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Careers & Employability Service Statement of Service

  1. Introduction

    This statement sets out the level of service provided to users of the Careers & Employability Service of Manchester Metropolitan University. It also shows how users can give feedback on service delivery.

    The Careers & Employability Service is part of Student Employability & Success, a department of Student Services. Our main base is at the All Saints campus in Manchester, with a second office at the MMU Cheshire campus in Crewe.

    The statement can be accessed on the Careers & Employability Service web site, and in hard copy format at the Careers & Employability Service.

    It is available in other formats on request.

  2. Our Aim

    MMU’s Careers & Employability Service aims to offer impartial, high quality services to students, graduates, university staff and employers through the provision of information, advice and guidance relating to the areas of employability development and the graduate labour market.

    Careers & Employability Service staff are employees of the University but advice and guidance is always impartial and in the best interests of each client.

  3. What we do

    The primary focus of the Careers & Employability Service is to enhance students’ employability skills and employment outcomes on graduating through the provision of a range of services offered directly to students and graduates, and through support for academics to develop student employability within courses. We provide services to employers who wish to recruit student and graduate employees and get involved in the development of students’ employability in a variety of other ways.

  4. Our Stakeholders

    We provide services to the following groups of people and organisations:

    • All students currently studying at MMU.
    • All MMU past students up to 3 years after leaving/completing their course.
    • University academic programme staff.
    • Employers.

  5. What service users can expect from us

    The Careers & Employability Service aims to offer service users the best quality service possible given the resources at our disposal. We undertake to treat all users with respect, and to listen and provide services that are impartial and objective. Service users can expect an honest appraisal of the degree to which we can help them.

    If we are unable to help you when you visit or contact us we will do the research necessary to provide you with the answers or refer you to another service or agency that can give you more appropriate assistance

  6. Our Services – what we offer

    1. Services to students and graduates

      We provide a wide range of support for current students. The majority of these services are also available to recent graduates (people who have left the university within 3 years).

      What students and graduates can expect from us:

      Career Development Workshops
      Careers Advice and Guidance
      • Long and short careers advice appointments are available all year round at the All Saints and Crewe campuses and at other campuses during term time. Most appointments are 15 minutes. Arrangements for booking appointments will be publicised online http://www.mmu.ac.uk/careersappointments
      • Careers advice is also available through an E-guidance service. Queries will be answered by one of our Advisers within 5 working days.
      Careers and Employability information
      • This will be provided through The Employability Hub in the New Business School and the service website www.mmu.ac.uk/careers
      • Facebook, blog and Twitter are available for students and graduates to keep up-to-date with a wide range of careers news, events and opportunities www.mmu.ac.uk/careers/news
      Information on vacancies and other available opportunities
      • A vacancy service advertising part-time and temporary jobs (external to MMU), work experience placements and graduate jobs.
      • Information on alternative forms of work experience e.g. internships.
      • On-campus, part-time job opportunities through Jobs4Students www.mmu.ac.uk/jobs4students
      • Volunteering opportunities www.mmu.ac.uk/volunteering will provide access to a wide range of local and national opportunities to volunteer in the not-for-profit sector (register online to access these).
      • Career mentoring support through the Mentormatch project www.mmu.ac.uk/mentormatch will facilitate links with a range of employers who are willing to provide their time and specialist knowledge to help students with the process of making and implementing career decisions.
      • A programme of events providing the chance to meet with employers and other opportunity providers www.mmu.ac.uk/careers/events
      What we expect from students and graduates:

      In order that the Careers & Employability Service is able to offer relevant, timely and high quality services, we ask that you:

      • Show respect and courtesy to our staff, and be honest with us about your support needs.
      • Give feedback, when requested, about your experience of the service so that we can evaluate and improve our service to you.
      • Attend workshops and presentations on time and try to contribute to discussion where appropriate.
      • Consider what can be realistically achieved during a careers advice appointment (the majority are 15 minutes long) and attend appointments on time.
      • Inform us as soon as possible if you are unable to keep an appointment to help us keep waiting times down to a minimum.
      • Assist us in our work collecting information on graduates’ career progression by responding to the survey of Destination of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE).
      • Comply with the rules set out in the ‘terms and conditions’ for the Jobs4Students scheme.

    2. Services to Employers

      We provide a range of support for employers · www.mmu.ac.uk/careers/employers

      What employers can expect from us:
      • A professional on-line vacancy service offering access to a range of highly qualified students and graduates of a full range of degree disciplines.
      • Support for recruiting students and graduates by offering time and space for you to come in and give presentations and/or interview on campus.
      • All submitted vacancies to be checked with full reference to relevant employment and equality legislation.
      • The facility to share your vacancies with other universities in the North West region.
      • Access to other departments within the university who can provide information to you on how to get involved in support for work-based placements, knowledge transfer, input into curriculum design etc.
      • Access to our on-line student mentoring project, Mentormatch www.mmu.ac.uk/mentormatch that will enable you to support the careers of students who are interested in your area of work.
      What we expect from employers using our services:
      • Cooperate with our requirements in respect of any changes we require to the content of job vacancies submitted to us.
      • Accept our decision where we are unable to advertise particular vacancies due to lack of suitability or legal issues.
      • Recruitment agencies and consultancies wanting to advertise particular vacancies with us to provide us with the name of the employer (we will not advertise this to students if preferred).
      • Give us feedback on our services and how we can improve them. We will listen to your feedback and respond accordingly. We will let you know where changes to our service are made following your feedback.

    3. Services to Academic staff & the university as a whole.

      We offer a range of services aimed at supporting the development of student employability and associated work · www.mmu.ac.uk/careers/staff

      The Careers & Employability Service has overall responsibility for managing the following on behalf of the University.

      • Undertaking the annual DLHE (Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education) survey.
      • Producing the annual DLHE report and associated management information.
      • The MMU Professional Passport Award.
      What academic staff can expect from us:
      • A named Careers & Employability Adviser, given resource to act as a link between our service and each faculty. A list of faculty link advisers can be found at www.mmu.ac.uk/careers/staff/key-contacts.php
      • Support for the embedding of the employability curriculum framework (ECF) and the development of employability related initiatives within the faculty as appropriate to the needs of students.
      • Support for the development of employability curriculum materials – such as ‘Employability Skills On-line’.
      • Information and analysis of graduate destination information for each course, including the career options which courses can prepare students for.
      • Support for the initiation and organisation of faculty events aimed at developing students’ employability.
      • Support for the establishment and maintenance of Faculty Employability Groups.
      • The opportunity to feedback on the services we provide.
      What we expect from academic staff using our services:
      • Support for the Link Careers & Employability Adviser and Faculty Employability Champion in promoting and embedding employability in the curriculum.
      • Promotion of and encouragement to students to engage with the full range of Careers & Employability Services, including the suite of career management workshops on offer.
      • Encouragement to students to engage with the MMU Professional Passport, or similar initiatives.
      • Feedback on your (and your students’) experiences of the service and suggestions for how services could be improved.

  7. The Careers Service & Employability Service standards

    Staff are trained and qualified and committed to updating of skills and knowledge through lifelong learning.

    • We seek to ensure that our service is provided in a fair and equal way to all our clients regardless of their sex, ethnic origin, age, sexuality, religion or disability.
    • We endeavour to remove the barriers to personal achievement, which result from prejudice, stereotyping and discrimination.

    In addition, we adhere to the following national codes and standards:

    • QAA (Quality Assurance Agency) Code of Practice
    • AGCAS (Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services) Code of Practice
    • The Matrix standard
    • MMU Equal Opportunities Policy

    All of the above codes and principles are available on request. Staff of the Careers Service & Employability Service are updated regularly on current legislation and review service delivery with a view to maintaining best practice in Equalities and relevant employment legislation.

  8. Comments, Feedback and Complaints

    Feedback on all aspects of the service is collected and analysed at least annually.

    Any other comments on our services can be made via email to careers@mmu.ac.uk or in writing to the Assistant Head of Careers & Employability Service.

    Complaints about the service should be made in writing to:

    Head of Student Employability & Success/ Deputy Director of Student Services
    Careers & Employability Service
    Employability Hub
    Business School & Student Hub
    All Saints Campus
    Oxford Road
    Manchester
    M15 6BH

    who will respond to all written complaints within 10 working days. If the issue is still not resolved, the complainant may then take the same complaint in writing to the Director of Student Services at the same address.

    This Statement is reviewed annually.

    Contact:

    Careers & Employability Service
    Employability Hub
    Business School & Student Hub
    All Saints Campus
    Oxford Road
    Manchester
    M15 6BH

    Phone 0161 247 3483 · E-mail careers@mmu.ac.uk