Advice for organisations engaging and recruiting University of Plymouth students

COVID-19
Advice for organisations engaging and recruiting University of Plymouth students

During these uncertain times, the Careers Service remains open, supporting students, graduates and organisations. The following provides an update on our regular services and new ways you can engage with us to raise your profile and connect with our students.

Many organisations are also keen to hear what changes are happening across the University as a result of COVID-19 and how this will affect student assessments, progression and graduation. We recommend that you review the latest University guidance to keep up to date with changes being implemented.   

Vacancy advertising  

We have an online careers platform called MyCareer, connecting employers with our recent students and graduates. It enables you to:  

  • upload your organisation profile, which is visible to 18,000+ students and graduates,
  • fast track your part-time, internship, placement and graduate opportunities directly to our free jobs board,
  • book onto upcoming events,
  • discuss collaboration opportunities.

This service is free of charge and registering for an account is quick and easy. Once registered you can upload and manage your vacancy. To register for your account please visit mycareer.plymouth.ac.uk  


Current placement year hires: 2019-2020

Firstly, we wish to thank all our placement partners for supporting our placement scheme. We understand your organisation may be having to make some difficult decisions at this time and would like to work with you to try to satisfy all parties’ needs.

At all times our priority is the health and wellbeing of our students and the University asks that our placement partners treat our placement students as they would one of their own employees with regards to health, safety and welfare.

We are communicating with our students on placement and will support them to make appropriate and informed decisions in relation to their wellbeing as well as their academic progression.

Where placements are terminated early due to COVID19, students will not be penalised. Emergency measures have been put in place to provide some flexibility for the required duration of placements. For the exact number of weeks needed, relevant to specific programmes of study, please contact our team placements@plymouth.ac.uk.

Placement year hires: 2020-2021 

We are delighted to see that many offers of placements for next year are, as yet, unaffected and we are actively encouraging our students without offers to keep applying for roles where possible.

We understand that for some employers a full twelve months placement may not be possible, so the University has reviewed the required durations for work-placements in 20/21, in order to help employers as much as possible. We are hoping that this may assist companies in being able to offer placement opportunities to some of our students.

Some employers have told us that because of the recovery period needed for companies to get back on their feet, they would probably not be able to start a placement until later in this year, or even next. Therefore, for the upcoming academic year, students and employers have up until mid-September to finalise a placement, but a student could start their job later in the year, or even next, provided they meet the minimum duration.

For further information on any of the above please contact placements@plymouth.ac.uk.

Careers fairs

This year we will be running 2 virtual careers fairs:

  • Part-time Jobs Fair – Monday 12th October 2020, 10am – 4pm 
  • Placement & Graduate Recruitment Fair – Wednesday 4th November 2020, 10am – 4pm

These virtual careers fairs are a great way of raising your profile with our students, advertising your opportunities and meeting students and graduates from across the university. As a virtual fair exhibitor, you will have a personalised online profile which students will be able to access for 1 week before and after the fair. 

On the day of the fair you will have multiple opportunities to engage and how you choose to, is entirely up to you! You could run 1:1 appointments, presentations across the day or group drop ins. This really is an exciting way to meet our students and graduates and benefit from a really interactive virtual fair experience. 

Spaces for these events will be limited and are expected to be popular. Please email if you would like to register an expression of interest.


Employer promotional activities

You are welcome to book your presentation, workshop or promotional activity between October – December and February – April. For the autumn term it is most likely that we will only be operating these virtually. However, if there is a chance of hosting a session on campus then there will be a maximum student capacity of 30 per session, in order for us to ensure social distancing can be safely practiced. It is anticipated that this restriction on session capacity would be increased for spring term. Any bookings at this stage will remain provisional and flexible with session details finalised closer to the time. We are also able to support employers with any ideas they have for delivering their promotional activities virtually. For more information contact us on employers.careers@plymouth.ac.uk.

NEW: Small Business Workforce Fund

If you are adapting your business or currently supporting the COVID-relief effort, the Small Business Workforce Fund can help. To provide flexibility to businesses facing changing market demands, this temporary Fund, led by the University's STEM Graduates into Business project and part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), allows graduates to be employed as a paid-intern for three months to fill any existing skills gaps.

The Fund will provide incentive payments to cover up to 50% of the graduate employee salary – up to £200 per week, or £2,400 over three months (also available pro-rata).


Our service also offers...

Micro-Internships - Ignite

Ignite is a new and exciting Micro-Internship programme for all undergraduate students. The Micro-Internships are voluntary work experience during the vacation periods and will last 3-5 days. These bitesize internships will enable students to enhance their employability skills before entering the world of work or before embarking on a placement year. We are currently planning a range of internships, including face to face opportunities (for later in 2020/21) and virtual opportunities. To find our more, contact us at employers.careers@plymouth.ac.uk  

Employer insight panels

Employer insight panels

We have a variety of panels planned for 2020/21 and this is a great way for employers to share their industry experience, career journeys and top tips for success with our students. It is expected that these will run virtually for autumn term and be delivered on campus for spring term. Panel topics currently include: getting into teaching; working in the public sector; law, criminology and government; marketing; tourism, hospitality and events; psychology. Please let us know if you would like to sit on any of these panels and we can provide further information via employers.careers@plymouth.ac.uk

Employer in the foyer drop in stands

Employer in the foyer drop in stands 

A great way to promote your organisation and opportunities open to a large number of students from across the campus, we currently anticipate that this activity can take place as usual, but with measures put into place around the stand and in the foyer to ensure social distancing measures can be practiced. Any bookings at this stage will remain provisional and flexible with session details finalised closer to your campus visit. We are also able to support employers with hosting a virtual drop in. For more information contact us on employers.careers@plymouth.ac.uk.

Competitions

Competitions

We will not deliver our popular FLUX competition in the autumn term as the benefits of the face to face elements of this competition would be lost if we tried to replicate it virtually. It is anticipated that this event will be able to run on campus in spring term. If you are interested in being a professional judge at a FLUX competition or sponsoring this event then we would like to hear from you at employers.careers@plymouth.ac.uk.

Linking with the curriculum

Linking with the curriculum

Many employers often ask if they can link with specific courses or subject areas and one of the ways to do this can be through a timetabled session in the curriculum, either with one of our Careers Consultants, Placement Officers or we can link you directly with the academic. You will work with the person delivering the session to plan your allocated time slot and content to enhance the session. Sessions for 2020/21 are currently being planned so if you would like to be considered as one of our employers within the curriculum then please email employers.careers@plymouth.ac.uk, letting us know which subject and stage you would like to meet.

Professional Mentoring Programme

The launch of the Professional Mentoring Programme has already begun with mentor signs up continuing to come in and the student application pathway live. We anticipate that this will continue in the same format as before and this year have 6 Meet your Mentor events so we can manage capacity if event size becomes a barrier. If face to face events, training or meetings cannot happen then the times and dates will remain the same and will be replaced with an online event. For more information please visit www.plymouth.ac.uk/mentoring.

Sprint

Sprint  

We anticipate that our popular Sprint development programme will now be delivered in early 2021. The Sprint programme is a 4-day programme for undergraduate women to support them to learn how to use their personal power and influence; identify their core values, attitudes and direction; manage their time effectively; learn how to cope with stress and change and foster a healthy lifestyle. Women on the programme are supported to develop their career goals by our licenced facilitators and industry professionals from a range of sectors and backgrounds.  

For employers it provides a great opportunity to support women undergraduate students to reach their full potential, by sponsoring the programme. There is a sliding scale of sponsorship, depending on the sponsor’s objectives and level of commitment and funding. Past sponsors have included Barclays, Morgan Stanley, Microsoft, Deloittes, EY and Enterprise rent a car.  

For more information on the programme and sponsorship opportunities, please visit the webpage or contact careers@plymouth.ac.uk


STEM Graduates into Business

Part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), STEM Graduates into Business can support Devon based SMEs with recruiting skilled recent graduates with fresh, innovative ideas to drive business growth and productivity. With incentive payments of up to £3,600, paid interns are employed for a period of 6 to 12 months offering flexibility to small and medium businesses looking to meet changing market demands. To find out visit the STEM Graduates into Business webpage or contact the team on stem-graduates@plymouth.ac.uk.


Contact us

If you have any questions or would like to register to take part in one of these activities then please do not hesitate to contact us at employers.careers@plymouth.ac.uk. 

We are also excited to hear about the ways organisations are planning on engaging with our students virtually and will happily discuss how we can facilitate these ideas with you. We will look forward to working with you over the next academic year, in whatever capacity that may be!