An Introduction to Career Ahead

What is Career Ahead?
It’s an employability award run by the University of Cumbria which enables you to develop your employability skills to get a good job when you graduate. You complete the award in your own time online through PebblePad, and it is a way to evidence your extra-curricular activity while at University.

Why should I complete the Career Ahead award?
Employers want graduates with good employability skills. They don’t just look at your degree; they want to find the candidate with the best skills for the job. According to High Flyers (2011): “new graduates who’ve not had any work experience during their time at university have little or no chance of landing a well-paid job”. Career Ahead allows you to evidence the skills you already have, develop those skills that you want to develop, crate effective employability tools such as cv and cover letter writing skills, interview skills and allows access to free workshops, both face-to-face and online. In short, Career Ahead enables you to be job ready when you graduate.

So what do I have to do?
The award is broken down into three elements: Bronze, Silver and Gold. Bronze relates to personal development – completing a skills audit and a reflective diary to identify your career goals and skills gaps. Silver relates to skills development – you develop four employability skills, and undertake 100 hours of extra-curricular activity, as well as two online employability workshops. You also create a reflective diary of your progress in your web folio. Gold relates to career management and enables you to search for the job you want, create a targeted CV and cover letter or application form, and develop your web folio to evidence all your activity. Once you have completed and passed all 3 elements you will also have the chance to take part in a mock interview with an employer.

What workshops are available?
Some of the options include leadership, teambuilding, applications and CVs, interview skills, personal branding and mentoring.

What do I get at the end of the course?
Upon completion you will receive a University of Cumbria certificate, as well as having your web-folio evidencing your progress, skills and experience. Most importantly though you will have gained the skills you need to get the job you want!

What next?
Once you have completed the bronze silver and gold elements you can undertake the platinum award – you will complete and extra 50 hours of extra-curricular activity, mentor a bronze or silver student, as well as submitting a reflective diary of your progress. You will also get the chance to organise an event, share a skill, complete a placement or start up your own student enterprise!

Interested?
If you would like to find out more you can:
Come along to the Introduction to Career Ahead presentation today at the Fusehill Street campus (room LG101) at 4.15 pm.
Take a look at the Career Ahead areas on the University’s website or on BlackBoard (at the top of the page when you log in).
Email mailto: careerahead@cumbria.ac.uk to ask advice, find out more or register onto the award.

Are you thinking about a career in teaching?

We are running two sessions for University of Cumbria undergraduates, principally those in their second and third years.

For information on entry routes and how to make a successful PGCE application, come along to:

Applying for a PGCE seminar

Wednesday 19th October 12.30-1.30 pm

Lecture Theatre 1

Brampton Road campus, Carlisle

GTTR applications workshop

Wednesday 2nd November 1-3 pm

Room 102, Learning Gateway

Fusehill Street campus , Carlisle

For information on the sessions or for advice on planning your next steps after graduation, email: careers@cumbria.ac.uk

Source: Joanne Watson

Health Visitor Training – The Facts

The Nursing and Midwifery Council have recently published a document aimed at clearing up some misapprehensions about training to become a Health Visitor.

Some of the key points they stress are:

• You do not have to have practised for a minimum period as a nurse or midwife before you enter a health visitor programme. Qualified nurses and midwives can enter the programmes at any stage as long as they can demonstrate that they are able to study at the required educational level.

• It is not necessary to undertake a secondment or sponsorship for a full year as training routes are flexible.

• You do not have to be an adult nurse to enter a training programme. Any registered nurse or midwife is eligible to apply.

You may have seen a previous article on this blog about an anticipated major shortage of health visitors. You might also wish to note that, by a great stroke of fortune, the University of Cumbria is currently offering places on the BSc Hons Course in Specialist Community Public Health Nursing (Health Visiting) to start shortly at its Lancaster campus.

New University of Cumbria Jobshop

 

The University of Cumbria Jobshop is our new online vacancy service for students, graduates and employers in the Cumbria and North Lancashire area.

Students and Graduates can access the system by registering at http://cumbria.prospects.ac.uk

You can search for current vacancies, placements, internships, casual and part-time vacancies notified to us. You can also ask to be notified of vacancies that are likely to be of interest to you and search to see which employers and other organisations have advertised previous vacancies. All employers advertising on the site have indicated that they are interested in applicants living in the North West of England.

Employers can access the system by registering at a separate portal http://employer.cumbria.prospects.ac.uk

You can input graduate vacancies, work experience opportunities, voluntary positions and casual jobs FREE of charge to our site. The system is quick and easy to use and allows you to create, edit and copy vacancies. Posting a vacancy online gives you control of the content of your advertisement and allows you to keep track of how many views your vacancy has received. Your adverts will also be sent out via job alert emails to the registered job seekers.

If you wish to advertise vacancies at other Universities in the North West, you can do this too at www.ucsm2.prospectsnet.com

Job Prospects for Social Work Graduates 2011

Having heard suggestions that job prospects for newly-qualified social workers from the University of Cumbria are likely to be tougher this year, I have produced a brief information sheet giving a bit of detail on the likely situation in our own catchment area.

If you are qualifying in Social Work shortly and want to work in the area, please feel to request one from careers@cumbria.ac.uk marking your request f.a.o. Joanne Watson or Colin Taylor.