Career Development

An Employability Theme Page

Getting Started with Career Development

Why is Career Development Important?

In the ‘Education and Students Sub-Strategy, The Way Forward 2018-2023 Recast Covid-19’, the University commits to: Ensuring our curriculum provides learning experiences that equip students for whatever path they follow once they graduate, including greater integration and visibility of graduate attributes and employability in all programmes; university-wide courses in a broader range of skills, for example, quantitative methods, digital skills and languages. Student Futures supports a range of curricular and extracurricular employability and enterprise activities. The following overview may assist you in deciding which activities would best fit your proposals for programme design and development.

How Can I Embed Career Development into My Curriculum?

Taught Module Content

The Student Futures Advice and Guidance team comprises Careers Advisers and Employability Advisers. All Careers Advisers have a professional qualification in careers education, advice and guidance. To complement this training, Advisers and some Project Officers are currently completing Advance HE Associate Fellowship via the Cardiff University Education Fellowship Programme. Other colleagues have completed the Fellowship level, and many of our Careers Advisers and other team members have experience of designing and teaching curricular provision, gained at both Cardiff and other institutions. The College Business Partners work with the Careers Advisers to develop employability and enterprise content for the curriculum. This can be discipline-specific and tailored to meet specific learning outcomes. It could be through a discrete module or integrated into existing modules. Our aim in teaching is to combine the following elements:

Knowledge of relevant career theories, and pathways linked to different degrees.
Interactive, inclusive and reflective activities that encourage students to feel more confident in exploring the future possibilities for their careers.
Real-world examples, including industry and alumni speakers or simulated, problem-based activities, as well as practical tools such as practising interview techniques and CV-building.
Opportunities to analyse skills, strengths and attributes including identifying the development of the University’s graduate attributes.

Careers Advisers can submit teaching plans and materials for review in advance, and their input is reviewed can a team-based peer review system and also via module evaluation.

Sustainability Tip

Integrate sustainability into career preparation by encouraging students to explore sustainability-related fields and industries. Highlight how their skills and knowledge can contribute to solving global challenges. For instance, discuss green careers in renewable energy, conservation, and circular economy, or highlight corporate sustainability - sustainability reporting, supply chain management, and ethical business practices. You might also connect students with sustainability professionals, through guest speakers, workshops, and internships, or encouraging students to attend sustainability conferences and events. Consider signposting students to the Green Gown Awards.

Sustainability skills for the future include:

systems thinking – is there scope in your module to help students understand the complex interactions between environmental, social, and economic factors? (e.g. the Year 2 Environmental Histories module looks at the interactions between human society and the environment over time.)
interdisciplinary collaboration - sustainability solutions require diverse expertise. Are there any cross-disciplinary projects your students could be involved in?
ethical decision-making - ethical dilemmas related to sustainability. How can professionals balance planet and profit? (e.g. are electric cars really good for the planet?)

Assessment

College Business Partners can work alongside academic colleagues and Careers Advisers to design both formative and summative assessments. We have developed relevant assessment criteria and can undertake training sessions with you to facilitate employability-related assessments. If you would like to see an example of a module focused on employability, please explore the following example developed by JOMEC.

Examples of Career Development in the Curriculum

Student Futures has collaborated with Academic Schools in AHSS to co-produce employability modules with a compulsory placement. An optional second-year undergraduate module is available in the School of Journalism, Media and Culture (JOMEC). A postgraduate taught module for the MA in Translation Studies has been developed with the School of Modern Languages (MLANG). An Academic Lead and a Careers Lead work in partnership in each School to develop and deliver the modules. In each School the decision was taken to deliver academic content related to employability alongside the fundamentals of career building. The MLANG module uses materials adapted from the project “CES&L – Crafting Employability Strategies for HE Students of Languages in Europe”, funded by the European Union’s Erasmus+ programme from 2015 to 2017. Student Futures also works with Schools to provide curricular input to existing School modules. An example of this is HST080 MA Research & Community Placement Module in the School of History, Archaeology and Religious Studies (SHARE). Working alongside the Module Leader, the Student Futures team delivers seminars to support students in sourcing a placement opportunity successfully. Another example is in the School of Social Sciences (SOCSI) where Student Futures colleagues deliver workshops to complement the seminars on SI0240 Working Knowledge module.

Extra Curricular (Timetabled) Career Development

Careers Advice & Guidance

The Advice & Guidance team support a wide range of extracurricular activities related to employability. Careers Advisers and Employability Advisers work together to deliver programmes of activity in each school and in the Centre for Student Life, with Employability Advisers focusing on supporting students with the recruitment process.

Career Development Sessions

Student Futures run many Career Development Sessions. To explore how these might complement your curriculum, and to read more about the specific topics offered, please click on the title below. Sessions can include: Sessions can include: Sessions can include:

Careers Sessions on Offer for Students

Career Exploration

Sessions can include:

Building self-awareness - Interactive exercises to build student awareness of skills, strengths, Cardiff University graduate attributes, interests and values that may have a bearing on career choice/direction.
Identifying and articulating skills and strengths - Opportunity to practice communicating and articulating these skills to peers including degree-specific skills and Cardiff University graduate attributes.
Reflective and resilient - Encouraging students to reflect on own studies, and achievements and discover strategies to build resilience and confidence about new opportunities and challenges.
Career planning explained - Insight into key career development theories to support students in formulating their own career plans.

Enterprise

Sessions can include:

Entrepreneurial Skills, mindset and creative thinking – Reviewing what skills a student would need to be an entrepreneur and to understand the mindset to demonstrate how these can be used in terms of employability. The sessions will encourage students to challenge their way of thinking and move to a more creative and entrepreneurial mindset.
Business model Concept Canvas and how to set up a business - Helping students to visualise the key aspects of a business and present on one page. It will help students see what they need to take a business idea from a concept to a reality. Students will look at the ground-breaking Business Model Canvas used by companies large and small across the globe. Map out your business idea and identify opportunities and potential pitfalls using this simple but effective template.
Freelancing, networking and digital profiles - Understanding the basics of how to get started in freelancing and help students discover whether this is right for them. The sessions will also provide an introduction to networking and digital profiles in order to maximise the chances of a winning business.
Pitch me – Helping students learn how to sell themselves and an idea in different types of pitching. This session will include discussing the different types of pitching and practicing how to use this in real life.

Work Experience and Placements

Sessions can include:

Finding work experience - Highlighting current opportunities for Cardiff University students and build confidence in applying. It can also include speculative applications and focus on specific sector(s). It can be followed with a work experience clinic to enable students to talk 1:1 about the experience they are seeking.
Preparing for placement - Covering how to make the most of a placement and can be co-delivered to clarify School expectations while on placement.
Post-placement reflection and support - Opportunity for students to consider what they have gained from a placement, or study, work or volunteer placement abroad, what this means for their career planning and how to articulate the skills/experience gained to employers.

Sector-Specific Sessions

Sessions can include:

Sector-specific workshops - Providing an insight into career paths, job roles and recruitment process, focused on a specific sector or sector(s). May involve a speaker.
Career options with your degree - Practical exercises to start generating career ideas as well as information on typical career pathways linked to degree discipline and explanation of UK graduate labour market.
Employer and alumni panel events - Panel of 4-6 employers or alumni to provide students with first-hand insight into a sector.

Career Essentials Sessions

Please note the career essentials sessions can be run in a School, but will also be run in The Centre for Student Life available for all students to book and attend via Student Futures Account.

Sessions can include:

CVs and application forms - Tailored to sectors of interest as CV conventions vary
Psychometric tests - Advice on how to prepare for psychometric tests and an opportunity to practice
Interviews / Video interviews - Introduction to the challenges and an opportunity to practice
Assessment centres - Advice on how to prepare for assessment centres with key pitfalls to avoid and what to expect. Opportunity to have a practice run with interactive exercises with feedback. These sessions can be arranged with employers to facilitate alongside staff.
LinkedIn - Session will enable students to evaluate their current digital footprint and start building a LinkedIn profile
What Next? Career options after a research degree - Focused on careers beyond academia, to support PGR students in considering the wide range of career paths they could pursue and how the skills from their research degree equip them to do so.
Considering Postgraduate Study - An opportunity for students to think about further study possibilities both at Cardiff and beyond and consider how to evaluate different options.
Employer-led skills sessions - Hearing from an employer first-hand about the development of graduate-level skills and attributes. This may also include how to articulate skills in the recruitment process

For more information on these sessions, please contact the Student Futures Business Partner for your College: