Established a student-led employability support group to encourage students to think about career development at an earlier stage in their degree programmes.
Dr Lindsey Ferrie, Biomedical Sciences. All Biomedical Science students are encouraged to use the support of the ambassadors but the main focus is on stage 1 and 2 students (~350 students per stage).
Over the summer vacation stage 2 students are encouraged to apply to the position of Employability Ambassador by submitting a CV and cover letter directly to Lindsey Ferrie. The Ambassadors are selected on the basis of their own employability experiences and their ideas on how to encourage students to think about future careers. Ambassadors are then employed on a part-time basis during term time (for approximately 3 hours per week). Ambassadors begin semester 1 by canvasing student opinion about the type of employability support needed by students through surveys and focus groups. It is then the role of the ambassadors to encourage student engagement with employability by organising social events and running support sessions throughout the semester in a fun and enthusiastic way. Many of these events require academic support to book suitable rooms and/or provide some catering for the event. In addition the ambassadors’ support timetabled careers sessions organised by the School of Biomedical Sciences or the careers service. The Ambassadors are also required to produce at least one subject specific ‘employability resource’ for students to be posted on the Employability Ambassador website. All resources are checked for content by Lindsey Ferrie and Lorna Dargan (Careers Service).
By supporting this peer mentoring scheme and motivating students to become engaged in their career management it is hoped that students will become more proactive in the development and understanding of employability skills. Students learn from one and another’s experiences and the ambassador scheme showcases the success of students who have engaged in a number of opportunities to improve their own employability thereby providing guidance for other students who are less aware of how to do this effectively.
The majority of students who have sought help from the ambassadors have responded positively “thanks for all the information you gave me, it really helped with my application” and “thank you so much for the support”. Any negative comments are linked to the number of interactions the ambassadors are able to organise during semester two “this scheme is no good if we don’t see them regularly”. The impact of the project on the employability ambassadors themselves has also been highly positive. Many have noted an improvement in their organisational and networking skills as well as their general confidence. Keyword analysis has identified that the majority of the ambassadors felt they had ‘helped’ current students and had felt ‘appreciated’. The ambassadors have also been able to use their experience in job/further study applications.
Employability Ambassadors
Skills and Employability, Student Engagement
Undergraduate (all Stages)
Biomedical Sciences
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Up to 10 students in a group
External support/funding