Ana – Portugal Ana is 37 years old and was born in Portugal. Her father worked for the City Hall and her mother was a primary school teacher. She considers herself as an average student in school. She did a degree in Modern Languages and Literature; however, she was never able to get a job as a teacher, evenwhenshetriedatnationallevel(includingthePortugueseIslands).Shealsotriedtofindapositionin Spain and in the United Kingdom, but discouraged by high unemployment rates among teachers, she gave up following this professional path.
EMPLOY PROJECT Student Handbook 17 Whenshefinishedherfirstdegreeshegotaplacementinherhometown,inaUniversityfortheElderly.Inthis placement, she organised a set of cultural activities for the elderly and participated in European projects. She also spent a few hours teaching English to kids at beginners’ level. In this institution, there was a university Masters programme in Adult Education and Community Intervention. Ana thought this programme was attractiveandwouldbeopenmoredoorstoemployment.Althoughshefinishedallthecoursesshenever completedthefinaldissertation. When the internship ended, she started to work in the Port of Guadiana. Sailors arrive there from different parts of the world with different needs and Ana’s job was to help them in multiple ways. She worked for two years and whilst also doing some teaching. Ana schedule was hard: she had to work every weekend and during holidays (resting during the week) and this wasdifficulttofitwithherdesiretobecomeamother. She begun to search for a different job and had an offer from two former students from the USA who had developed a Properties Management enterprise. Anabeganworkingonapart-timebasisbuttodaysheworksfull-time,andfinallyachievedsomestability.Ana thinksthecultureofherbossesisdifferentandreflectspositivelyonhereverydaylife.Theyofferedtopay her fees for the Masters programme she is doing presently, on Business Management. As long as the work is done, Ana is free to manage her time. As a worker, she thinks that responsibility, assuming commitments, keepingdead-lines,beingproactiveandfindingsolutionstotheproblems,arecrucialtobuildaclimateof trustwithheremployer.Sheseessomeofherexperienceasanasset;forexample,beingproficientinEnglish or even her knowledge of the nautical world. Nevertheless,sheidentifiedsomeproblemsrelatedtoageandgender:shehasmalecolleaguesthatentered the company after her, perform similar functions and receive a higher salary. Ana knows some current initiatives and services of the university that could help students’ employability, but stresses these services are suitable solely for younger students. Even if she wanted to join some programmes, it would be impossible to findthetime:shehasalsotoconsiderherjob,theclassesattheuniversity,andherfamily. Mike – UK Mike,whoisinhislatethirties,completedasocialstudiesdegreemajoringinpoliticsandobtainedafirst classdegree–thehighestclassification.Hedefineshimselfasbeingworkingclass. He was not encouraged by his school teachers to go to university and his parents saw it as a waste of time and ‘notforpeoplelikethem’.So,heleftschoolat16andwentintoroofing. But it was never a passion for him. After leaving school he continued his interest in learning. He chose to study at Warwick because of its reputation. He enjoyed learning for his degree but always felt he didn’tfitinatWarwickbecauseofhisageandsocialclassbackground. Hisidealchoiceaftercompletinghisdegreewouldbetodopostgraduatestudybutfinanciallyhecannotafford this.HewentoncetoseeaCareersOfficerintheCareersandSkillsOfficebutdidn’tfindthesessionhelpful.He informed the person that he did not want to work for a large company but instead was interested in the public sector. He was told ‘to go and look at this website’ which he said he could have worked out for himself so he did not go back. Mike felt let down as he had wanted some guidance and information about particular jobs. One of the key reasons why he did not want to work in industry is because he feels that they would discriminate against him because of his age but also because of his working class culture in terms of his accent and language. He also feels that the ‘old boys network’ is strong in helping certain students get top jobs. As he states ‘when it comes to what employers are looking for, I don’t think I’m it for them’. He also never attended any careers fairs on campus as they are dominated by the big companies and private sector. Mike would have liked more support and network systems to help in looking for a career. Intheend,Miketookthedecisiontogobacktoroofingforpurelyfinancialreasons.Heintendedtobecome self-employed and work for himself so that he can control his own time. Rafael – Spain Rafael is 23 years old and he suffers from a rare, degenerative disease and was diagnosed when he was only 8 years. He comes from a very poor family. His father was a building worker and started work at 14 years old and does
In search of decent work after university 18 not have any basic education. His mother used to work as a cleaner but she had to quit work to devote all of her time to Rafael’s help and care. She abandoned education as she belonged to a large family, consisting of ninesiblings,withsignificanteconomicproblems.Today,Rafael’sparentsaredivorcedandheliveswithhis mother, his sister and his mother’s partner. Rafael has never felt the support of his father or his father’s family. They considered Rafael should not study as he is a disabled person. However, he has always had the support of his mother, who instilled the importance of having a good education to ‘be someone in life’. She also has passed on these conceptions to his little sister who is completing her secondary education. Currently, Rafael is studying an undergraduate program in Journalism and he would like to get some specialization inthesocialfield,tohelpotherpeoplewhoareinasimilarsituation,andalsotohelpteachersassometimes‘they do not know how to deal with some disabilities’. His goal is to normalize disability, to make it more visible, and to promote the view that having a disability is not a barrier to acquire a degree or for professional development. Hisfamilyisgoingthroughsignificanteconomicdifficulties,derivedfromtheparents’divorceandher mother’s abandonment of work in order to take care of him. Thus, the only family income comes from the small pension he receives for his disability. However, he has managed to cover the costs of this education by means of grants and scholarships. In spite ofthat,hefindsotherobstaclestocompletinghisdegreesuchas:commutingonadailybasisadistanceof about 40 kilometres, and the need to go in a special vehicle adapted for wheelchair; and the lack of personal assistance in the classroom which is necessary for him to meet the most basic needs like drinking water, going to the toilet, taking notes or completing exams. This would help him to ‘feel independent’. These gaps are normally covered with the effort and dedication of his mother, who is in charge of taking him to college [university]andstaywithhimeverydayuntiltheendofthedayandso,Rafaelcanfulfilhisdreamofbecoming a journalist and developing a career. Rafael in order to improve his employability skills he works as a volunteer doing a sport slot on a local radio programme. He knows that he will have to cope with many barriers due to his disability but he seeks to create opportunities suitable to his situation. Hewiselycombineshisprofessionalfield(Journalism),hisskillswithICTandhis‘disability’totakeadvantage and launch his message regarding people with disabilities. He has appeared several times in the media as an extraordinary example of self-improvement. And this have had some impact in his career prospects: ‘Now, I am going to collaborate with the TV, because they are going to do a program about disability once a month, and they have offered me the possibility to collaborate. And this is very good to gain some work experience for my career’. In addition, he has several projects in mind to publicise his work to media companies and identify job opportunities. ‘I am also making a website [...] and I will set up the portal and interviews [...] to make myself known’. He does not discount continuing his education as well as learning languages. Clare – Sweden Clare came to Sweden six years ago when she was 41 from one of the EU-countries where English is a main language. She has a Swedish husband and a little son to take care of. Clare has two degrees in Law and in Psychology, and 20 years of experience as a lawyer. ShecametoSwedenasshemarriedaSwedeandimaginedthattherewouldnotbeanydifficultiestogeta job in her own profession. She studied Swedish before she moved and continued her studies when she came to Sweden. After a couple of years, she realised that she needed to change her career to be able to get a job. Clare’s mother and father didn’t have a university education, but her sisters and brother are HE graduates. She chooses the Huma Resources course after talking to a career counsellor at the university. Shenowstudiesfulltimeandisawareofthedifficultiesingettingajobasshefeelssheistooold.Sheapplied forapart-timeHRassistantjob,anddidverywellattheinterview,butwastoldthatshewasoverqualified.When shewaswritingherfinalessayforthedegreesheappliesforanInternshipCoursewhichisprovidedafterthe programme.Clarewassuccessfullygraduatedbutcouldnotfindaninternshipplaceaftercollege[university]... Before and after the summer 2016 she applied for HR jobs, but was not even called to interview. She started to look for other jobs and by the late autumn she was successfully employed at the state Insurance Agency.
EMPLOY PROJECT Student Handbook 19 HerSwedishuniversityeducationobviouslyhelpedhertofindajob,butitdoesnothaveanythingtodowithherdegree. However,sheishappythataftersuchastruggle,shewasfinallyabletogetajob,andstartanewlifeandcareer. Lila – Poland Lila is 44 years old, married, and mother to two children. She was born and grew up in Wroclaw and still lives there.Sheisthefirstgenerationinherfamilywhowentontostudyinhighereducation.Aftergraduatingshe started her employment as a social worker, which corresponded with her programme of study. In1992Lilafinishedhersecondarytechnicalschooloftextiles.Duetoadifficultfinancialsituationher familydidnotagreeforLilatocontinuestudying.Herfirstattemptsatfindingemploymentturnedouttobe unsuccessful. ThesewerethefirstyearsofthepoliticalsystemtransformationinPolandandsheremembersthisperiodin her life as, on the one hand, a time of social euphoria, but on the other hand, as a time of an ‘unemployment wave’ and ‘illegal working’ without employment contracts in, primarily, small start-up family businesses. Shegainedherfirstworkingexperienceasashopassistant.Foraroundthreeyearssheworkedinabeauty shop and then for the next two years in a children’s clothes shop. During this time, she got married and gave birthtoherfirstchild.Shedecidedtotakethreeyearsextendedpost-maternityleaveandafterthatperiod she decided to return to work. Her family situation (lack of support from her parents, parents-in-law and the subsequent necessity to organize daily activities in a way that would enable her to time share the care of her children with her husband) forced her tolookforemploymentwhichwouldofferherflexibilityintermsoftime.Shefoundworkasatramdriverinthe Municipal Transport Company. In order to be able to take up the role she had to complete a tram driving course. Lila’shealthproblemsstartedandtheypromptedhertoreflectonherlifesituation,onwhosheis,whatshe does, what she would like to do, and what potential and talents she has. The thought of radical change in her career path and of commencing university studies occurred to her: Lila’searlyexperiencesoftheuniversityaweredifficultforhermostlyduetothelackofsupportfromher employer and the need to juggle the three worlds of study, work and family. Despiteinitialdifficultiesthestudiesturnedouttobeasuccessforher(shewasawardedbeststudent)aswell as the source of personal satisfaction. After graduating Lila found a job with the employer who she’d done her student placement with. Julia – Ireland Juliaisa45-year-oldhumanitiesgraduate.DuringherfinalyearatuniversityshewascommutingtoMaynooth from Dublin where she lived with her wife and their children from previous relationships. Julia comes from a partofDublinwhich,traditionally,hasverylowuniversityaccessratesandshewillbethefirstinherfamilyto gain a degree. Julia enjoyed primary school and traces her life-long passion for playing football to this time. She wanted to attend the local co-educational secondary school but her mother, imagining a better education, sent her, instead, to the local girls’ secondary school which Julia hated. Eventually, her mother told her that she could leave as soon as she found a job which Julia did when she was sixteen.Julialeftschool,withoutsittingtheIntermediateCertificate,forajobinalocalfactorywhereher father worked. Julia worked in the factory for fourteen years. Feeling the need to move on, and as the industry started to decline, she spent some time moving around a number of low-paid jobs. Eventually, through a state funded community employment scheme, she became involved in coaching in schools which she loved. She also worked for a while in administration and, latterly, as a carer for an agency. During these years she was also caring for her mother who was terminally ill and her younger brother who died before she entered university. Julia has relied on a tight/extensive network of friends and family (her wife and her son are also attending university)inmakingkeydecisionsinfollowinghereducationalpath.Sheisn’toverly-specificindefiningthe kind of work she wants to do but would like it to involve, at some level, helping people.
In search of decent work after university 20 Julia’s network, which provided models of educational progression and sources of trusted advice, eventually encouraged her to attend a HEI access course in a local further education university. This course was designed to provide access into selected programmes in one of Ireland’s most elite universities. However, Julia never felt comfortable on visits to the campus and ‘didn’t think they’d want someone’ from her area. Instead, she was encouraged by, what she regarded as, the more mature-student friendly environment of Maynooth University. Juliadidn’treceiveanycareer-specificadviceaboutherchoiceofcoursepriortouniversity.However,shehas quite a strong faith in the value of a degree in the labour market and returns a number of times in her story to her lack of education credentials and, what she sees as, an associated inability to escape low-status, low-paid and unrewarding work. Julia is aware that there may be a need for further study, at postgraduate level but, while the government continue to resist funding most postgraduate education, this is something that is not an option for Julia. Instead, her hope is to get a ‘good’ job in the public or NGO sector which will allow her to progress once she employed. Julia didn’t have much interaction with the careers service at the university– she wasn’t sure if it was something that was directed towards her. She did attend a careers fair but, again, didn’t feel that any of the employers were interested in her degree discipline. She keeps an eye on online resources for jobs but hasn’t seen anything yet. She also feels that universities could do a bit more about making graduate occupational destinations more visible to prospective students. Julia considered to what extent her non-traditional student characteristics might work against her in a search for work. She was quite clear that she thinks, in particular, her address, would have a negative impact. She has in the past masked her address in various ways to circumvent organisational bias towards people from her area. Her age, she feels will have less of a negative impact on her capacity to get work but would probably still besomewhatsignificant,inanegativeway,foremployers.Beinggay,shefeels,istheleastsignificantinterms of recruitment bias and she notes that attitudes seem to have shifted relatively swiftly in this regard. Julia is unsure of how her career path will unfold but maintains faith, as her undergraduate studies come to an end, in the labour market currency of her degree to get her a ‘decent’ job. Since Julia has graduated she has been unable to get the ‘decent’ job she had hoped for. For a period of time after her graduation she felt quite negative about the value and use of her degree – in fact, she returned to the care work that she was doing before attending university. However, she realises now that she is quite suited to that work and she sees it as valuable work even if society doesn’t. Her ambition now is to get further training to position herself in a ‘decent job’ within the care sector. Although, her degree didn’t lead directly to a graduatejob,shefeelsthatheruniversityeducationallowedhertodevelopenoughconfidenceandskillstofeel comfortable taking on a graduate diploma which, she hopes, will position her more strongly in the care sector. Activity 4.4 Going deeper and wider with student stories If you are using this handbook on your own, respond to the questions below in your Career Development Journal. If you are working as a group, these questions may be used as discussion prompts. We asked you to read through the case studies and pick one that you were drawn to in some way. Why did you choose this case study? What drew you into it? What are the broader issues behind the student’s story which are contributing to their challenges? What are the options for the student in confronting these challenges? What are the responsibilities of the university, employers, state and wider society in confronting such challenges? If you are working in a group, you can use your Career Development Journal to record your thoughts following the discussion. Activity 4.5 Extended study question Job interviews, traditionally, constitute the first contact of the graduate with the world of work. What should job interviews be based on? Should they be based mainly on the analysis of the candidate’s education biography and the effects of informal and extra-curricular learning of the graduates/work candidates? Is it worth structuring your CV/Linkedin profile this way and why? Continue the conversation on Twitter … @Employ2016
EMPLOY PROJECT Student Handbook 21 5. RESPONDING TO THE CHALLENGES: STUDENT AND GRADUATE STRATEGIES Aswehaveseeninthelastchapter,thereareanumberofsignificantchallengesfacingnon-traditionalstudentsin their search for meaningful and sustainable graduate employment. In this chapter, we will explore how we might effectively address these challenges by considering further how students and graduates have responded to them. But before we look at the strategies of the students and graduates involved in this research project, please complete Activity 5.1. Again, it is important, we feel, in the learning process to start with our ourselves and work slowly out from that to contemplate the experiences of others. Activity 5.1 What can you do to respond to challenges facing you as a graduate? In the previous chapter (Activity 4.1) we asked you to reflect upon the challenges you have faced in your efforts to develop the kind of graduate career that you would like. Now, we are asking you, to reflect upon the things that you can do that will help you overcome these challenges. There are many things that are not in our control when it comes to our career development. But there are things we can work on all the same. This is what we’d like you to reflect upon here. Again, it would be useful for you to move from personal reflections to a small group discussion if this is possible. As always, if you are working with a group, make sure you record your personal thoughts and reflections on the of the discussion in your journal. Reflections from research: Ways in which students respond to challenges of graduate employment There are a number of ways in which non-traditional students are responding to the challenges of developing a graduate career. Across the six partners involved in this research project, it seems that there are some commonalities intermsofstrategies;andsomearespecifictoone,oracouple,ofspecificnationalorsectoralcontexts. Often non-traditional graduates go on to some form of further education after graduation to enhance their expertiseintheirchosenfield.Thismaybefull-timeand/orparttime.Itwasfeltthatfurtherstudywas particularlyadvantageousforgraduateswhowerealreadyworkingintheirdesiredfield.Ofcourse,andwe mentionedthisbefore,therearesignificanttimeandmoneycostsassociatedwithgraduatestudyalthoughthis will vary from country to country. Most of the strategies outlined below are for students and graduates who are not yet positioned in the career that they wish to pursue but most of them are also useful for graduates who may be in a graduate job already but are considering changing position or occupation. Some of the most common strategies include: findingwaysofformallyorinformallynetworkingwithindividuals,companiesandsectorsinwhichgraduates want to work; engaginginpart-timeorvoluntaryworkrelevanttoaspecificcareer; doing internships/work placements during or after studies; tailoring CVs tailored to individual positions and companies usingonlineresources(insomesectors,itappearsthatLinkedInprofilesarereplacingCVs.) researching prospective companies in advance of interviews developing awareness of various stages and methods used in recruitment for graduate positions; seeking out interview training; developingproficiencyinfirstorsecondlanguages developing relationships with mentors in the sector For more advice and tips on these strategies can be found in the Further Resources section at the end of the handbook. One point worth stressing is that it seems that there has been a move away from generic CVs – now, a CV must be tailored for each job application. Indeed, some sectors have moved away from CVs altogether and rely more on platforms such as LinkedIn. This is where some good and creative background research into the organisation comes in. Many of the employerstalkedabouttheir‘values’andseekingpeoplewhoidentifiedstrongly,andfittedinwith,their company ethos. The implications for this may be that non-traditional students and graduates have to become quite expert in telling the story of themselves that employers want to hear.
In search of decent work after university 22 We might be prompting you then, as a non-traditional student, to develop your career-storytelling skills and, indeed, many of the activities in this handbook have been designed to help you do just that. This is, in some ways, a performance where the audience and the stage changes all the time as you adapt your career story to the shifting expectations of various employers. The tricky part, then, is for you are to keep true to your own values and goals, while performing the recruitment/promotion dance for employers. These are things that we have some control of and can work on, individually and through seeking support from colleagues, peers, mentors and career services, but they do depend on job opportunities being available. Also, some of these strategies, as we have already seen, present challenges for non-traditional students: for example, internships may be a very valuable way of graduates developing their early career, however, often these are unpaid,orpoorlypaid,positionsarenotfinanciallyviableformanynon-traditionalstudentswhoareunder pressure to start earning a decent wage. For more information on internships and work experience, take a look at the Further Resources section at the back of the handbook. Activity 5.2 Researching employers Pick a sector that you think you might like to work in. You might start first by thinking of the kind of work in broad terms that you want to do (e.g. Caring; creative; lab work; teaching; etc.). Once you have narrowed it down to a broad sector, try to find two organisations from the sector which look attractive to you as an employer. Find out as much as you can about the two organisations. The aspects you might touch on might include: Organisation’s core purpose (what do they do/why?) and their values. Who is the organisation serving? Who are their ‘clients’? What is the history, structure and future plans of the organisation? Who are the key personnel? What is their recruitment process? Do they have a graduate programme? In what ways is your experience as a non-traditional student a benefit to the organisations? How would you enhance the work they do and the overall organisational culture? Are there any Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives or do they make any sort of commitment to supporting equality? If you are working on your own, record your responses to these questions in your Career Development Journal. These responses will help in your research and preparation for graduate work. If you are working as part of a group, please present your research on one of the organisations to the rest of the group. Once the group have presented and discussed their research, take some time to reflect on what was discussed and what stayed with you after the discussion. Again, jot down these thoughts in your Career Development Journal. Activity 5.3 Towards developing an organisation or sector-specific CV and cover letter Develop a version of your CV that is tailored to one of the organisations you did some research on. Write a letter of no more than one page to the organisation’s Human Resources department outlining why you want to work for them and how, by providing specific examples and comment, your experience, skills and education makes you a desirable prospective employee of the company. There are resources in the resources section at the back of the handbook that give advice on CVs and cover letters – use these Activity 5.4 Developing a LinkedIn profile Use your CV to help you develop a LinkedIn profile that is tailored to the sector or type of work that you would like to do. Look in Further Resources for some guidance on developing a LinkedIn profile.
EMPLOY PROJECT Student Handbook 23 Activity 5.5 Role-play interview If you are working as part of a group, please organise a role play interview in which one student/graduate acts as the employer and the other as a job-seeker. The ‘employer’ should take into account the aspects that make a graduate employable (see activity 2.2); and the ‘ job seeker’ should take into account the last exercise he/she did: what he/she said in his/her CV and what was highlighted in his/her motivation letter for the human resources. Student voices on strategies In the following extracts, students and graduates involved in the research describe some of the strategies they haveusedtoenhancetheirchancesoffindinggraduatework. Activity 5.6 As you read through them, make notes and comments and think, in particular, about strategies you feel are worthwhile and might be relevant to your situation. I handed my CV personally. I spoke with them about what I was able to teach and I showed readiness to work. A month later, I was contacted by them because their Portuguese Teacher left the institution. Although they had a lot of CVs, they remembered me because I was there and we had a conversation. WhenIfinishedmydegreeIalreadyhadajoboffer.Itwasatempjob,butIwantedtotakethe opportunityandIwastheofficialdesigneroftheMOTELx-LisbonInternationalHorrorFilm Festival. I was contacted by them through my contacts in the area of Design. I did all the tests they asked meandIstartedworkinginSeptember.Igavemybest,IthoughtIhadtodoit,Imadealotofsacrifices, but I thought ‘I’m going to give my best because I want to keep on working with them next year’. In fact, evenbeforetheprojectfinishedtheysaidtheywouldliketoworkwithmethenextyear.Itwasvery rewarding (Jorge, Communication Design Graduate, mature student, Portugal). Ithinkcompaniesaredefinitelytailoringitlike‘thisisourrole,thisisourcompany,thisiswhowe want for the job’ and they’re making that public. So you can either choose to pretend to be that person or you can make yourself into that person … if you’re not the person the company wants you’re not going to get employed (Ann, University of Warwick student, UK). Last year I went to a Royal Bank of Scotland dinner. It wasn’t part of the application process – it was kind of discovering more about us but then from that they did invite me to apply to them. I think because it’s informal but formal but there are employees who have been with the company quite a while or sometimes graduates so you can talk to them. And because it’s dinner, it’s not an interview setting you can ask them any questions you want to, you can get tips. It does actually help (Ann, University of Warwick student, UK). I decided to bet on myself, on what I like, and that is the strategy I follow. I constantly update my CV, I study languages (…). If you have no experience, you will not get anywhere. An effective public investment has to be built, for unemployed people or people like me who have not been able to workyetandIdonothaveatypeofbenefit.Ineedtolive,I’mnotsittingaround,I’mearningmybeans as well as I can and I am doing unpaid internships. And I would even be willing to leave Spain but for a definitejob,notlikeotherpeoplewhoaregoingtotrytheirluck.Icannotaffordthateconomically(Laura, graduateinLaw,firstgenerationstudent,Spain). “Strategies?” Try to make the best possible CV, search job adverts on the internet. [..] some of them have good work conditions, others don’t… but I normally apply to those I’m interested in. And I also visit regularly the website of my Faculty… anything that is published, a seminar, a conference… I enrol on them in order tobemoreprepared(Amarillo,GraduateinHistory,firstgenerationstudent,lowincomefamily,Spain).
In search of decent work after university 24 … But I still think maybe one can make contacts with companies to be able to create a bigger and wider solid network and ... because it is so important [..] to get the foot in the door in a place. Somewhere to show off who you are and what you can do … (Sweden, Emma, 26 years old) What is important is the ability to advance one’s personal development skills development, enlarging one’s knowledge by participation in various courses and training. This involves having control of what I have, what I can do, what I have achieved so far, but also being aware of what is happening on the labour market. I work while at the same time I continue my education. All the time I have in the back ofmyheadthatIcanbefiredbutalsothatIcanfindanew,muchbetterposition.Iwouldn’tsayIregularly follow the job ads on the Internet, I check what the actual employers’ expectations are. The point is to be one step ahead, (Jakub, a 30-years-old graduate, Poland). I have mainly been working in various projects (...) a variety of professional experience; this job involves working with very different people (which is a great advantage for me), working with people with different problems, at different ages - from children to the elderly people, with disabilities, with different mental problems, from different backgrounds [..] It’s really important for me because I have always been interested in other people. And establishing relationships, contacts – this is important for me. (..) I’ve been working on different projects and am thinking about setting up a business. I haven’t always been able to do my work the way I want it to be done in all these institutions... How to express it … I had a feeling that hasn’t been able to realize myself, that I couldn’t show my potential. (…) The thing I realized quite recently[..] was that all these different experiences which I had are somehow directing me towards opening my own company and so that I could work for myself. (Urszula, 27 years old, Poland) [During and after the degree] I applied for everything. I applied for every job on Activelink [social and community sector jobs website]. And I wasn’t getting anywhere. It was very disheartening the whole thing. … I got three interviews in a year and a half. Competency-based interviews. I didn’t know anythingaboutthat.Ididn’tdoanyplanningoranything.Thefirstone-Ididaterribleinterview.…And whenIfinishedthemastersIwasapplyingaggressivelyandnotgettinganywhere.Verydisheartening.… Maybe I could have gone to the careers department [at the university] and found out about competencybased interviews but I didn’t. My fault I suppose. But what I did was I got involved with a job club. … I saw a notice in my local library about a jobs club and I went in and talked to them. [ ….] They had a programme for graduates. I applied for that and did that for two months on a Friday after my masters. [..] How to network. LinkedIn. Jobnet. How to do interviews. How to do CVs. How to do a pitch. How to sell yourself within three minute – all that stuff. … It was all alien to me. Al these buzz words. … It was brilliant. I had to go in in a suit every week. It taught me how to network. … And there were all these employers there. I was mentored by a guy from the Civil Service and he was brilliant – told me what they were looking for in interviews (Anthony, 36 years old, Ireland, Social Science graduate Activity 5.7 Once you have read through the strategies and reflected upon our own thoughts from the beginning of the chapter, reflect in your journal or discuss in a group your thoughts of the effectiveness of the strategies that students are using to enhance their employability. Again, relate it to your own context. Take some time to reflect on the things you have control over in terms of your employability and jot down your thoughts in your journal. Continue the conversation on Twitter … @Employ2016
EMPLOY PROJECT Student Handbook 25 6. WHAT SUPPORTS CAN STUDENTS AND GRADUATES DRAW UPON? We have explored, in this handbook, many of the things that impact on non-traditional students who are seeking meaningful and sustainable graduate work. This broader socio-economic context, and the extent to which various states within the EU pursue social equality and foster diversity in education and work, certainly has a major bearing on the quality and ease of student-tograduate employment transitions. Inthecountriesbadlyaffectedbythefinancialcrisis(Portugal,IrelandandSpain)weknowlargesegmentsof thepopulationhavebeenlockedoutofmeaningfulcareers.MoregenerallymanygraduatesacrossEuropefind themselvesinprecariousanddifficultworkingsituationsafteruniversity. But even though we must always keep that ‘big picture’ in focus – and importantly work on collective ways of ensuring the resources and social conditions needed to create meaningful opportunities for graduates and good work for all members of society – we have, in this handbook, also explored ways in which it might be possible for non-traditional students to enhance, as much as is achievable, their ‘employability’ as a graduate. Westarted,asyouwillremember,byaskingyoutostartworkingonatimelinewhichcapturessignificant moments, and your response to them, in your own educational and occupational story. We have asked you to criticallyreflectonyoureducationalandoccupationalbiographybykeepingacareerdevelopmentjournalto capture your responses to the various stories of work and education (yours and others). You are close to the end of this handbook, but we hope that you continue to use your journal as a resource in the future. We have also cast a critical eye on what employers are looking for, highlighted some of the challenges faced by nontraditionalstudents,anddiscussedsomeofthestrategiesthatgraduatesusetofindwork.Wewilllook,now,atthekind of supports that we came across in our research that we think may be useful for non-traditional students and graduates. Supports for non-traditional students in transition In our efforts to identify useful supports, we drew on the experience and expertise of students, graduates, university academic and support staff, employers from a range of sectors, non-governmental agencies and organisations, state agency representatives. Weencounteredfivemaincontextsforsupport:informalsupports;supportsinuniversity;supportsprovidedby employers; NGO supports; and supports provided by the state. Of course, the availability of these supports varies greatly between the different partner countries. In outlining some examples below we hope to make the existence of such resources visible to students in transition out of university. To this end we have also included a section at the back of national and international organisations whereyoucanfindfurtherinformationonhowtoavailoftheseservices(seeFurtherResources) Informal supports One thing that was very striking in our research was the importance that students and graduates put on informal support structures linked to friends, family and community. This appears to be the most common and readily availablesupportformoststudents.Typicallythisincludedfamily’semotionaland,attimes,financialsupport and the support provided by wider social networks. What we also found striking was the problems that students faced when these supports were not available to them. Below we offer a case study from Poland which illustrates what we mean. Take the time to read Lena’s story carefully and annotate it as you go – as you read think about the various supports that have assisted Lena in her educational and occupational journey. There are a series of questions posed following her story which prompt you to think about Lena’s story in relation to your own. Case study – Lena and the importance of informal support (Poland) Lena,a40-year-oldstudent,ismarriedandhastwochildren.Sheisthefirstgenerationofherfamilytoattend higher education. Lena has received her informal support from her immediate environment. In the following extracts, she talks through supports in various ways: Having completed my secondary school, a technical one, I started working in a shop. I married quite young andIhadmyfirstchild.AftergivingbirthtomysonIstayedathome,andwhenmydaughterwasbornIthen
In search of decent work after university 32 Belowyouwillfindtwocasestudies(fromSpainandIreland)ofgraduatesupportsthatexistbeyondthe university.Thesesupportsareoftenthemostdifficulttofindforbusynon-traditionalstudentsbutitmayhelp,in reading these, to know that they do exist. As you read through, think where you might look to explore some of the supports beyond the university that you could access. Case study – Spain ACTIVITY OF PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCES FOR EMPLOYMENT (EXPERIENCIAS PROFESIONALES PARA EL EMPLEO / EPES) (WITHIN THE PROGRAMME “ANDALUCÍA ORIENTA” / ANDALUSIA COUNSELS) This program (EPES) focuses on improving the employability of the unemployed, through business practices and personalized mentoring. The objectives of the program are to facilitate the approach to the world of work and provide knowledge of the habits, practices and values typical of the work environment. TheEPESactionsareaimedatunemployedpeoplewhoareinthefirsttwoyearsofaccesstothelabour marketandwholackworkexperienceintheprofessionalfieldwhichtheywanttoenter. Therequirementsoftheprogramare:a)thecandidateshavecompletedaformaltrainingoraspecificTraining for Employment; b) they are registered in Andalucía Orienta (Andalusia Counsels), which demonstrates an active search for employment. This activity represents ‘best practice’ for several reasons: 1. Interviews with graduates show that one of the main barriers to accessing a job is the lack of professional experience.Thisactionspecificallyrelatestothiscondition. 2. Theserviceprioritizesthreesignificantgroupsofnon-traditionalstudents:ethnicminorities,peoplewith disabilities and groups at risk of social exclusion. 3. Although the internships are not always paid, they are remunerated with a scholarship for attendance and, sometimes, for travel. The service connects unemployed people with companies in the area, to develop work activity for a maximum period of six months. The contact with a company favours an approach to the culture of work, the knowledge oftheprofessionalprofilerelatedtotheuniversitydegreeandtheintegrationinthestructure,normsand values of an economic organization. In many cases, after the completion of the internships, the company can offer a work contract. One aspect to be emphasized is the personalized tutorials with the candidate by skilled work mediators, who help to make the most of the internship experience (for both parties: company and student). On the one hand, the tutor puts a value on the advantages that these groups at risk of exclusion from work can provide tothecompany,aswellasthebenefitsintheirsubsequentcontracting:therecognitionthatcanmeanfor the collaborating company as a socially responsible company that offers opportunities of practical training to students in their work centres; and, of course, also the opportunity to identify and develop, within their corporate culture, future employees for the company. On the other hand, the tutor advises the candidates, so that they can polish those skills of employability that needs improvement. In addition, every week the programme contemplates group tutorials of all the people thatcoincideatthesametimedoinginternships,althoughtheyarefromdifferentprofessionalprofilesand the participants come from different companies. This situation promotes diversity. Group work improves employability, enriching the group with the synergy generated from the exchange of experiences, opinions and cultures of the different companies in which the internships are carried out. Case study – AHEAD (Ireland) AHEAD (Association for Higher Education Access and Disability) is an organisation that supports university students and graduates with disabilities throughout Ireland. Based in Dublin, AHEAD work with students, graduates, university staff and employers to enhance the experience of students with disabilities. GetAHead and WAM are two AHEAD initiatives which, directly, support students with disabilities make the transition to graduate work. GetAhead is a network of student and graduates with disabilities currently making the transition from thirdlevel education to full time employment. The purpose of the GetAHEAD network is to up-skill graduates with disabilities by providing training events and valuable information covering a wide range of topics and resources including: volunteering and work experience; interview preparation; CV writing; job seeking; legal entitlements; grants available; and disclosure. WAM (Willing Able Mentoring) is a work placement programme which aims to promote access to the labour market for graduates with disabilities and build the capacity of employers to integrate disability into the
EMPLOY PROJECT Student Handbook 33 mainstream workplace. Participating employers (WAM Leaders) collaborate with WAM to offer mentored, paid work placements for graduates with disabilities. This partnership brings graduates with disabilities andWAM’snetworkofemployerstogethersothatbothcanbenefitfromeachother-ensuringgenuine learning opportunities for all. WAM is unique in that it seeks to engage and support employers in order to simultaneously develop the potential of employers and graduates with disabilities. To date, the programme has provided over 250 placements for graduates with disabilities (AHEAD, 2017) Activity 6.4 – Reflections on supports In your journal or group discussion, reflect upon any of the supports identified in this chapter which you feel would benefit you. As a follow-on exercise, you should do some further research (using the Further Resources at the end) or through the services in your university or local employment offices to make a list of the various services and supports that could assist you once you leave university. It would be useful to start conversations with these services before you finish university – it’s never too early to start working on the next step of your career. Continue the conversation on Twitter … @Employ2016
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EMPLOY PROJECT Student Handbook 35 7. STUDENT DIVERSITY AS AN ASSEST IN THE GRADUATE LABOUR MARKET Wehavecoveredalotinthishandbookandyoumayfindthatyouhavemorequestionsthananswersaswecome to the end. For us, this would be a positive outcome as it suggests that the handbook has, in a small way, helped you to start thinking critically about your career trajectory. There are, undoubtedly, things that you can do to enhanceyourchancesofdevelopingthekindofcareerthatyouwant.However,itisdifficulttodothataloneand important to recognise that many of the challenges you face are those presented by the social, economic and cultural contexts in which you live. Andwhilewemustnotforget,andindeedcontinuetofightagainstthemanyformsofinjusticethatcontribute to the challenges for non-traditional students, we also feel that it is important for every student and graduate reading this handbook to see, and importantly, to speak of, your diverse experiences and background as a rich asset in terms of your career development. Tothatend,letusfinishonapositivenoteandlookattwofinalstories:storiesinwhichtwostudents’ backgrounds – the very aspect of their lives which labels them as ‘non-traditional’ - in the end, becomes a resource for them to develop a career. Case study – James (Portugal) James comes from a family of farmers with low economic resources and low educational achievement. However, his parents did own some land where they grew citrus fruits. James worked with his parents during the summer vacations since he was 14 years old and later in his teens abandoned school to dedicate himself solely to this work. From then on, his educational trajectory was anything but traditional. Responding to the pressure of his mother and sister, he went back to education to enrol on a professional course in electronics and technology. However, he still helped his family during weekends and vacations. He then went on to complete a post-secondary professional course (Maintenance of Green Spaces). These courses, in Portugal, are offered in higher education institutions, last for one and a half years and are supposedtobeafastroutetoemployment,targetingspecificsectorsofprofessionalactivity.However, students also have the opportunity to continue their studies to a tertiary level. It was while he was in higher education that James resolved to use the experience and knowledge he already had in agriculture to develop it further. And so James decided, in 2011, to study Agronomy at the university. As a university student he found he was able to visit numerous producers (access was easier that way) and he took every opportunity to actively learn from study visits, seminars, etc. Gradually his knowledge grew from his capacity to mix theory with practice gained at university, but also, and importantly, with his years of agricultural experience. This expansion and deepening of previous experience with a university education was fundamental to James securing a job, in 2013, in an orchard. James non-traditional background became an asset, and not a problem, at some critical points in his career biography. The values he kept from a working-class family (such as: responsibility; humility; the importance of working hard; being punctual; knowing the value of money) were also used as assets to get a job, as these personal traits, he discovered, are appreciated by employers. Higher education gave him, not only an opportunity to develop social networks but also the desire to know more and to understand that innovation and knowledge is crucial in employment. James still works in the agricultural sector. However, now is in partnership with his boss to develop an innovative project. His next step will be to enrol in a master’s programme in fruticulture. Case study – Kalle (Sweden) Kalle is a 34-year-old mature, human resources graduate. His parents are from a working-class background and are now retired. His mother dreamt to be educated but could never afford it – in fact, his parents’ highest level of formal education was primary school. Kalle lives with his partner who is also a graduate and who encouraged him to return to university. Before he entered university, Kalle worked in the care sector as an assistant nurse. However, he wanted to
In search of decent work after university 36 change, and progress more in, his career. After graduation he was not sure of getting a job in the HR sector not only because of age but also because of his sexual orientation (Kalle is gay). He was not sure he would be welcome. So, instead of looking for work after his degree, he applied for a postgraduate internship course in HR. And it was during this programme that Kalle’s previous low-status work – the work that he was keen to move away from – became an asset in the, sometimes slow, development of a graduate career. Kalle was able to draw on his pre-university working experience in the care sector to secure a placement in a health care public institution.Aftersometime,hewasworkingasarecruitmentofficerwithasupervisor. It wasn’t a straightforward success story though: his work experience was progressing well and he was on his way towards securing a permanent position when his supervisor left the company. As a result Kalle was moved to the administration sector once again with a new supervisor to learn a new role at a lower salary level. However,intheendKallefinallysecuredhispermanentpositionwiththeorganisation.Aftertheseturbulent experiences, he feels good that he has a steady job. Kalleisveryclearthathisearlierworkinhealthcareaddedtohissuccessinfindinghisgraduatejoband, looking back on it now, it is work that he can appreciate. In fact, the Swedish research team were also able to speak to his new employer and it is clear, from what they said, that they really valued the perspective and skills that Kalle brought from his previous experiences: .. Yes, but he had experience as an assistance nurse and that was a huge advantage when it comes to our work; he brings new ideas, and wise views ... He has shown interest and contributes a lot with his views, with new knowledge … and questions ‘but why do you think so and why do you do it so?’ It’s very valuable … [His experience as an] assistance nurse makes it possible to include a perspective that we miss, he comes from the real world … (Kalle’s employer) Many of the students and graduates involved in the EMPLOY project talk about going to university as part of an occupational life-project to move away from low-status work. However, Kalle’s case makes clear that such work doesn’t become irrelevant to our careers when we go to university – for many of us, like Kalle, previous working experience can become an asset when we return to the graduate labour market. Activity 7.1 – Naming your non-traditional experience as your strength You have spent some time over this handbook reflecting on the challenges facing non-traditional students and reflecting on your own. But we have also prompted you, through various activities, to reflect on your own experiences. Deep and prolonged reflection on our experiences can transform them into knowledge – a really useful knowledge that can be used to your advantage in the graduate labour market. Take some time to reflect on James and Kalle’s stories and, although yours will be very different, use it as a starting point to think (or discuss) the ways in which your background and experience as a non-traditional student can become a resource in terms of your graduate employability. These strengths may take some time to uncover as they are so embedded in who you are that you may not immediately see them as assets. For example, if you are a parent of young children who has struggled to just survive university while caring for your family, you may not self-identify the time-management skills, capacity to multi-task, resourcefulness, and commitment to self-development that has got you this far - and yet these are the skills that so many employers value. But this, of course, is one example. Think also about the perspective that you, as a non-traditional student, can bring to re-vitalise the culture and vision of progressive organisations. Use your Career Development Journal to, unashamedly, write down your observations about the strengths and assets which can be located in your experiences and background as a non-traditional student. Writing these down in your journal will allow you to begin to form the words and get comfortable with the phrases that, one day soon, you will need to write more fluently in applications, CVs and profiles and hear yourself say without apology in interviews and conversations with prospective employers.
EMPLOY PROJECT Student Handbook 37 Final reflections Activity 7.2 – Final reflections Read (or listen) back through all the entries in your journal. What are the themes emerging from your own reflections? What are the things that you come back to? In what ways, can anything that you have learned help you start to see ways forward in the development of your career? What are your next steps? If you have been working as a group discuss your learning collectively and then write an entry in your journal which captures what you have learned as a group by engaging with the material in this handbook. If you have been working through this handbook on your own spend some time to write a final (for now) entry in which you reflect on what you have learned. We hope, and encourage you, to use your Career Development Journal (whatever form(s) it takes) into the future and that it becomes a space to work through some of the challenging aspects of making a career that all of us face throughout our lives.
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EMPLOY PROJECT Student Handbook 39 8. FURTHER RESOURCES General resources The project website for the EMPLOY project: employ.dsw.edu.pl/language/en Job hunting advice for mature graduates: gradireland.com/careers-advice/equal-opportunities/ job-hunting-for-mature-graduates Advice for job seekers with disabilities: ibec.ie/IBEC/ES.nsf/vPages/HR_best_practice~Diversity_ and_the_integrated_workplace~a-guide-for-job-seekers-with-disabilities-10-04-2014/$file/ WORKWAY+JOB+SEEKER+GUIDE.pdf How to use your disability as a strength when applying for a job (The Guardian, May 2015): jobs.theguardian.com/article/how-to-use-your-disability-as-a-strength-when-applying-for-jobs Graduate guide on LinkedIn (The Guardian) theguardian.com/careers/linkedin-how-use-graduateguide Overview of national guidance systems for each EU member state: euroguidance.eu/guidance-ineurope/national-guidance-systems/ Online career development training modules aimed at the European job market for students and graduates: career-modules.eu England Graduate Prospectsprospects.ac.uk Target Jobs targetjobs.co.uk Milkround milkround.com The above three are good for both vacancies, information about job roles and general job search suggestions,andhavelinkstomoreindustry-specificsourcesofinformation. I could (icould.com/isadatabaseoffilmclipsfrompeopledoingdifferentkindsofjobs–it’s target is probably school leavers rather than graduates and is stronger on some areas of work than others, but nonetheless is a useful resource to know of. National Careers Service nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/job-profiles/home is not aimed at graduates at all, but it is still a useful resource Graduatesstilllookingforaninternshipwillfindgraduatetalentpoolsearch.direct.gov.uk/gtp/index and step.org.uk useful. Graduates in the UK are nearly always able to use their university careers service after they have graduated as in the case of Warwick, this is in perpetuity. Other universities are also likely to have equivalents to our website, warwick.ac.uk/services/careers/careers_skills and our careers blog,careersblog.warwick.ac.uk Ireland gradIreland – an online platform which supports all graduates in developing a career. It does have some helpful resources directed at non-traditional students. gradireland.com AHEAD – organisation which supports and advocates on behalf of students and graduates with disabilities. ahead.ie CitizensAdviceBureausafreelocalservicewhichofferconfidentialadviceonrightsandbenefits citizensinformation.ie/en/ IMPACT Trade union with interest in youth unemployment, non-exploitative internships and precarityimpact.ie Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed offers training, advice and other support to the unemployed inou.ie Migrant Rights Centre mrci.ie National Centre for Adult Guidance: ncge.ie/further-education/adult-educational-guidance-initiative All the ETBs (formally called VECs) will have dedicated Adult Guidance Counselling Services. Non-traditional students may have used their services to get to university and a number of our participants have returned to them as graduates and found the guidance service very useful. Find your local ETB through the national site: etbi.ie
In search of decent work after university 40 Poland careersinpoland.com -przewodnikdot.życia,pracyistudiówwPolsce studyinpoland.pl/en -serwisdoradczydlaosóbstudiującychwPolsce,zawierającym.in. informacjedot.edukacji,językapolskiego,zakwaterowania,kosztówżycia,służbyzdrowia, transportupublicznegoorazzezwolenianapracę pracuj.pl -stronazawierającaofertypracywPolsce,profilepracodawców,poradydot.rynkupracy centrummigranta.pl/pl - Centrum Migranta mpips.gov.pl/ -informacjedot.rynkupracy,prawapracy,osóbzniepełnosprawnościami,wsparcia dlarodzinzdziećmi oferty.praca.gov.pl – centralna Baza Ofert Pracy; mojestypendium.pl-ogólnopolskiserwisostypendiach; niepelnosprawni.gov.pl-państwowyserwisdlaosóbzniepełnosprawnością biurokarier.dsw.edu.pl/linki - przydatnelinkidlaosóbzniepełnosprawnościami biurokarier.dsw.edu.pl/przydatne-linki Portugal GASP – Gabinete Alumni e SaídasProfissionaisdaUniversidadedoAlgarve(Alumniand Professional Careers of the University of Algarve): +351 289 244 460; ipedr[email protected]; [email protected]; ualg.pt/pt/node/97013 CRIA – Divisão de Empreendedorismo e Transferência de Tecnologia da Universidade do Algarve (Division of Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer of the University of Algarve): +351 289 800 097; [email protected]; cria.pt; https://www.facebook.com/criaualg Portal Emprego da Universidade do Algarve (Employment Portal of the University of Algarve): emprego.ualg.pt/procurar-trabalho-emprego/canal/4178/canal_destacado/0 IEFP–InstitutodoEmpregoeFormaçãoProfissional(PortugueseInstituteofEmploymentand Professional Development): iefp.pt Spain PORTALES DE EMPLEO: Empléate, portal de empleo del Ministerio de Empleo y Seguridad Social, empleate.gob.es/ empleo/#/ Portal del Servicio Andaluz de Empleo, juntadeandalucia.es/organismos/ empleoempresaycomercio/sae.html Portal de empleo privado, Job and Talent, jobandtalent.com/es Portal de empleo privado, Monster, monster.es Portal de empleo privado, Infoempleo, infoempleo.com Portal de empleo privado para personas con discapacidad, Por Talento, portalento.es Portal de la red de universidades españolas, Universia, emplea.universia.es Portal de voluntariado (voluntariado y empleo), Hacesfalta.org, hacesfalta.org GUÍAS DE BÚSQUEDA DE EMPLEO: Adecco (2014): 15 años, 15 consejos para buscar empleo. fundacionadecco.org/recursos_/15-consejos-para-buscar-empleo-fundacion-adecco.pdf Cámara de Madrid (s/d): Guía de técnicas y habilidades de búsqueda de empleo. trescantos.es/portal/uploads/tuciudad/paginas/guia_habilidades[1].pdf Servicio Andaluz de Empleo (s/d): Guía práctica para la búsqueda de empleo. juntadeandalucia.es/export/drupaljda/Guia_Practica_Busqueda_Empleo.pdf ESIC (2015): Guía práctica para la búsqueda de empleo. esic.edu/empleabilidad/pdf/recursos/2015-guia-practica-para-la-busqueda-de-empleo.pdf
EMPLOY PROJECT Student Handbook 41 Sweden Information for international students Study and work abroad. Independent Living Institute (ILI), Sweden. As ILI is based in Stockholm, Sweden, our website features an online service for reporting discrimination due to disability in Sweden and a database with information about personal assistance service providers in Sweden (both in Swedish). Equal Treatment of Students in Universities Act www.studyinsweden.se. Study and Career Counselling – Stockholm University – su.se/english/student-services/study-andcareer counselling Find jobs and internships on job portal MyCareer - Stockholm University – Register at MyCareer to access ads for jobs, internships, project placements, and trainee positions, both in Sweden and around the globe. su.se/english/student-services/study-and-career Mentorskapsprojektet – pao.su.se/studentliv/mentorskapsprojektet Read more on jusek.se – Jusek är akademikerförbundet för jurister, ekonomer, systemvetare, personalvetare,kommunikatörerochsamhällsvetare.Ettfackförbundsomstärkermedlemmarnas konkurrenskraft genom hela karriären. Arbetsliv-PAO-programmet vid Stockholms universitet – praktikplatser pao.su.se/studentliv/arbetsliv/praktikplatser pao.su.se/studentliv/arbetsliv/exjobb-uppstasförslag pao.su.se/studentliv/arbetsliv/extra-och-heltidsjobb SthlmUP – personalvetareföreningen sthlmup.se/ Facebook facebook.com/groups/596262767127903/ Sveriges HR förening sverigeshrforening.se/