Careers Centre up for two awards at National Undergraduate Employability Awards 2017
Wednesday, 25 January 2017
The Careers and Placements Fair 2016 attracted around 2,000 students.
The University Career Centre has been nominated for two awards at this year’s National Undergraduate Employability Awards.
The nominations are for Best University Careers/Employability Service and Most Improved Commitment to Employability.
The Centre supports the University’s student population with careers advice and work experience, hosting over 2,000 careers consultancy appointments each year, as well as regular CV drop-in clinics and dedicated events for undergraduates and graduates alike. Out-of-hours sessions and Skype appointments were also recently introduced to help further meet our students’ needs. The team works alongside academic colleagues to deliver and support a range of employability sessions to develop students graduate attributes.
Providing students with real-world work experience remains a key drive for the Centre. Along with traditional careers advice the Centre also hosts several experience-focused programmes to help students gain valuable experience. In 2016, the award-winning THRIVE Careers Mentoring Programme supported 220 mentees and 282 mentors, while our flagship experience programmes, the SME internship program and the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme, offered work experience placements for 129 students. The University itself also offers a valuable entry into work for students with ‘Campus Jobs’, an in-house temping agency in partnership with HR that enables students to fill temporary roles for the University.
The Centre also introduced several key initiatives in 2016 to further boost its services, including a significant investment to help enhance the experience of students on 4 year sandwich degrees, and the creation of a dedicated Employer Engagement Team. Full Launch expected in September 2017.
Lorna Froud, Director of Careers and Employability Services, said:
“We are very delighted to be finalists for the National Undergraduate Awards, and the nomination categories recognise and celebrate our key achievements so far.
The Careers Team has expanded significantly in the last 3 years and we’ve worked hard to successfully engage with students, academics and University staff as well as local and national employers who are keen to work with Reading and offer career opportunities to our students. We are looking forward to another successful year of careers events and student and employer engagement.”
Winners will be announced during an awards ceremony on Friday 24 February. Full details of the awards can be found at http://nueawards.co.uk.