Red-revamp

Those of you who visited the Careers Resource Room (as it used to be!) before the red re-vamp may have been aware of the wall of files – there were three shelf units full of Occupational Files, containing details of specific job roles, details of relevant professional bodies and information about training for these roles, where appropriate. They were perfect for researching what is involved in pursuing specific careers; what pathways are available, what experience is necessary and about the qualifications required for entry.

However, the files were rarely used by students. This wasn’t because the information inside the files was not valuable or useful, but that not many of you wished to sit in our room and pore over pages and pages of careers information that was in no way interactive. And I can’t blame you at all for that!

So, with input from the rest of the Careers and Employability team, I set about devising a system that would allow access to this information in a range of ways, and this is what I came up with.

You can now choose from three different ways to see the valuable Occupational Information that has been compiled for you:

1.       The red Occupational Files in The Careers and Employability Centre, WM0.35. Yes, the files are still there! But they are much slimmer, and take up much less room on the shelves. The information is now mainly presented on Factsheets – there is one for each of the old files. The Factsheets give information and provide website addresses that you can go visit find out more. They all follow the same format, so if you are looking at several career options you will be able to navigate the Factsheets easily. The files also contain books and printed information that we have received from relevant organisations.

2.       The Information Point in the Careers and Employability Centre, WM0.35. The Factsheets that are in the red files are also presented as PDFs on a computer in the Centre. From this point you can read the files, follow the links provided and even print out the Factsheets you are most interested in. This is perfect for undertaking a little careers research if you have a few minutes in between a lecture, or while you are waiting for your turn at a Careers drop-in session. Come in to the Centre and ask us to show you how it works.

3.       The Occupations Wiki: http://keelecareers.pbworks.com. Now you don’t even have to leave the comfort of your room to be able to consider future career options. Have a browse around the wiki, and you will see that the format is the same as the Factsheets above. You can also use your smart phone or tablet to view these and follow the links. Please give it a go and let me know what you think!

Now, you have a choice. There are benefits to each; the resources in the Centre are surrounded by additional information that you can take away with you (Graduate recruitment directories, leaflets etc.) while the online resources are perfect for having a virtual wander around the opportunities available to you. I hope that you will use all of them at some point during your time at Keele.

Setting this up was a lot of work, but was an interesting process. I hope that you find the choice between formats useful. If you have looked at these information sources, please let me know what you think – I’ve set up a short survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BPJCYXN and would really appreciate your feedback.

Liz White
Careers Information Assistant