A global mindset Careers in the EU
Expanding employment horizons
The University of Leicester Career Development Service have won awards for the support they offer their students. Now, Bob Athwal, Director of Student Experience at the University of Leicester, explains how gaining a ‘global mindset’ will give the students the edge to not just succeed in the EU, but the rest of the world.
A
s an AGR award winning careers service, The University of Leicester Career Development
Service pride themselves on their innovation and commitment to preparing students for a lifetime of career success. However, students increasingly need to expand their horizons and ‘think outside of the box’ to compete in the graduate job market. To combat this, universities encourage their students to be flexible with their job search in terms of job type, company and increasingly, location. This may have previously meant regionally, or nationally – but the need to explore international options does not just give our students a larger employer pool – it provides them with a huge, exciting and unique opportunity.
The EU careers challenge was founded in response to the recognition that there was a need to encourage UK talent to apply and work in the EU. David Bearfield, Director of the European Personnel Selection Office explains “The Challenge is all about attracting Europe’s best and brightest students, and encouraging them to demonstrate the sort of skills needed to succeed both in our competitive selection procedures and, hopefully, their future career with the EU.”
The success of the EU Careers Challenge, launched as a pilot with the University of Leicester in 2013, resulted in the expansion of the challenge to ten universities. In 2014, 25 students worked in cross-cultural teams to submit ideas, with 540 registered users and voters, and over 9,000 views on the online crowd sourcing
28 Graduate Recruiter |
www.agr.org.uk
platform. The ambition is to make the competition accessible to all EU Member States in the near future.
The challenge asks students to submit a proposal responding to a particular EU need, previously covering issues surrounding the economy and sustainable technologies. As individuals, the students are exposed to ‘peer review’ when they submit their initial proposal and have to campaign for votes. Following this, they are placed into teams combining students from different institutions bringing with it a plethora of invaluable experiences: virtual team working, overcoming language barriers and the development of language skills. The competition also encourages a global mindset with teams made up of students from different universities and indeed from different countries. It also provides students the chance to build up meaningful networks and develop the competencies needed to succeed in an EU Career.
“The successful completion of the EU challenge along with some help from my personal tutor helped me land a 5 month traineeship at the European Court of Auditors in Luxembourg” Fabian Bak. International Relations graduate.
Furthermore, by integrating critical skills development throughout the tasks, students leave the challenge (winners, or not) with a wealth of transferrable skills: presenting to stakeholders and key influencers, relationship development, problem solving and language. “Extra-curricular activity, teamwork, presentation skills, leadership and the practical use of your degree are all qualities you need for a strong application and a successful interview.” - Fabian Bak.
By collaborating with universities and engaging with students early in their student journey, the EU benefits from raised awareness of available careers and early engagement with applications. Students profit greatly from being taken out of their comfort zones and quite literally expand their horizons. For the career development service at Leicester, this partnership contributes to a wider internationalisation strategy that recognises the growing need (and desire) for students to gain overseas experience, ensuring that Leicester graduates are ready to compete in a global graduate recruitment market. n
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