The document summarizes the findings of a focus group conducted with Chinese students at Sheffield Hallam University to understand their perspectives and needs regarding career support. The focus group found that: 1) Chinese students started thinking about careers late and felt unprepared for the UK job market. 2) They relied on recommendations from friends and lecturers to learn about career center services. 3) Students who used career services found them helpful, especially for career guidance, but many were unaware of all services offered. 4) Students emphasized the importance of improving English skills and gaining work experience in the UK.

1. Chinese Focus Group Executive
Summary
Tam Do 13th July 2016
Purpose
The focus group was conducted by Careers and Employability Centre (CEC) to
understand Chinese students' perspectives, wants, and needs about careers support at
Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) and find out better ways to improve engagement,
experience, and quality of careers support for Chinese students during their time at SHU.
Method
A focus group was used to gain feedback and insights from Chinese students. It is the
best method to understand not only perspectives of the students but also why those
perspectives were formed. Probing interview techniques and open questions were used
to encourage students to be open and to share ideas/arguments.
The focus group was consisted of three Chinese students and moderated by a member
of staff. Questions are grouped into two big themes: before using the service and service
consumption and evaluation.
Findings
The findings were interesting due to the differences of participants. Participant 1 is
frequently using the service of CEC. Participant 2 had used the service in the past but
not frequently. Participant 3 had no idea about CEC and careers support available at
SHU. Participants studied BA (Hons) Business Management Top Up; BSc (Hons)
Property and Business Development (Top up); and BA (Hons) Business Studies.
Findings are grouped into two themes: before using the service and service usage and
evaluation.

2. Before using the service:
 Participants started thinking about careers a few months before finishing their
courses. They did not seek support before that and was quite panicked as of what
to do and how to get a job in the UK. All participants expressed confidence
regarding their job prospect in China.
 Careers Service was not seen as an important factor when students decided
which university to study.
 Students knew about the CEC at SHU by the centre's presence during Induction
Week and started using the service when their friends and lecturers
recommended.
Service usage and evaluation:
 Students used CEC service for careers guidance, job fairs, and CV check. Feedback
for the services used was positive. Participants who used the service found it
helpful. Participant 1 who used the service most frequently said he would be
interested to find out more about other services and would use them in the
future if appropriate. Participant 3 who did not use the service at all was
surprised to know all services that CEC offers. He said he did not have any
communication. He admitted that he did not check his email that often.
Participant 2 said that he only attended the job fairs, and was not aware of other
services on offer.
 Participants did not have any career planning or support regarding this area.
They were not aware of this service within CEC at SHU. They did not know that
they could talk to CEC regarding further study as well.
 All participants emphasised the importance of the English language skill. They
identified it as the differentiating factor of them studying in the UK, especially for
Chinese employers. Critical thinking and independent studying were important
to participants of the focus group.
 Participants emphasised the importance of work experience and used Careers
Hub to find part-time jobs. They said that the website did not offer enough part-
time unskilled jobs such as waiters, sales associates, etc. On the other hand, they
felt intimidated by the job descriptions. They felt that they would not be able to
fulfil the requirements of such advertised jobs.

3.  Participants were not aware of goinglobal.com which is offered by CEC at SHU.
 Participants felt that there was not enough support for Chinese students due to
cultural difference. They understood that British culture is all about autonomy
and independence but Chinese students like/need to be pushed. They felt that
the university in general and CEC did not push information/support intensively
enough. They also mentioned that lecturers played a great role in their
personal/professional developments. They said if something was mentioned or
recommended by lecturers, they would follow up quickly.
 Chinese students were under great pressure studying in the UK. Due to lack of
confidence and language skill, it took them twice or three times longer to
finish/do their coursework or assignments compared to home students. As a
result, they felt that they did not have enough time to develop skills, attend job
fairs, or gain work experience.
Participants recommended:
 Continuously shout-out about the services that are offered for
Chinese/international students. "We were told about it in the induction week,
but then too much information at the same time and we forgot about it" -
Participant 1
 Have part-time jobs for Chinese students only on Careers Hub
 Recruit Chinese student career ambassadors who could go into courses and talk
to students on regular basis adopting a proactive and "pushy" approach.
 Be more proactive in promoting about what the CEC has to offer by liaising with
lecturers and using WeChat. Due to cultural and political climates, Chinese
students do not (rarely) use email, FB, or Twitter to communicate, but they all
use WeChat.
 Have programmes that help Chinese students to blend in and understand British
culture. Participants raised the issues of not being able to make friends with
home students as well as not being able to have "casual conversations".
Interestingly, Chinese students really want to make friends with home students
and get to know the British culture and ways of living. For example, what home
students normally talk about, their interests, how to make small talks, what to
say in a certain situation, etc.

4. Recommendation
Based on students' suggestions and concerns, recommendations are hence provided for
CEC at SHU to improve Chinese students' employability and experience.
 Have (a) career ambassador(s) who frequently communicate with international
students regarding career planning and future career possibility. The
ambassador(s) do(es) not need to be Chinese, but should maintain contacts with
most Chinese students and work closely with course rep.
 Collaborate/liaise with lecturers in all faculties to promote CEC service and
offering.
 Develop links with employers who would want to employ Chinese students
exclusively (i.e. people like Jerry Cheung, etc.).
 Adopt WeChat as a communication channel for CEC at SHU.
 Develop a thorough personal and career development programme for Chinese
students which will require an application process. The training programme can
be designed similarly to other leadership/skill development programmes (such
as PGR Skills with Jonny Douglas, or Common Purpose) but perhaps tailored to
the needs of Chinese students/international students, emphasising on career
planning and other soft skills.
Limitation& conclusion
Although the focus group's results resonated with other reports previously done by
other universities, it cannot be generalised. As the focus group's participants were all
undergraduate students, more cautions should be taken if such results are used for
future references where postgraduate students are concerned.
The findings of this focus group can be used to explain some behaviour of Chinese
students and to understand their perspectives regarding careers support at SHU. The
focus group also identified different approaches to better engage Chinese students,
especially undergraduate students.