The University of Kent Careers Employability Award
What does the award contain?
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The award takes just a few hours to complete. It is all done on line and consists of quizzes and assignments. Completing the award will greatly improve your career planning and job hunting skills giving you strategies to make appropriate career choices and will increase your chances of getting a graduate level job. On completion you receive the University of Kent Careers Employability Award certificate.
What are the benefits?
- A few hours spent on the award can transform your chances of getting a graduate job - and the earlier in your course you do it, the bigger benefit it will bring!
- It will greatly improve your career planning and job hunting skills, giving you strategies to make appropriate career choices and it will increase your chances of getting a graduate level job.
- On successful completion you get a University of Kent Careers Employability Award to show to employers. You can then add the following to your CV and to show to employers.
"On my own initiative I enrolled for and successfully completed the University of Kent Careers Employability Award which covered identification and development of employability skills, self-awareness, identification of relevant career options, researching opportunities, CV preparation and interview skills." - Personal help and feedback from careers staff.
- You get 40 University of Kent Employability Points
- Just by completing this module, you are already showing the initiative and forward planning that will probably put you in the top 10% of graduate applicants. See our Striving for Excellence page to see what we mean.
- A few people have done it in a single day but you can complete it in your own time and at your own pace.
- The final date for completion has now been extended to the end of summer term (14th June 2013) to allow students to complete after their exams although we would prefer you to submit sooner if possible, so we don't get a back log of last minute feedback to give.
- It is free of charge to all University of Kent students.
- You can do it entirely off campus: two students have done it from Spain during their year abroad and another whilst on their industrial placement.
- Email Bruce Woodcock bw@kent.ac.uk if you have any questions about the module or have problems enrolling in it.
How to enrol on the Award
- Go to https://moodle.kent.ac.uk/moodle and enter your Kent login and password
- Then click "Search all modules" in the left hand side menu and type "careers" into the search box
- The module is called "CEM: Careers Employability Module": enter by double clicking on it
- Enrol by clicking on "Enrol me in this Module" which is in the left hand menu under "Module Administration" - see the picture to the right.
- If you have any problems enrolling email me, Bruce Woodcock on bw@kent.ac.uk and I will enrol you.
There is also a SCHOOL OF ENGLISH CAREERS AWARD with content designed for Kent School of English students. If you are studying English and American Literature or Creative Writing see www.kent.ac.uk/careers/Moodle/English.htm
There is a new SCIENCE CAREERS AWARD for bioscience, physics, chemistry and forensic science students. It contains scienec CVs, science covering letters and information on science careers.- Go to https://moodle.kent.ac.uk/moodle and enter your Kent login and password
- Then click "Search all modules" in the left hand side menu and type "careers" into the search box
- The module is called "Science Careers": enter by double clicking on it.
- Enrol by clicking on "Enrol me in this Module" which is in the left hand menu under "Module Administration".
- If you have any problems enrolling email me on bw@kent.ac.uk and I will enrol you.
How to view your progress
In the Module you can view all the quizzes and the mark you have got by looking in the left hand column for the section called “Activities”. Click on the "Quizzes" link and it will display all the quizzes and your marks.
If in the same “Activities” section, you click on "Assignments" it will show all your submitted assignments and the grade for those which have been marked.
On the right hand side of the main screen you will also see some square checkboxes (see the picture to the right). If the box is empty it means that you haven’t attempted the activity. If it has a cross, it means that you have tried a quiz and been unsuccessful and will need to try it again to pass it. If you have a tick, it means that you have successfully completed that quiz or assignment (you have to wait until the assignment has been marked before the tick appears).
You can ignore several assignments and still achieve the award. For example if you have already chosen your intended career, the assignment on choosing a career may not be of benefit to you, so you could miss it out.
You must complete ALL THE QUIZZES, THREE ASSIGNMENTS and the FEEDBACK FORM to get the award.
Once you have done this, email Bruce Woodcock bw@kent.ac.uk with your full name, subject, year and campus, plus the assignments you have done, to get feedback.
Once we have given you feedback on your assignments, we arrange to give you your award certificate and notify the Employability Points Scheme to give you 40 employability points.
Marking |
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Quizzes: you must complete all of these.You need to get 75% to pass each quiz (except time management), but you are allowed unlimited attempts and there is no time limit. |
Tick |
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Assignments: you must complete any three of the following: |
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Feedback form |
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You must complete all quizzes, three assignments & the feedback form to complete the award. Once you have done this, email bw@kent.ac.uk with your name, subject, year & campus, plus assignments done, to get feedback. |
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Frequently Asked Questions
I'm having problems enrolling on the award
If you have any problems enrolling email Bruce Woodcock on bw@kent.ac.uk and I will enrol you.
What is Moodle?
Moodle is the University Virtual Learning Environment. For more on Moodle see the Student Orientation Document
How do I get my certificate? 
Once you have completed all the quizzes, three assignments and the feedback form, email bw@kent.ac.uk with your name, subject, year, campus and the assignments you have completed. You will then receive an email when your certificate is ready for collectionfrom the Careers and Employability Service (next to Keynes at the Canterbury Campus, or in G0-05 at the Medway Campus). If you study at a college, we will post the certificate to you and will email you to confirm when we have done this.
Can I do it off campus?
Certainly. Several students have completed it during their year abroad in Spain and others whilst on their placement year in industry.
As is it all completed on-line, how would I go about getting the assignments marked?
Assignments are marked on-line via the Moodle marking system and you get feedback on your work. Marking and feedback is light touch and positive If you want further feedback, for example on your CV, you are welcome to come to see the duty careers adviser to discuss your work www.kent.ac.uk/ces/locations/index.html
What if I fail an assignment?
This is unlikely unless you had put very little thought and effort into your answers, as we tend to view the marking of assignments as a process to help you learn by giving you positive feedback more than anything else, but you would in any case have an opportunity to retake any assignments you failed.
Is there a deadline for each quiz/assignment or just done in one's own time?
The overall deadline for completion is the end of May each year, but within this, you can complete the quizzes and assignments in any order you wish.
With regards to the assignments and quizzes that must be completed are they course or career related at all or just general with regards to employability?
Most of the assignments and quizzes are generic but certain parts such as the "Researching a Career" and "Choosing a Career" assignments do allow you to focus on particular careers. There are also specific Science, English and Politics versions if you are studying these subjects which you can enrol for if you prefer.
Where am I meant to be finding the information to answer the quizzes? Is there a specific website?
Most of the answers will be on our careers web site www.kent.ac.uk/careers
Next to most of the quizzes are relevant pages which will give you useful information to answer them. You can of course, take the quizzes as many times as you need to, so it's OK to guess if you don't know the answer to a particular question, as you will get detailed help along with the correct answer.
I have submitted an assignment but the tick in the green box next to it will not show up.
You don't get the tick for assignments until they have been marked. This usually happens within two weeks of submission unless we are very busy.
Do I have to complete it in one go?
A few people have done it in a single day but you can complete it in your own time and at your own pace over a number of months if you prefer. The deadline for completion is about the end of May each year.
How long does it take?
A few hours: some students have completed it in a single day. A few students have rushed through just to get the award, but students who take a more measured approach and think carefully about what they are doing will ultimately reap a much richer reward.
Can I do it each year?
You can if you wish to! Each year we try to improve the module and so each year there will be a number of changes, but the benefit to you would not be that great in doing this.
Will I be able to access my work next year?
We improve the module each summer based on student feedback, so the module is a new version next year. Previous modules are kept in the Moodle archive and you should be able to access your work in the archive but we can't guarantee this, so it would be wise to keep copies of your assignments and feedback just in case you can't access the archive.
What is the difference between Careers Employability Award and the English Careers Award?
Simply that the English award has a BA English CV, covering letter and the choosing a career assignment has more careers related to an English degree in it. Otherwise the awards are very similar - you get the same certificate at the end. The same applies to the science award. It has a science CV, covering letter and science careers in the choosing a career assignment but otherwise is very similar to the main award.
How do I complete the feedback form?
when you enter the module, scroll down to the bottom of the screen. The final part of the module is called feedback. It is greyed out until you have completed all the quizzes. Once you have completed all the quizzes the feedback form will become available. Click on the feedback form and complete it.If you have real problems submitting this, you can email answers to the following questions to me bw@kent.ac.uk
- What did you like most about the module? Were there any particular parts you particularly liked
- What did you find least useful about the module? Any parts we should remove or improve? How can we improve these parts for future students?
I get 40 Employability Points for completing the award. What are employabiilty points?
The employability points scheme is run by Kent Innovation and Enterprise. YOu can find out about it at
www.kent.ac.uk/employabilitypoints/index.html
Points are carried forward to the next year. If you have any questions about the points you can ask these at
www.kent.ac.uk/employabilitypoints/contactus.html
Where do I get my certificate from once I've completed the award?
Once you have completed the award successfully we will email you to tell you that your certificate is available for collection. You can then pick it up any weekday from Careers and Employability Service reception. On the Canterbury campus we are in Keynes College driveway and at Medway, in the Gillingham Building: see the maps at www.kent.ac.uk/ces/locations/index.htm
If you are on a year abroad or have graduated and aren't coming back to Canterbury again, we can post your certificate to you.
I completed the employability award while I was in France and will not be able to pick it up before the start of the next academic year. Will it still be available to pick up at the start of next year?
We hold all certificates which haven't been picked up for at least 6 months after completion, so this is not a problem.
The DOTS Model of Career Planning used in the award
Self Awareness |
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Opportunity Awareness |
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Decision Making |
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Taking Action |
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More comments from students who have completed the award
- Thank you for letting me take part in this module. I have thoroughly enjoyed and found it incredibly useful.
- It was amazingly helpful.
- Thank you very much, I really enjoyed completing the module and found it to be tremendously helpful!
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I enjoyed doing it; I learnt a lot and it helped me to gather confidence on presenting myself in my own particular way.
- I truly enjoyed the module, and I see a great value in it for future Kent students.
- I will be looking for a summer job and this course is extremely helpful for preparing me for what I need to do to succeed.
- The quizzes are very helpful, particularly the CV quiz. I'm very impressed with the module . It's a shame I've only just discovered it as some aspects could have helped me in previous endeavours.
- I particularly liked the CV and interview sections as they really helped me to think about aspects of an application I wouldn't have considered. Also by making me analyse the skills I feel I have to offer ties in with what I can then tell companies in a job interview, as I would have just reeled off generic traits. This way I understand my skills in more depth and can elaborate on this.
- There is loads of feedback per quiz/assignment! My CV was marked very quickly and had loads of useful feedback!
- I actually broadened my horizons and found some alternative careers that I might go for.
- I really enjoyed the quizzes. They effectively highlighted the gaps in my knowledge, as many of the answers surprised me.
- I found the module to be very informative and I learned a lot about myself whilst completing it. I especially liked the quiz sections and learnt a lot through them because I was able to check my answers at the end (with explanations as to why they were correct or incorrect) and when I repeated the quiz I found that I was able to perform better after reading the feedback. I was also able to understand why the answers were right or wrong. I found the writing a practice CV after completing the quizzes to be very helpful as I was able to put my new skills to the test.
- I liked Choosing a Career. It really made me think about work in a different way. It helped me to see options other than 9-5 jobs and also explore other career options that I can do with my degree, I don't feel as limited now as I did before.
- I particularly enjoyed researching companies that do graduate programmes as I didn't really know the websites that I was linked to were available to me. It helped me to identify my own strengths and weaknesses and feel more confident about my abilities.
- I liked the parts requiring me to analyse my skills. I have not considered my skills in such depth before this and so I thought it was very worthwhile. I also thought that the module was very well organised and presented in the way it encouraged me to delve further into my skills (e.g. first required to identify the skills, then describe a situation where I had demonstrated use of the skills and finally applying them to a real life setting).
- It was all very useful, but I found the most useful assignment was the "Work to live or live to work" one, because it really engaged me and got me thinking about my moral values and work-life balance.
- I enjoyed all of it. It really helped strengthen my knowledge of the interview process and what career would be of interest to me. All the information was relevant, which really made me motivated to complete each stage of the Module. The second attempts that the Quizzes offered allowed me to feel motivated to attempt them again, rather than feel like a failure.
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The relaxed nature to do assignments and quizzes at your own leisure makes it very appealing as both a learning process and personal development. I also like the idea that anyone can do it alongside their degree, even in final year when employment possibilities really are at the forefront of our minds.
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There is a wealth of information about everything; I especially liked the individual information about specific job types and the advice given about interview skills, as professional interviews for undergraduates are fairly rare so these skills and techniques are essential.
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The researching and choosing a career assignments were nothing short of fantastic.
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It's kind of impossible to fail, and each time you get something wrong you are corrected and encouraged to try again. I have enjoyed learning how to sell myself, tapping into my skills I previously was unaware were so important to future employers.
This is just a small selection of the hundreds of positive comments we have received.