You can use your meetings to help your students identify and move on with their plans. It is not your role to try to resolve the issues raised but to listen, agree actions the student should take, and then support and review their progress. The HEA Academic Advising for Employability Model below offers a useful model for this.
Try to encourage the student to find their own solutions rather than stepping in to provide your answers. Try to respond positively to suggestions raised by the student – this may be the first time they have expressed their ideas outside family and close friends. Encourage them to find out more to gain a realistic view of their opportunities. The section below gives ideas about what you could discuss with students at different levels.
You may wish to use your sessions to help your students reflect upon their Graduate Attributes, and this section gives suggestions about how you can support students in further developing skills related to these.
Some of the issues you might discuss include:
- Where the student is in their thought process & any research they have already undertaken
- Employment and further study opportunities beyond the course
- The student’s own plans and aspirations
- The student’s strengths and interests
- Wider opportunities within the university to further develop experiences and skills
- Recognition of the student’s experiences prior to and outside the university, such as part time work and volunteering
- The student’s ability to promote themselves through CV and applications
- The student’s concerns and barriers to transitions to work/further study
The HEA Academic Advising for Employability Model
The HEA Academic Advising for Employability toolkit offers a useful model to help motivate a student to take action and encourage reflection on their development.
Discuss
The purpose of this stage is to identify what phase the student is at in terms of thinking about their future, or the progress they have made since the last meeting.
This is where you can encourage the student to identify their options and see how realistic their thinking is.
You are not expected to know about different careers, as exploring and researching their options is the responsibility of the student, but you may be able to support them in referring to different sources of help and advice.
This stage also gives an opportunity to address issues of confidence or motivation and refer to other areas of support such as Careers & Employability or firstpoint as necessary.
There is a list of suggested questions you could ask in the next section of this guide.
Prioritise
Before closing the discussion, the student should be asked to identify a priority focus for development. It is important that the student feels some ownership of this, and it is clear to both of you what they plan to do.
Planning small, practical steps and reflecting on successes and obstacles has been shown to boost confidence and self-efficacy, which are both key in reaching longer term goals. These steps could include plans such as ‘Sign up to attend a careers workshop’, or ‘Create a LinkedIn profile’.
Implement
Students should be given some time to work on their own to implement the steps previously agreed.
The adviser can help the student develop an implementation plan including what resources to use, or who to ask for further help, but it is important that the student carries out this stage themselves and reports back to you.
At this stage you might find useful the resources signposted in the commonly asked questions.
Reflect
This stage encourages the students to consciously evaluate their progress, both in terms of the steps previously agreed and their overall progress in planning for the future.
Encourage the student to think this through for themselves, by asking questions such as ‘how do you think you have got on?’, ‘could you have approached this differently?’ or ‘what has prevented you from achieving your goal?’
Where this step highlights barriers to success, you can discuss with the students how this could be addressed in the future.
After this stage you may want to discuss where the student is with their career planning and ask them to identify and prioritise further action points, and move into the next implementation phase.
Further help and resources
The HEA have provided a range of resources to support Personal Academic tutors using this model, including student action and reflection sheets.
Further information about supporting student’s employability is available in this ebook for academics to help their students get ready to enter the labour market
Graduate Attributes
Personal Academic tutoring sessions provide valuable opportunities to help students reflect upon their graduate attributes developed through their courses, placements and extra-curricular experiences. Conversations can reinforce the attributes developed and help identify where further development is required.
Through myCareer students can take a skills assessment which indicates strengths and areas requiring further development. These skills broadly align with Graduate Attributes as below.
In addition students can also engage in a series of skills pathways comprising a number of online learning activities including articles, video clips and quizzes to help them develop each of these skills. Each takes one to three hours to complete.
A description of each of the Skills Pathways can be seen here. You will need a staff account to view the pathways on myCareer – please contact careers@worc.ac.uk for further information.
| Graduate attribute | myCareer skills pathways |
| Social responsibility | Ethics, diversity and sustainability Interpersonal skills |
| Reflective and resilient lifelong learning | Resilience Career development |
| Problem solving | Critical thinking Adaptability and flexibility Enterprise and entrepreneurship |
| Teamwork and effective communication | Personal skills Teamwork |
| Digital citizenship | Digital proficiency |
What to talk about at different levels
There are no hard and fast rules about what to talk about at different stages, and this will vary according to course, qualification level and student interest. Below are suggestions for topics to discuss in a typical three-year undergraduate programme. These may need to be adapted for those students on shorter or longer programmes.
The aim of the meeting at any level is to encourage the students to identify and move on with their plans. Where possible try to encourage the student to find their own solutions, but at times you may need to make suggestions and encourage them into action.
Graduate attributes can be visited and revisited at different stages, with the skills audit and skills pathways on myCareer providing a useful tool for review and further development of skills related to the university’s attributes.
What to talk about in level 4 tutorials
You may wish to start the conversation by asking your tutees to think about their Graduate Attributes by completing the Skills Audit on myCareer. Where there are areas that need further development, you could encourage them to work through the skills pathways.
This is the time to encourage students to make the most of the opportunities on offer. The pandemic has meant that many have not had the opportunities to get involved in extra-curricular activities over the last few years, so encourage them to broaden their horizons. Ask about any clubs, volunteering or part time work they have become involved with and try to help them identify skills they can develop through these. Discuss how these could relate to their course or future career plans.
Encourage students to use the timeline, to start work on their employability journey, and to engage with Careers & Employability through myCareer, particularly if they are looking for part time work.
If your student has not gained much in the way of work experience, you might want to stress the importance of this in future applications. On the other hand, the discussion may need to focus on the balance between work and study, and the ability to manage all their commitments!
Suggested questions to use at your meetings
- What are your plans for the summer?
- What (if any) career or postgraduate options interest you at present?
- Which of the Graduate Attributes do you think are your strengths? How might you develop these further?
- What work/volunteering/societies are you involved in? What skills are you gaining from these?
- Is your CV tailored to the role you want and up to date?
What to talk about in level 5 tutorials
This is an important year for career research. Students should now be starting to think about what their strengths and skills are, and how they want to use these in the future. This can be a period of transition and uncertainty, and many students start to doubt their career decisions at this stage. The Career Development Planner on myCareer offers structured activities for students to reflect upon their strengths and values as well as research future careers.
You may wish to revisit graduate attributes at the beginning of the 2nd year. Where there are areas which need development, encourage them to complete the relevant skills pathways. These offer reading, video clips and activities to help build their knowledge and understanding in certain area.
Those who haven’t yet done much in the way of work experience or other extra curricula activities could be encouraged to do so, whereas those who have done more can be helped to think about how this will support their future employability.
Students should be encouraged to attend careers events and activities such as graduate fairs, careers conferences and workshops, or careers appointments for 1:1 discussions. They can explore their career interests and work-related personality via psychometric tests. CVs can be updated, and LinkedIn profiles developed. Students can use CV Builder through myCareer to create and review their CV. Encourage your students to find out about using LinkedIn to develop networks and approach employers.
Suggested questions to use at your meetings
- Have you spoken to anyone in Careers?
- Which Graduate Attributes have you developed over the past year through work/ placement/ extra-curricular study? Which do you need to develop further?
- What have you done to think about your strengths and interests in relation to work?
- What are your ideas about what you want to do after you graduate?
- Do you have the relevant experience required? If not, what are your plans to address this?
- What careers events and workshops have you attended/do you plan to attend?
- Is your CV/ LinkedIn profile tailored and up to date?
- Do you know where to look for work/ study in your chosen field?
What to talk about in level 6 tutorials
As your students return to their final year, they should be ready to go with their applications. Most large employers offering graduate schemes recruit between September and December, although smaller companies and public sector related will be recruiting as vacancies arise.
Students should ideally by now be aware of what sort of work they are looking for, and where to find vacancies. They should also have their CV up to date and should be getting ready to attend interviews and application centres. They can use Shortlist.me to practice their interview skills.
However, there will be a number of students who still have no defined plans, and are avoiding thinking about what will happen when they leave. The reality is that for many of us, career plans unfold once we have stepped into the workplace, and they don’t always follow a defined path. This can be a real time of anxiety for students, who are facing an uncertain future on top of their study pressures, and some may need additional support to ensure this anxiety does not become too much.
Tutors may also be wanting to use these meetings to ensure that they have sufficient information about their tutees to write future references.
At your final meeting you could remind them that they can continue to use the Careers & Employability Service for as long as they like and encourage them to do so. It’s not just for their first job, but to help them with managing their careers and applications for subsequent jobs.
Suggested questions to use at your meetings
- How do you feel about the future?
- What are your ideas about what you want to do after you graduate?
- Do you have any thoughts about how you want your career to develop?
- What do you think you might be doing after 3 years?
- How have you developed your Graduate Attributes? What else do you need to do?
- Do you know where to look for jobs/study in your chosen field?
- Are you confident about your CV/ application form/personal statement?
- Are you confident about how you can perform at interview?
- Do you know how to use LinkedIn to connect to employers?
- Have you spoken to anyone in Careers?