The Employer Engagement team is responsible for fostering relationships with a range of employers. The primary aim of building these industry relationships is to connect our students with work-based learning opportunities that will develop their skillsets and support them with their employment post-graduation. Work experience initiatives that are available to students include short-term internships, Year in Employment placements (otherwise known as a sandwich year), and experiential learning collaborations, such as Student Innovation Projects. Our student facing Work Experience Team encourages students to engage in these employment opportunities, supports their onboarding/training and is on hand to help them throughout their experience. Hundreds of students take up these opportunities each year and develop their skills, experience and career thinking as a result.
Our Data, Information and Operations team are the hub of everything we do. They are responsible for providing an outstanding level of customer service to our students and stakeholders, supporting students with their careers queries through our daily Ask the Adviser service and co-ordinating all of the administration and data requests that come through to Careers, Employability and Student Enterprise. Our expert data analyst provides data insights into employability at Southampton working with Graduate Outcomes, Careers Registration and sector comparison data sets. Our front-line information team provide an integral triage service for enquiries alongside managing our internal and external information systems and publications. Finally, our experienced team of Careers Support Co-ordinators run our in-person and online appointments to support students and graduates with their careers queries whether that be application support or general advice on where to get started.
Our Advice and Guidance team comprises an experienced and professional set of passionate Careers Consultants aligned to the University’s faculties.. The team deliver high quality careers guidance to our students and graduates as part of our core offering and work in partnership with academic colleagues to design and deliver tailored programmes of careers, employability and employment support and events. We are now expanding our specialisms to include tailored support for all aspects of widening participation, for international students, for researchers (both postgraduate and early career researchers) and graduate coaching for our recent graduates. In addition, the Careers Consultants are at the forefront of embedding employability into the curriculum and are working on a number of exciting, innovative projects to enhance student employability at The University of Southampton. As part of our commitment to professional development, we support new Careers Consultants to go through the professional guidance qualification (CEIGHE).
Student Enterprise is a fast-paced team that provides current students and recent graduates with the skills, support, and funding they need to either set up their own business, lead a social enterprise, become freelance/self-employed, launch a scalable start-up or develop essential enterprise skills. We offer a large range of activities and initiatives that include inspirational events, challenging competitions, skills development workshops, specialist mentoring, and generous funding opportunities, alongside advice and guidance through our 1:1 appointments and online resources. We are about to open a brand new city centre shop front to act as the hub for our growing enterprise ecosystem, linking students, businesses, local entrepreneurs and potential investors. We are also working with academic colleagues to embed enterprise into the curriculum.
The growing events team facilitate connections between students and potential employers. This team is responsible for organising and promoting various events such as career fairs, employer presentations, and networking sessions, to provide opportunities for students to learn about different industries and meet with representatives from companies of interest. Additionally, the team works closely with university departments to ensure that the events align with students’ academic and career goals. We are expanding the team to allow us to put on events across all 7 campuses where the need arises and make the most of new forms of hybrid event activity. Overall, the events team plays a crucial role in supporting the university’s mission to prepare students for successful and fulfilling careers.