INSIDE EMPLOYMENT
An action research approach
to employability
development
AGCAS Biennial conference 2009
(Shortlisted for Excellence in Employability award)
This seminar will address:
1. The origins of the Inside Employment
concept
2. How professional practice was informed by
pedagogy
3. Action Research in action
4. Benefits to students and professionals
5. An employer’s perspective – PwC
6. Audience reflection and questions
The Origins of the Inside
Employment Concept
• At Nottingham in 2007, bids were invited to run
small integrative learning projects
• Integrative learning “attempts to transcend
barriers which compartmentalise learning within
and beyond subject of study”
• We wanted to run a student-led problem based
approach to researching career options
• Our interpretation was to take our own “subject”
and look at the barriers faced by students in
connecting the different elements
Career Management as Integrated
Learning Based on Dots Theory
THINKING ABOUT YOURSELF
FINDING OUT ABOUT JOBS/OPPORTUNITIES
MAKING DECISIONS
TAKING ACTION
CCD Service Delivery Based on
This Model
THINKING ABOUT YOURSELF
Prospect Planner, leaflets/self-help, aptitude tests, skills workshops,
discussion with a CA, School talks
FINDING OUT ABOUT JOBS/OPPORTUNITIES
Employer presentations, vacanciesonline, directories, websites, talking to Info staff
and CAs, Careers In … Feedback from DLHE stats and case studies, CCD website,
Prospects, files
MAKING DECISIONS
Talking to a CA, Prospects Planner, self-help materials, workshops
TAKING ACTION
Employer presentations, vacancies online, CV/AF feedback/Duty, leaflets, files,
books etc
Barriers to Integrated Career
Development Learning
• Students often compartmentalise their career
management learning by engaging with particular
aspects and not the whole process – concentrating
on the TAKING ACTION stage + being “light” on
research
• CCD services sometimes tend to be
compartmentalised – we “sell” individual
components (e.g CV reviewing)
What We Wanted to Do
• To address compartmentalisation – to encourage
student engagement in a wider process
• To integrate knowledge of self, skills and
opportunities (leaving out the Action stage)
• To integrate use of CCD services through
encouraging greater use of on-campus employer
activity and information sources for researching
• To focus on exploration of career field + address
superficiality of research
• To encourage techniques such as information
interviewing & networking
• To really get ‘inside’ a job role/function
• To encourage students to take responsibility and to
do it for themselves
• A problem based approach – incorporating studentled group work and project management
• To offer the opportunity for a work experience day
for the winners (sponsored by PWC)
INSIDE EMPLOYMENT – An integrated
approach to employability development
Deapening of
Occupational
Knowledge
Awareness of
personal skills
development
Reflection
Planning
and
organising
Presentation
& poster
skills
Informed
career
decisions &
planning
University
employability
award
GROUP
TASK
Working in
successful
teams
Event
management
Becoming
an
intentional
learner
Researching
careers
information
Problem
Solving
Project
management
Influencing
&
persuading
Networking
and
information
interviewing
Incorporating Pedagogy
• We were assigned an academic adviser from CIL
• We referred to new research such as McCash
(2006) “We’re all career researchers now:
breaking open career education and DOTS”
• And current employabilty thinking by Knight and
York (2003)
• Plus McNiff and Whitehead (2006) “All you need
to know about Action Research”
Action Research in Action
• Our academic adviser introduced us to Action
Research as a way of developing the project
model
• Action Research is a reflective process of
development, involving participants in
shaping the end result
• We took the project through a cycle in which
students became collaborators
What Do Student’s Want?
Feedback on the Project Design
STAGE 1 IMPLEMENTATION
Investigation into Finance careers 2007
Why Finance Careers to Start With?
• Purely a risk assessment decision
• Lots of interested students (finance popular
Nottingham choice)
• +
• Lots of “on campus” employers (pre credit
crunch)
• =
• Greater chance of project success!
Programme Structure
• Workshop 1 (half day) – teamworking,
researching careers information
• Workshop 2 (half day) – networking, information
interviewing, presentations, project
management
• 5 week, student led research project
• Tutorial support
• Half day student led conference at which teams
presented findings on a career route and
displayed posters. Judged by professionals panel
Facts and Figures
 33 students started – 27 finished
 Courses:
Economics
16
Economics/Econometrics
1
Industrial Economics
1
International Economics
2
Mathematics
5
Maths & Economics
4
Maths & Management
1
Finance, Accounting &
Management
1
Law
1
Ancient History
1





19 second year
14 final year
Male 70%
Female 30%
Non-home students
37%
Implementation
Things that we thought would happen, but didn’t
• huge numbers of drop-outs
• being deluged with student email enquiries and concerns “I
don’t know how to do it!”
• students not being able to complete the group task through
lack of network contacts
Things that we thought wouldn’t happen, but did
• we got very committed and focused students
• students stuck with it
• every group reached the end and made a presentation
• The winning team negotiated work shadowing in order to
fulfill research task
EVALUATION of STAGE 1
EVALUATION – what impact has the project
had on students’ skills?
Generic Skills
Neutral
Positive
impact
Team-working
4%
96%
Project Management
22%
78%
Leadership
44%
56%
Problem solving
48%
52%
Presentation
18%
82%
Poster
22%
78%
41%
55%
44%
56%
Reflection
Self-directed learning
Negative
impact
4%
EVALUATION – what impact has the project
had on students’ skills?
Career Management
Skills
Negative
Impact
Neutral
Positive
Impact
Information interviewing 8%
37%
55%
Networking
8%
88%
Researching Careers
Information
18%
82%
Career Planning
11%
89%
Occupational Knowledge
11%
89%
4%
What the students said
TEAM WORK
• “I’ve learnt more about working in a team than
through course group projects”
RESEARCHING CAREERS INFO AND CAREER PLANNING
• “Very good. I’m now doing a lot more research and
thinking about careers”
NETWORKING AND INFORMATION INTERVIEWING
 “After the networking and the interviews, my
knowledge of the opportunities available for
graduates increased significantly and I was very
impressed with this particular aspect of the module”
What the students said
• “When I leave Nottingham I will have my degree but I will
also be taking with me the skills I have gained through this
project. Experiences like this are things that I will remember
long after I leave the University.”
• “This summer I intend on pursuing an internship in Mergers
and Acquisitions in the United States. While this field of
finance is challenging I thrive on challenges and perform best
under pressure. The firm I will be interning in has yet to be
decided. I want to take this module as I feel it will give me
the opportunity of keeping track of the internship and its
progress. Additionally the leadership as well as the
communication skills that are associated with such an
internship which are necessary in building a solid foundation
for a promising career are worth keeping track of.”
Problem Based VS Didactive Approach
• McCash says that a didactive approach –
lectures on how to write a CV, how to
research careers etc - can only teach so
much
• It is in the “doing” that the participants on
Inside Employment have found most
opportunity for development
A tale of the practitioner and the pedagogue:
• “The Inside Employment project has
benefitted immeasurably from the different
perspectives of the two people involved in its
design. On the one hand, Debra brought a
wealth of practitioner experience which formed
the core of the course content, while I
provided a pedagogical rationale to inform the
delivery. The result has been a truly unique
course, which has drawn on each of our
respective fields of expertise.”
Geoff Baker, Visiting Research Fellow
AN EMPLOYER’S PERSPECTIVE
Gillian Matson, PwC
Why get involved?
• Resonated with our recruitment strategy on
raising students employability skills
• Employability skills – teamworking, research,
project management, presenting
• Contact with motivated and dedicated
students, who were keen to develop their
skills and research their preferred career route
Commitment to the students
• Senior PwC employee would assist with
judging the students presentations.
• Winning team spent an afternoon with PwC
• Offer continued support if requested during
our recruitment process
• Winning team member secured internship
with PwC 2008 and returning this year as a
graduate
Future Developments
• sustainability
• the model is transferable to other career fields – e.g.
investigation into Not 4 profit, Law
• Capable of engaging diverse student base: 4th year
medic working successfully with 1st year politics
student
• key drivers
• quality
• time & resources
• However not a mass consumer model
• Now a 10 credit module on the Nottingham Advantage
Award
Time for Reflection
• Observations and questions from the audience
• How might you incorporate this approach into
your own practice/service delivery?
• What else do we need to think about?