Career Stage Framework: Meeting students where they are in their employability journey

Laura Brammar and Liz Wilkinson, University of London Careers Service, UK

Emails: laura.brammar@careers.lon.ac.uk; elizabeth.wilkinson@careers.lon.ac.uk

Click to download Career Stage Framework: Meeting students where they are in their employability journey (.pptx)

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Abstract

Whilst many HE careers and employability services are geared towards students with limited amounts of work experience, in reality many distance learning students already have extensive workplace experience when they start their degree.

The 45,000 distance and flexible learning students of the University of London are not only based globally in 180 different countries, but also represent a diverse range of work place experience. Indeed many are choosing their mode of study to facilitate their continued career development.

Extensive work with this cohort has led the development of the Career Stage Framework, which segments the students into three distinct groups each at different stages of career journey:

• Career Starters – limited work experience, using their studies to launch their career
• Career Developers – extensive work experience, using their studies to enhance their career
• Career Changers – substantial work experience, using their studies to pivot their career

This presentation will outline how the University of London Careers Service has used this Career Stage Framework to design, deliver and evaluate careers and employability support to each of the three groups, in addition to providing opportunities for the different career stage groups to learn from and support one another.