Job Shop

Successful career planning is built upon your own personal self-awareness.  This means identifying with your personality type, the interests you might have, as well as your developed skills and competencies.  Knowing yourself will help you to match your skills with the career that best suits you.  Career planning should be a positive and rewarding insight into a wide range of opportunities and careers that might just be the one you are looking for.  Early planning can reap rewards if you take the time to identify with what would fulfil your goals.

Below are some popular resources you can use to help explore and research job roles matched to your skills, interests and personality type.

Prospects

Prospects is the UK’s biggest graduate careers website with more than two million monthly browsers. They provide a market-leading portfolio of graduate career and postgraduate study recruitment options and work in close partnership with HE and further education (FE) professional bodies and government to deliver unique services that benefit the sector. The Prospects website holds a range of useful information on careers, qualifications as well as tips for preparing to enter the world of work.

• Prospect Planner

Psychometric Institute

The Institute of Psychometric Coaching (IPC) has been an Australian leader since 2006 in providing professional preparation solutions online and face-to-face for the Aptitude & Personality tests used in Australia for job seekers preparing over 150,000 job applicants for employment in the last 13 years.

• Personality Test

MAPP Career Test

The MAPP (Motivational Appraisal of Personal Potential) Career Assessment is a comprehensive psychological test crafted to provide profound insights into your personality, preferences, and capabilities, especially within a professional setting. Beyond career insights, the MAPP assessment delves into understanding your unique learning style, which proves invaluable not only for career planning but also for personal development and making informed education & college decisions. This dual-focus ensures you are best positioned to succeed in both professional endeavours and academic pursuits.

Career Matcher

Career Matcher is a tool that help guide you in finding a career by matching your skills and interests.

Future Skills Quiz

What future skills do you possess that will benefit you in the changing world of work? Invest just a few minutes of your time for a personalized result to identify your strengths, build them further and future-proof your career.

Take the Future Skills Quiz

Kudos AD

Kudos AD is a leading career development service helping you to explore, develop and maximise your potential.

Go to Kudos AD’s website

Prospects

Looking for that perfect career? We guide millions of students to make the right choice. Match your skills and personality to 400+ job profiles.

prospects.ac.uk

UCAS Careers Quiz

It has become increasingly important to employers that students bring with them some level of experience within the type of role they have applied for and there are many ways in which you can gain additional skills and experience to add to your CV.

Volunteering a great way to enhance your University Studies experience. As well as being fun, it can:

• Give you a great sense of achievement
• Help you develop essential skills that employers look for e.g. project management, communication and teamwork skills
• Give you the opportunity to meet new people
• Give you the chance to make a difference in the community
• Can give you an insight into different professions and sectors, and also provide you with valuable experience
• Help you become more aware of what motivates you and which direction you want your career to take after

Work shadowing

Work shadowing is particularly useful if you know what type of role you want to enter on graduating or to enhance your learning.  It enables you observe someone in their role to understand how they do their job with the aim to provide an insight rather than hands on experience.

The Prospects website has an excellent guide to work shadowing.

Work experience

You may need to have already completed work experience as part of your studies with us but if not then there are options for gaining actual or virtual work experience.

You have access to the Work Placement officer at University Studies who can assist you with finding a placement.

Forage

You can also try virtual work experience through online sites such as Forage. Forage is an online resource which offers virtual experience programmes designed by leading companies

Springpod

Springpod offers an immersive introduction to working with some of the best employers in the world

Bright Networks

Bright Networks aimed at graduates connects top employers and educators through virtual experiences.

Part time work

Part time work can provide practical experience even if it isn’t related to your degree as it will develop transferable skills that will add value to your CV. Working in a shop, bar, restaurant or office can give you many of the skills that graduate employers are looking for such as decision making, organisational and IT skills, team working, customer service and time management

Internships

An internship provides the opportunity to gain hands on work experience that you just can’t get in the classroom. First time job seekers and   career changers aren’t usually desirable candidates, but companies are willing to train them as interns and give them the experience they would need to get a job.

• www.gov.uk/find-internship
• www.prospects.ac.uk
• targetjobs.co.uk/internships
• www.suffolkjobsdirect.org
• www.indeed.co.uk

Graduate programmes

A graduate scheme is a work-based training programme that allows recent graduates to gain practical experience with a company, giving them a head-start into the world of work. The scheme can vary depending on the employer and industry, but it will generally involve    training, mentoring, and hands-on work in different areas of the organisation.

• www.graduate-fasttrack.co.uk
• www.healthcareers.nhs.uk
• www.savethestudent.org
• targetjobs.co.uk
• www.prospects.ac.uk

Continuing learning

Continuing with your learning to gain further skills and qualifications can also support your entry to employment and provide additional skills and knowledge

There are free 12-week online courses available through West Suffolk College adult learning provision in a range of topics.

There are also other free courses through other colleges and training providers that may be helpful to you – you can find a list of these in the Continuing Learning leaflet on the Get ready to enter the workforce section.

Skills bootcamps

Skills Bootcamps are flexible training courses for adults aged 19 or over and are available in a range of sectors such as digital, engineering or green skills. These help with employment and progression options that teach you skills for specific careers and sectors with a guaranteed job interview at the end.

As a University Studies student you will have been introduced to the Career Ahead programme which was available to you through Canvas and is aimed those studying at degree level.  The Career Ahead module has been developed to provide additional employment focused information.  It is an interactive online module covering the key ingredients of success at university and provides downloadable resources to help with career planning and employability topics: 

• CVs and cover letters 
• Social media and online presence 
• Interview success 
• Rights and responsibilities 
• Self-employment and freelancing 

Further resources have been added below and can be downloaded to support you.

 CV Builder

• www.prospects.ac.uk
• www.reed.co.uk

Our students benefit from any level of connection to employers whether this is through a class presentation, attending a careers event, getting students involved in an employer led project, live brief or by offering a short work placement within your company.

Promoting your business

• Would you like to promote your industry, company or trade on the different roles and opportunities possible to our students and staff?
• Could you offer an Employer Spotlight session, to talk about your career journey and what you look for when recruiting and any opportunities within your business to help inspire our learners’
• Provide an online/virtual class presentation on opportunities within your organisation and what you look for when recruiting
• Would you like to deliver a class talk/presentation or attend a Careers Event to promote your industry or tell us about opportunities within your company?

Work placements are mandatory for all students studying on West Suffolk College programmes and are being introduced further to students studying A Levels across the Eastern Education Group.

Work experiences are a temporary opportunity supported or organised by our Work Placement team, which allows students to gain work experience alongside their study or are looking for employment in a specific field to gain practical experience – and find out what it’s really like to work in a sector.

The benefits to your business

There are many ways offering work experience can benefit your business. You can ‘test before you invest’ in a new apprentice or employee. You can inject your business with enthusiastic young people who want to share fresh ideas, or you could even give your existing staff the opportunity to hone their mentoring and coaching skills.

With the introduction of T Levels, (an A Level standard technical education programme), students must complete an industry placement related to their subject area to achieve the qualification, this amounts to approximately 20 per cent of the full course.  In providing an industry placement you will be helping to develop the practical skills and knowledge of our future workforce

If this sounds like a great opportunity for your business, simply click on the link here and fill in the form below and our Work Placement team will be in touch.

Hiring an apprentice is a productive and effective way to grow talent and develop a motivated, skilled and qualified workforce.

The benefits of taking on an apprentice means that you can expand and upskill your workforce, adapt the training provided to help them develop skills relevant to your organisation, which can increase productivity and improve quality.  

If you would like to Get Involved then the Futures Job Shop is the perfect match for you. Simply contact us by email and our team will be in touch.

WSC-Careers@easterneducationgroup.ac.uk

We’ve put together some of the questions we get asked below most frequently by Employers. Please read our FAQ below and if you’re not sure of anything, feel free to get in touch. 

How can I advertise a vacancy with you?

To advertise a vacancy just go to Job Shop for Employers and click on the Got a Job to fill box. Complete the form and we will do the rest

How long can the advert be advertised?

Usually we allow for 6 weeks to advertise a vacancy however you can specify the closing date you wish, and we will keep to that

Can I extend the closing date if it has not been filled?

Yes, you can, if you haven’t filled the vacancy just let us know and we will extend the date for you

I want to offer work experience can I still use this form?

Certainly, the form is designed to cover all offers of help from employers

I don’t have a job to fill but would like to offer support of a class talk, industry placement, lead a project etc – how do I get involved?

That is fine, you can still use the form just fill in your contact details and on boxes with an Asterix just put digit in to bypass it, then go to the bottom of the form where you can choose the options you are able to offer.

How many vacancies can I advertise at any one time?

You are welcome to advertise as many as you have to offer us

If I have multiple vacancies available, do I have to list them separately or can they go on one form?

Ideally a separate form would be best if roles, salaries and other details are different but if you have a lot we realise it could be time consuming and so if you complete the main part of the form then email WSC-Careers@easterneducationgroup.ac.uk with the different roles etc and we can do the rest

Can I specify age requirements on my vacancy advert?

We need to be aware of discrimination however there are some roles which can only be offered to those students aged 18 and above so in those circumstance this is allowed

If I fill the vacancy do I need to inform you?

Yes please, if the vacancy is filled before the closing date then we would appreciate you letting us know so we can remove it. It would also help us to know if one the successful candidate was a student

Will students apply via the Job Shop or apply directly?

We encourage students to apply to you directly however students can complete an expression of interest form so that we can help them with finding and applying for vacancies

I would like to take on an apprentice, can you help me with this?

Absolutely, if you complete the Employer vacancy form, we will pass this on to our apprenticeship team who will contact you to advise on the process.