At York we encourage you to engage early with your personal and professional development and get involved with activities to build the strengths, skills, leadership qualities and experience desired by employers.
Our employability initiative, York Futures, will help you understand the options that are available to you, and the breadth and range of opportunities make it easy for you to get started. For more information see york.ac.uk/careers.
The York Strengths Programme is a unique part of our careers support. It will help you to understand both what you are good at and enjoy doing, so that you can focus on preparing for a career that will let you shine.You will then be supported to plan your time at York so that you can build on your strengths and gain a range of experiences. For more information see york.ac.uk/york-strengths.
An Employability Manager and Careers Consultant from the Careers and Placements team works with each Department to support you with:
- 1-2-1 advice and guidance
- CV reviews
- Mock interviews
- Exploring ideas
- Finding work experience - volunteering, paid internships, placement year, enterprise
- Events with employers
Psychology Career Support
Developing your employability is about extending skills, making contacts, broadening ideas, and understanding how to gain and use your experiences to enhance your future prospects. It is a good idea to start exploring career options in your first year.
The Department provides guidance on Careers via these Student Documentation Pages. Note that the Careers pages have several subsections packed with useful resources and links provided jointly by the Department and the University Careers Service.
The Department also maintains a digital notice board for jobs, career opportunities and other useful resources which can be found here. This is kept updated and is worth bookmarking in your internet browser.
The Department also provides guidance on Careers via our Careers Co-Ordinator, Prof. Katie Slocombe, and through your supervisor, who will discuss your Employability Plan with you.
The University’s Employability tutorial enables you to assess your skills, research career options and access guidance on how to gain experience and develop new skills to prepare for your future.
It can be accessed via the VLE: http://vle.york.ac.uk. Note that you will need your University login to access the tutorial.
For further information on Careers and employability, visit: www.york.ac.uk/careers or see the University handbook.
Personal Development Planning (PDP)
As you work through the Employability Tutorial, you will complete your Employability Plan. You should discuss this with your supervisor on an annual basis; they will arrange a time for this. This is a great opportunity for you to reflect on your personal, academic and professional development and plan for the future.
Your supervisor should:
- encourage you to think through and articulate personal ambitions and possible career paths
- encourage you to think about the skills and attributes you will need to develop and demonstrate in order to achieve your personal, academic and professional aims
- encourage you to seek relevant advice and guidance on these matters from other academic staff, the Careers team, the College System and YUSU and signpost development that is available within and beyond the curriculum.