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Department of Geography & Careers Service. Workplace Geographies: Informing on the importance of a Geography degree leading to a career Kevin Tansey & Mandy Weston. www.le.ac.uk. Do our students get good jobs? Why bother? What evidence did we have?. Evidence and context.
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Department of Geography & Careers Service Workplace Geographies: Informing on theimportance of a Geography degree leading to a careerKevin Tansey & Mandy Weston www.le.ac.uk
Do our students get good jobs?Why bother?What evidence did we have?
Evidence and context • Destinations survey results • Geographers got jobs – but not graduate jobs • Third years dis-engaged • No CV, no visit to the careers service in some cases • Hosted events poorly attended • No information on our alumni • When do they get onto a career path?
Actions taken • Kick started a LinkedIn alumni group • Engage with this group and to bring them eventually into the career development process • Internships, work experience, advice • 476 connections and growing
Actions taken • We introduced a 10-credit module called Workplace Geographies • Semester 2 in year 2 • Compulsory for all year 2’s not taking our education module • 88 in current year • Approx. 30 hours contact time: workshops and lectures • Run by academics, careers advisers and external consultants/recruiters • Assessment by CV/Cover letter and essay
Learning outcomes • To maximise employability. • To maximise the opportunities to gain work experience. • To understand the job market for geography graduates, in public, private and voluntary sectors. • To produce a high-class CV and covering letter. Furthermore to develop skills for successful interview. • To gain awareness of subject-specific and other transferable skills and to reflect on and identify any skills gaps that can be addressed.
Module Highlights • Career aspirations and finding information • Job market talk by Simon Reichwald • Skills self-assessment and evidence • A career development action plan • The application process: CVs and Cover Letters • The Interview Day with external recruiters • Internships were offered on the day • Assessment centres and psychometric testing • Business game with Enterprise Rent-A-Car • In-Tray exercise Exhausting ... at least for us ...
Challenges and Issues • Timing of the module –move to semester 1? • Perception of time in the workshops • Assessment methods and guidelines • Attendance – dropped off towards the end • Vary in-team workshop exercises • Students choose the job theme • Follow up of the career action plan in year 3 • Managing increasing numbers -> 100+