Employability Skills Programme
Our employability skills series is designed in collaboration with our in house career consultants and employers. The sessions aim to prepare students on how to make the transition from education to work, covering all aspects of the selection and recruitment process. The workshops will cover the skills that are most valued by employers, how students can reflect on those and how to articulate their experiences clearly when talking to employers.
- Why employability skills?
- What will my organisation gain from participating?
- How does it work?
- How many sessions are there and which areas will be covered?
- How many students can I expect to attend?
- How can I make the most of my session at City?
- How can I book for one of these sessions?
Why employability skills?
We recognise that employability skills are increasingly becoming as important to employers as educational achievement. In addition to a strong academic background, employers require individuals with a range of core work competencies such as team working, commercial awareness and presentation skills. It has also been recognised that there is a gap between what graduates expect and what employers need. Our aim is to work with employers to bridge that gap and help manage expectations on both sides, thus making our students more employable.
What will my organisation gain from participating?
Help increase students/graduates confidence and success rates during the application and selection process
Attendance is free of charge and this is an extremely valuable and cost-effective way to assist students in gaining the necessary skills and competencies to enter the world of work after their degree.
Promote your opportunities and brand on campus
Attendance at these sessions will make you stand out from your competitors and you will be recognised as an organisation that is committed to improving the employability skills of students and graduates.
How does it work?
External guest speakers from various organisations are invited to deliver practical, interactive and relevant skills sessions for our students. The areas to be covered have been listed below.
We will also be developing worksheets as supplementary material that will improve skills learning. You are, however, welcome to bring your own resources along.
Students that attend these sessions will be awarded certificates
How many sessions are there and which areas will be covered?
Following the success of our previous skills programmes, nine, one-hour lunchtime events would run from October 2012 to November 2012. Sessions are targeted at students looking to make applications for graduate or placement schemes, who want to find out what employers expect from them.
| Date | Time | Skills Session | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 02/10/2012 | 13:00-14:00 | How to write winning cvs and applications | Citi |
| 09/10/2012 | 13:00-14:00 | How to succeed at telephone interviews | Morgan Stanley |
| 16/10/2012 | 13:00-14:00 | How to succeed at interviews | Barclays |
| 23/10/2012 | 13:00-14:00 | How to develop networking skills / networking online | Bloomberg |
| 30/10/2012 | 13:00-14:00 | How to develop & demonstrate commercial awareness | PwC |
| 06/11/2012 | 13:00-14:00 | How to prepare for psychometric tests | IBM |
| 13/11/2012 | 13:00-14:00 | How to tackle group work at assessment centres | BDO LLP |
| 20/11/2012 | 13:00-14:00 | How to tackle presentations at assessment centres | American Express |
| 27/11/2012 | 13:00-14:00 | How to tackle final stage interviews | Goldman Sachs |
Note: the above lists are not exhaustive and we welcome any suggestions or ideas for other topics that you deem necessary as key competencies looked for in your organisation or sector.
Our Autumn 2011 programme was sponsored by Ernst & Young, with sessions hosted by SAP Business Analytics Services, PwC, Goldman Sachs, Ernst & Young, KPMG, Morgan Stanley, IBM, Teach First
Our Spring 2012 programme featured: Sims Metal Management, Capco, Barclays
& Ernst & Young
How many students can I expect to attend?
Attendance is expected to vary between 60 and 100 students depending on the time of the year. These figures are based on actual attendance at similar events that the Careers Centre have run over the past years.
How to make the most of a skills workshop at City
Based on feedback from previous events at City, students were impressed with skills sessions that:
- Were interactive and involved group discussion and input from the students
- Provided them with in-depth information that is difficult to find elsewhere
- Had very specific learning outcomes
- Focused on the subject at hand and provided a lot of examples
Students were disappointed with skills sessions that:
- Were more like a company presentation
- Promoted the organisation
- Had a basic and broad content
- Were not interactive
How can employers book for one of these sessions?
All our upcoming Employability Skills Sessions are listed above. Attendance is free of charge but places are limited and need to be booked early in advance. If you are interested in discussing your attendance at one of these events in more detail contact Manvinder Wariabharaj on manvinder.wariabharaj.1@city.ac.uk or 0207 040 8425