The Student’s Guide to Career Planning and Employability

Liz George is the Employability Partnership Manager for Arts and Humanities at the University of Southampton, where she leads on embedding employability into the curriculum and advising and working alongside academic teams to support student success and enhance graduate outcomes. Liz is a qualified careers professional and teacher, and has worked in careers and employability for over 25 years with experience of leading the Careers Services at the University of Winchester (2020-23), University of Chichester (2017-20) and Southampton Solent University (2005-2017). She has been involved with online and physical content creation for over 50x resources at these universities, drawn from her experience within HEIs, further education, adult guidance services, as well as working in international contexts such as Hong Kong, Cyprus and Gibraltar. During Liz’s time at Winchester, Liz wrote the below resources which we wish to draw to the attention of the Editorial Board at SAGE as example outputs which can be easily rewritten and tailored for this publication.Tom Lowe has researched and innovated in student engagement across diverse settings for over ten years, in areas such as student voice, retention, employability and student-staff partnership. Tom works at the University of Westminster as Assistant Head of School (Student Experience) in Finance and Accounting where he leads on student experience, outcomes and belonging. Tom is also the Chair of RAISE, a network for all stakeholders in higher education for researching, innovating and sharing best practice in student engagement.

• Part 1: Starting with knowing yourselfChapter 1: Introduction to Careers exploration and thinking about your futureChapter 2: The importance of knowing what help and advice is availableChapter 3: Getting started and beginning your journey in Career PlanningChapter 4: Researching and generating ideas of jobs, occupations and career suggestionsChapter 5: Your degree, its skills and its transferability to the job marketPart 2: Developing skills and experience beyond your degreeChapter 6: Importance of tangible experiences beyond your degreeChapter 7: Placements, internships, volunteering, employer briefs and projectsChapter 8: Extracurricular activities (Sports, Societes, Student Union and Committees)Chapter 9: Part-time employmentPart 3: Your future choicesChapter 10: Your choices after your degree in a nutshellChapter 11: Navigating the job market, explaining graduate programmes and searching for workChapter 12: Postgraduate study, why do it and making applicationsChapter 13: Going independent and starting your own businessChapter 14: Taking time out to do something different and to add to your experience and skillsPart 4: Translating your skills and experiences into applications for jobs or studyChapter 15: Applications - Personal Statements, Cover Letters and using AIChapter 16: CVsChapter 17: The interview journeyChapter 18: Your digital footprint, networking online and social mediaPart 5: Transitioning to graduate lifeChapter 19: Career planning once employed.Chapter 20: Final messages and 10 points of advice

Excellent practical book which can make a true difference to a student from highly experienced, passionate people.