Collaboration, access and communication were the key themes of Recruiter Day, an opportunity for representatives from a wide cross-sector of organisations to learn and reflect on initiatives at the University of Cambridge and topics facing education and employment
The Cambridge landscape
Professor Bhasker Vira, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Education and Jenny Blakesley, Director of the Careers Service opened the event with some insights into the “complicated” structure of the University that constitutes a confederation of Schools, Faculties, Departments and Colleges.
Professor Vira also spoke about the demanding academic expectations placed on Cambridge students. He recognised that while these endeavours help our graduates to prepare for the workplace, students also need the opportunity to take part in sport, other social activities, and internships to broaden their experience outside of the curriculum.
He touched on the current UCU Marking & Assessment Boycott, indicating that provisions are in place to help our graduating students as much as possible.
Levelling the playing field
A key aim of Cambridge’s Widening Participation (WP) strategy is to “try to level the playing field”. Jon Datta, Deputy Head of Widening Participation demonstrated how Cambridge is committed to achieving an intake that is both reflective of UK society and provides equality of education opportunity for all those who study here.
The ultimate objective is to “admit a student body in which no identified priority group is under-represented.”
Jon Datta, Deputy Head of Widening Participation
Progress is already being made with a record number of state school educated students and black British students being accepted to Cambridge and Oxford in 2022. Jon’s slides include links to various ongoing initiatives that would welcome collaboration from industry.
Whilst Cambridge’s efforts around WP are ongoing, Dr Alex Pryce, Foundation Year Course Director highlighted that no matter how much activity the University does there are some students with enormous potential that our messaging doesn’t currently reach.
In response, in 2021, Cambridge announced the launch of a new Foundation Year during which 50 students take a specially-created, one-year course that offers them the chance to develop their skills and meet the high academic standard necessary for further study either at Cambridge or other top Universities.
The current Foundation Year cohort comprises students from low-income homes, mature students, care-experienced students, those who have experience homelessness or estrangement, and some with young carer responsibilities or refugee status.
The course currently focuses on the arts, humanities and social sciences with the Careers Service offering guidance and networking opportunities to encourage them to think about their future, consider a range of options and not be limited in their ambitions.
“These students’ ‘superpower’ is their resilience – making the most of negative experiences and turning them around”.
Dr Alex Pryce, Foundation Year Course Director
It was truly inspiring to hear from some of the current cohort as part of Alex’s talk – listen again.
Creating real world impact
Tyler Shores, Programme Manager at ThinkLab, continued the theme of collaboration and access. ThinkLab is a unique programme that connects researchers with public and private sector organisations to produce research impact at scale. Projects include The Future of Work, and neurodiversity programmes with the BBC and Aviva.
Elifgül Doğan, a former ThinkLab PhD student, now Research Associate shared her personal reflections on how ThinkLab helped her understand her strengths and utilise her valuable transferable skills from a PhD into life in an industry/business setting. The Careers Service provides dedicated support for this community of researchers enabling them to maximise their employability whether in academic research of beyond. Contact us if you’d like to learn more about how to you can engage with this talented cohort.
Meeting change through collaboration and communication
We heard how a project-based approach to Careers delivery with a combination of careers service team members making up School teams has enabled the Careers Service to make the most of subject/labour market specific expertise whilst ensuring both agility, resilience, and continuity of delivery across collegiate Cambridge.
Each School team has oversight of delivery for particular labour market areas. We look for ‘best fit’ in terms of how we represent these areas, rather than hard lines and we work with data (rather than being led by it) which is informed by both student aspiration and destination.
- Our Humanities & Social Science team focuses on Banking & Finance, Consultancy, Law, Government, NFP and Education
- The STEM team engages with Engineering, Tech, Biotech, Life sciences and SciTech Consulting
- Our Arts & Humanities team concentrates on Media, Journalism, Publishing, Creative Arts, Heritage and Languages.
The School team structure allows our digital engagement to maximise flexibility whilst our in-person offering ensures our visibility to the wider University.
There was an opportunity for attendees to meet with Careers Consultants and the Employer Engagement team to gain departmental and sector insights and discuss future plans. If you’d like to discuss your recruitment plans in more detail, contact us.
The student voice
No Recruiter Day would be complete without hearing directly from our students. Our diverse panel shared their varied academic and career paths to date, their aspirations for the future and their candid insights on various questions posed by attendees both before and during the panel.
When considering potential employers, students are looking at work-life balance, company culture, values and diversity within the team. Clear progression and tangible work opportunities are also key considerations. Students cited some challenges when applying for jobs, such as time pressures, non-linear career paths, and a lack of transparency in the hiring process. They appreciate employer support in developing their skills for the workplace and value the opportunity to interact with recent hires.
Preferred methods of communication are through Handshake, targeted emails and student societies. Regular communication throughout the recruitment process is key and opportunity to build a community with potential colleagues is appreciated.
The session also examined the evolving role of AI within the field of recruitment. As one of the students aptly commented, “There’s a lot that higher education can learn from recruitment, and there’s a lot that recruitment can learn from higher education.” She envisaged looking at a student (or applicant) holistically – something which HE is increasingly doing, examining how their life experiences may have impacted their education – and made a compelling case that this is something that recruiters might also benefit from.
Recruiter Day was a positive and timely opportunity to come together and share insights as themes emerged that transcended sectors and experiences. We look forward to continuing the conversations as we move into the next academic year.