1. Employability components developed through activities
Communication Skills - Teamwork - Leadership and Management -
Problem Solving and Creativity - Professionalism - IT and Numeracy
Self Management - Passion and Drive
Final Year Business and Enterprise Students mentoring 1st Years
Embedding employability: A partnership
approach
Dr Andy Hirst, Teaching Fellow in Work Based Learning
Key Partners
Abbey Kelsey, Venture Matrix Co-ordinator
Rachel Firth and Louise Harrison, Careers and Employability
Cathy Pink, Mentoring Co-ordinator
Synopsis
Providing "Real World" opportunities is
a popular way to support student
engagement in employability and
career development modules. Within
SHU there are a variety of ways to
help students. These include Hallam
Volunteering; Go Global; Hallam
Awards; Social and Business
Enterprise awards and competitions;
and the Venture Matrix TM . This poster
highlights the activities that underpin
employability within the Business and
Enterprise group, based in the
Department of Computing. It
demonstrates that a vibrant and varied
programme can have a significant
impact on student engagement and
satisfaction.
The core module for the courses
within this group is called
Entrepreneurial Theory and Practice.
This module, which is provided in
different versions at level 4, 5, 6 is
used as a backbone to hang a range
of support provided by: The Venture
Matrix and Careers. However, in
addition to these professional
services, students at Level 6 are also
involved as peer mentors (partners) to
provide insight and support for the
programme.
Experiential Learning
When developing skills, it is important to first
recognise which skills need developing or enhancing.
Students can learn this from reflective practice. As a
student becomes more self aware their confidence
grows, which enables further reflection and
development. The conscious competence matrix
describes the process of learning a skill through
experience.
1st and final year students Speed networking
to develop enterprise and business acumen
Mentor Training
provided by
Cathy Pink -
Mentoring Co-
ordinator
1st year Business and Enterprise students helping
a range of local schools develop enterprise skills
Type to enter text
General Skills observed throughout the task:
Great relationship-building skills
• talking, smiling, making jokes, really showing that you were listening to
the pupils on your table, creating a real team spirit on your table, you
talked to the pupils in a really nice way - respecting their ideas
Communication skills
• talking to the whole group and gaining their attention, making yourself
heard (it got noisy in there at times!), talking to individuals, active listening
- really demonstrating you were listening and taking on board what they
were saying
Conflict Resolution
• On several occasions students needed to calm down pupils and to
resolve conflicts using great interpersonal skills and being able to relate
to their pupils to keep their confidence.
Inclusive behaviour
• making sure all on your table were involved, adapting your approach for
the different ages and abilities in your group, showed real patience with
some kids (there were a couple who were a bit challenging in terms of
behaviour - I observed you making particular effort with these youngsters)
Some great organisation skills
• suggesting ways to divide up tasks, helping the group come up with a
plan, keeping your group on task and to time, keeping all of the group
engaged
Facilitating
• not taking over and doing it yourself (in most cases!), but helping the
group feel ownership of the task
Helping the group with their thinking
• asking them questions to clarify their ideas, summarising points, helping
them make decisions
Encouraging and motivating
• responding with "great idea" "fantastic" - loads of really positive language
Feedback on employability provided by
Rachel Firth and Louise Harrison -
Careers and Employability
University support for employability and real world
learning experiences: Culture Connect;
Enterprise Team; Hallam Awards; Venture Matrix;
and Volunteering.
"Through campaigning for Macmillan it
developed my time management, networking
and negotiation skills, as well as enabling me
to grow in confidence due to selling to the
general public” Chris O’Donnell, Year 2
Business and ICT
"Culture connect gave me the opportunity to learn from
international students and gain valuable insight about the
cultures and the difficulties faced when moving to a country
other than your own (or even a different part of the UK!). This
proved vital to securing a placement opportunity abroad and
helped prepare myself for the potential issues faced with
moving to Germany”. Daniel Armstrong,Year 2 Business and
ICT
The Numbers
Schools Projects
>95% Participation
“I really did enjoy the day with the
primary school though, i thought id
hate it but i got a decent group and
it did me the world of good. My
confidence has raised since that
day and i'm glad they include this
module in the course”
Speed Networking
>95% Participation
98% Satisfaction
“I found this really helpful as I learnt
new information which could help
me in the future.”
“The most surprising aspect of this
week was what is required to be
professional in an meeting, as we
also learnt about what to belike and
what not to do in a meeting.”
“It was a nice opportunity to talk to first
years and see how far I’d developed”
“The final year students were really
helpful”
