8. Employability
Our responsibility to our students extends beyond the delivery of academic modules. The University recognises the importance of fully supporting students to reach their goals, whether these are employment, postgraduate education or further training.
The College of Humanities works closely with the Career Zone to provide a range of opportunities to gain the skills and experience you need.
8.1 The Career Zone
We recommend that you engage with the facilities and staff at the Career Zone as early as possible. It can take time to develop the skills and experience you need to compete in the graduate jobs market, so making the most of the people and resources available to you in the Career Zone could be paramount for your professional development. You can use Handshake, the University's online service, to view upcoming events and search for part-time work, graduate job roles and internships.
Streatham Campus
The Career Zone is based in the Forum building on Streatham Campus and offers a broad variety of support including individual careers appointments with professionals in the field; opportunities to improve your CV and personal statements; information about postgraduate study; opportunities to meet with employers; support for enterprise and self-employment; skills training sessions and support applying for jobs or work experience.
Cornwall Campus
In Cornwall, the Career Zone is based in the Exchange building. They can offer individual careers appointments with professionals in the field; a well-stocked careers library containing a wide variety of information; opportunities to improve your CV; information about postgraduate study; opportunities to meet with employers; support for enterprise and self-employment; skills training sessions and support applying for jobs and work experience.
8.2 College Careers Support
The College of Humanities has several designated careers consultants and many of you will receive a talk from one of the Careers Consultants during your studies. They will also be leading any specific skills workshops that will have been planned and agreed with your Department.
Our Employability Team's responsibilities include developing relationships with employers, sending out the Humanities employability newsletter to all students in the college, coordinating work placements, and arranging careers events throughout the academic year. Each department also has an academic representative for employability, who ensures that the needs and interests of their students are well represented. You may also choose to discuss your career options with your personal tutor.
For more information about employability activity within the College, please visit the Careers section of the intranet.
If you have any ideas or queries with regards to employability that you would like to discuss, please contact: humanities-employability@exeter.ac.uk
8.3 Postgraduate Study
Many of you may consider continuing your studies at a more advanced level. There are a broad range of opportunities available to you within the college, the university, and from other institutions. To find out more about postgraduate study at the University of Exeter, please visit the postgraduate study section of the website.
For more information about continuing your studies within the college, please see the prospective postgraduates section of our website. You may also find it useful to read the postgraduate taught and postgraduate research sections of the intranet.
If you have specific queries about any of the College postgraduate courses please contact:
humanities-pgadmissions@exeter.ac.uk
8.4 Work Experience
Whilst you are a current student, there are several opportunities to undertake paid work with the University of Exeter. You can apply for these opportunities through the Student Campus Partnership Scheme (SCP). The College of Humanities is unable to offer unpaid work experience to students because of National Minimum Wage regulations. The exception to this is if you undertake work experience as part of a credit-bearing module (for instance Humanities in the Workplace). In this instance, guidance on how to apply for work experience will be provided as part of the module.
There are a range of other opportunities for students to gain work experience. These include paid internships through external organisations, part-time work and volunteering opportunities. If you are a student and feel that you need advice about finding the right work experience, you could make an appointment with a Careers Consultant or with the college employability officer, Laura Ibarra Hempel.
8.4.1 Work shadowing
Work shadowing is the opportunity to observe someone in the workplace. It does not involve fulfilling work tasks and should not last for any more than 1 week in total. If a current student wants to shadow a member of staff from the College of Humanities, they should discuss this with the member of staff. The staff member will need to discuss it with their line manager to decide whether it is feasible and appropriate. There may be occasions where the college is unable to offer a shadowing opportunity – for instance, because of data protection or workload pressure.
It is not necessary for current students to sign an agreement with the staff member they shadow. However, all staff members must consider associated risks and confidentiality issues. Staff should complete the following templates below. Please, note that the Work Shadowing Confidentiality Agreement has to be agreed that it is fit for purpose on an individual basis:
A. Work Shadowing Risk Assessment Form
B. Work Shadowing Confidentiality Agreement
Please note that only staff with access to the College of Humanities shared drive can complete these forms.
Both the Risk Assessment and Confidentiality Agreement need to be returned to the college’s employability team: humanities-employability@exeter.ac.uk
The University of Exeter’s legal liability will cover both the student and University staff member both on and off campus.
Requests from non-students
PLEASE NOTE: This policy only applies to requests from current Exeter students. If somebody requests to shadow your work from outside the University, you need to contact the University’s Insurance team directly to ensure that they are covered by the appropriate insurance. Please, also contact Laura Ibarra Hempel, College Employability Officer, for guidance as there may be additional paperwork that you are required to complete.