Peer-led careers support:
Reaching the ‘ritualists’ or
reputational risk?
Anne Delauzun
Senior Careers Consultant and Deputy Head of Careers &
Employability Service, Royal Holloway, University of London
Developing people, building success
What’s a ‘ritualist’?
Tomlinson, M. (2007). Graduate employability and student attitudes and
orientations to the labour market. Journal of Education and Work, 20(4), 285-304.
Diagram from https://careersintheory.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/employabilityorientations_small.png
Learning outcomes
1. Describe own experience or knowledge of peer-led career
support and differentiate from peer-to-peer
communications or marketing activity.
2. Construct arguments for and against peer-led careers
support from a range of stakeholder viewpoints.
3. To identify research findings, career theories and practical
examples relevant to the concept of peer-led careers
support.
4. Evaluate arguments for and against HE Careers Services
encouraging peer-led careers support.
What is ‘peer-led careers support’?
Case study 1: CityCareers Ambassadors, City
University
• Paid, faculty-based student ambassadors
• Flexible hours – 1-7 hours per week
• Extensive marketing activities: WOM, social
media, flyers etc. (assigned by staff)
• Point of contact between careers, departments,
student societies
• Students responded positively to peer approach
What is ‘peer-led careers support’?
Case study 2: Placement support at Hull
University Business School
• Year 4 students returning from placement
support year 2 with pre-placement activities
• Typically 3-4 take lead role
• Deliver presentations alongside careers staff
• Informal support through facebook, face-toface
What is ‘peer-led careers support’?
Case study 3: Student employability coaches,
Coventry University
• Paid position offering 1:1s on CVs, applications
etc., support with employability module choice
• Some group work and presentation delivery
• More complex queries allocated to permanent
staff
What is ‘peer-led careers support’?
Case study 4: Collaboration with the Law Society,
University of Warwick
• Student-initiated careers support – application
checking, mock interviews, sharing recruitment
experience
• Success from joint delivery – increased event
attendance, positive feedback from employers,
improved reputation of careers staff, increased
demand for 1:1 services
• Challenge to maintain engagement with new
student committee
Article in Phoenix Jun15: http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/561ec328#/561ec328/6
A continuum…
STUDENT INFORMED
Students are assigned
a specific role and
know how and why
they are involved.
Staff initiate, but
decisions are
shared
STUDENT/STAFF EQUITY
Everything initiated by
students, decision-making
shared with staff. Projects
empower students but
they can access and learn
from staff
Q: Where does your institution’s careers provision sit?
What are the possible reasons for this?
Adam Fletcher 2006 : http://soundout.org/ladder-of-student-involvement/
Peer-led careers support:
A SWOT analysis
Scenario: A group of students want to operate
(voluntarily) as ‘career coaches’ to their peers.
• They’re keen to work in partnership with the
careers service and set up a sustainable model
• They want to support their peers at times,
places and locations of their choosing
• They’re seeking training and support from the
careers service
Peer-led careers support:
A SWOT analysis
Careers Practitioners
Consider your role, might other types of staff feel
differently? Staff-student ratio?
Institution and Academics
Type and size of institution? History of peer-led
learning/support in other contexts? Institutional priorities,
culture?
Students
Student profile? Current level of engagement with careers
and employability? Different cohorts (e.g. UG/PG,
international students etc.)
Theoretical perspectives and relevant
research
Bill Law: Community Interaction Theory
Learning about self and opportunities comes through
interactions with other people.
Expectations
Modelling
Feedback
Support
Information
“Career management, then, becomes a matter, not so
much of what you know concerning decisions and
transitions, but of who you pay attention to among the
people you know.”
(Law 2009)
Theoretical perspectives and relevant
research
Paul Greenbank: Still focusing on the “essential 2:1”:
exploring student attitudes to EC activities (2015)
Sample of 21 UGs in the business school of a ‘new’ university
explores peer influence on take up of placements and extracurricular activities (2015).
• Reluctance to differentiate self from peers – age
• “You’ve got all the other students and I can’t think of ONE
who has done any charity work or any volunteering
activities”
• ’I’d rather talk to someone I know than somebody who
knows’ – the role of networks in UG career decision-making
(Greenbank 2011)
Theoretical perspectives and relevant
research
Mapping Student-led peer learning in the UK
(HEA 2014)
• ‘Peer leaders’: personal skills development, deepened
subject learning and improved grades, enhanced relationships
and inter-cultural awareness.
• Participants: Greater sense of belonging, improved
academic confidence (and grades), greater ownership of their
learning experience, increased participation in the community.
• Institutions: Improvements in progression and retention,
reputational opportunities – demonstrates commitment to
student engagement and building integrated communities.
Reflections
1. This concept to could add value to my work in
terms of ___________________ .
2. The part of this I’m most dubious about is
___________________ .
3. In order to pilot/develop this concept in my
institution I would need ______________ .
Thank you!
Anne Delauzun
[email protected]
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/annedelauzun
The Careers Group believes that all information provided in this
publication is correct at the time of publication.
3 September 2015
© The Careers Group, University of London