Career Research Report Briefing

• Purpose of the report

• Required information

• How to conduct your research

• How to structure and layout your report

• Submission Requirements

• Beware the Penalties

Enhancing EmployabilityModule code: 5BUS1085

Why is this assignment important

• This report will support you in considering your future career and give you important information in helping your make career planning decisions

• It will provide you with an awareness of the knowledge, skills and experience required by a recent graduate

• It will enable you to become aware of the opportunities available to graduates in the current jobs market

• You will be research information on the skills, knowledge and experience employers are looking for

Free Career & Skills Matching Tools• Prospects Planner

www.prospects.ac.uk in the Jobs & Work Experience area

• TargetJobs Careers Reportwww.targetjobs.co.uk in the Career Planner area

• Adult Directionswww.cascaid.co.uk/adultdirections Use licence code: goalhome12

What will you be researching

You need to research and decide upon a profession you are interested in for example: Operations Management, Retail Management, Marketing, Sales, Human Resource Management

OR look at a particular industry sector that you are interested in working in when you graduate for example: the media, not for profit, tourism, finance, sports and leisure

You may be interested in other career options, for example teaching or entering the armed forces or the police

You may be already working within your chosen career area, so you will need to consider future roles, promotion opportunities or transferring to other departments within the company

The Task

Having identified your profession or sector of employment you will need to:

Research the current and future expectations of employers, the likely future trends in graduate employment in this profession or sector and what recruitment and selection methods being used

You should then be able to produce a summary of the key skills, knowledge and experience which employers require from graduates seeking these roles

Preparation of your CV

• You will need to review and develop your CV – seek support from Careers and Placements to help you with this

• You should prepare your CV exactly as your situation is now – not what you hope it will look like when you graduate!

• Your CV is a crucial starting point to your graduate or placement job search

• You should attach your CV as an appendix to your report

Research a current opportunity

• You will need to identify one current role being advertised that you would be interested in applying for when you graduate

• You will also need to provide the advert or information on the current position that you identified as an appendix to your report

• This will form the basis for a large part of Assignment 3 – your Career Action Plan

• In Assignment 3 you will reviewing yourself against the requirements of the role that you identified in this assignment

Researching your report

Make use of both primary and secondary research

Use all available opportunities to undertake your

primary research - discover original data by your own

investigation

Structuring your report

•What your report will cover and how you make your decision on what sector/profession to focus upon – written in the first person so use “I”

•Number your pages and include a contents pageIntroduction and Contents

•Terms of Reference – what you are researching •Methodology – how you carried out your research, what sources of information did you use

Section 1 - Occupational Research

•General Employment Trends in the sector/profession•Opportunities for recent graduates – including a current advertised role•Skills, knowledge and experience required and selection methods being used

Section 2 - Main findings

•A brief reflection on your key findings and how you will make use of these within your Career Action Plan and Self Reflection report – Assignment 3

•This should be written in the first person “I”Section 3 - Conclusion

•Reference sources used to research and construct your report•Your current CV and a copy of the advert or information on the advertised role•Any other relevant information referred to within your report

References and Bibliography and Appendices

Writing your report

A report ‘reports’ on

something in a concise,

formal way using clearly

defined sections

presented in a standard

format, which tell the reader what you did, why and how you

did it and what you

found

A report should be

written concisely, in a business

like manner, and have

headings and sub-headings

The main body of the

report should be written in

the third person apart

from the introduction

and conclusion

which should be written in

the first person

Note the available marks for

each section and ensure

that you take account of

these in how you construct your report

Remember to include

your appendices and all your references

and bibliography

Laying out your report

Use Times New Roman/Arial 12pt with 1.5 spacing

Use 14pt headings and 12pt sub-

headings

Have a title page and a contents

page

Use page numbering from the Introduction

page onwards

Include a final word count on the

title page

Refer to the HBS ASU Guide to

Report Writing for more information

Submission Requirements

• Ensure that you submit on time – by 13:00 on Friday 15 November 2013

Your report must be submitted to the correct assignment tab

• Only submit an MSWord document (doc or docx), submit one document which containing all the required sections

• Label your document as follows: Your name: Student number: EE1 (eg John Smith 1234567 EE1)

Ensure that you submit in the required format

• The word count for this assignment is 1200 words (+/- 10%) Stay with the required

word count

Beware of the penalties• a penalty of 5% will be deducted from your

markFailure to label document correctly or submitting the

wrong type of file

• Penalties will be applied from 1% for 1 – 30 minutes late to your mark being capped at 40% if you are more than 300 minutes late

Failure to submit on time

• Penalty of 1% deducted from overall mark for each 120 words over word count Failure to stay within

defined word count

• a penalty of 5% will be deducted from your markFailure to accurately state

word count

Extension Requests

You must apply for an extension if required by

Friday 8 November

2013

You must provide a valid

reason and evidence if

required to

support your request

Do not assume

that your

extension has

been granted

unless you

receive an

email

confirming this

is the case