Introduction to the Case Study

Professional and Academic Skills 1

The focus is on

• Employability skills• The employer’s perspective• Preparation for placement• Personal career planning • Enterprise skills and knowledge

Lectures cover

•Finding out about jobs•Recruitment and selection procedures•Applications paperwork•Job interviews•Enterprise skills and self employment•Career Planning – looking ahead

Lectures

• Give you guidance and instructions on how to tackle the case study assignment

• Give useful information when working on your Individual Folder assignment

• Give you tips and advice and up to date information on a range of career issues

Professional & Enterprise Development– CE00315-2

Case study

•To give you vital employability skills - problem solving, teamwork, researching, presentation and communication skills •To view selection and recruitment from the employer’s perspective

Professional & Enterprise Development– CE00315-2

Careers case study• Gets you looking at how and where vacancies and

job opportunities are advertised• By knowing what employers are looking for in

written applications, you should be able to sell yourself more effectively to prospective employers

• By knowing how job interviews are assessed you should be able to perform better in job interviews

The case study

Introducing Robot IC Ltd• There are 4 parts to it.• Each part is covered in detail in the

lectures, with tips and advice

First case study task:

•Research and write 2 job descriptions

•Write 2 personal specifications

•Produce 2 job adverts

Sources of information on jobs• Graduate Recruitment booklets and

magazines• Company websites – careers section• Professional association websites (BCS)• Job databases on linewww.prospects.ac.ukhttp://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk

Talking about jobs• Look at other job adverts to get ideas for how

to lay them out• Look at graduate recruitment publications• Look at jobsites on the internet

• There are lots of poor ones out there!• Think about which ones stand out and why

More about job adverts• Include a job title• Say something about what the job entails• Say something about what candidates ‘must

have’ to apply (what the employer is looking for)

• Say something about terms and conditions• Include details of how they apply

Professional & Enterprise Development– CE00315-2

Talking about job descriptions• Be clear about what each job is about

• Don’t worry about it being perfect, most job descriptions get re – negotiate over time

• Terms and conditions are often just as important for most applicants

Professional & Enterprise Development– CE00315-2

Talking about Personal Specifications• Remember, the job description says ‘what’ the

person will be doing

• The personal spec says ‘what they need’, to be able to do that (what skills, experience, qualifications, attitudes, etc.)

To do this you need to•Organise a way to work as a group•Read the case study•Read the supporting materials•Complete the task