Engendering a Graduate Careers Community: A Collaborative Approach to Enhancing Graduate Connections and Success at the University of Liverpool
Since 2018, the University of Liverpool has been home to the UKs first student-led frontline career service, becoming the trailblazers for peer-to-peer delivery and services within UK HE institutions.
Following the success of this step change in careers delivery, we formed the new Graduate Transitions Team, to continue to offer bespoke support to recent graduates. The team is led by Jessica Sanders, Graduate Transitions Consultant, and delivered by Emma Ward, Graduate Transitions Officer, along with Jack Thorpe (Graduate Transitions Intern) and 6 Graduate Transitions Champions who are all current University of Liverpool students/graduates.
Engendering the ethos and success of our peer-to-peer strategy, The Graduate Transitions Team aimed to encompass University of Liverpool students and graduates at the heart of what they deliver and the services they provide.
Grads Supporting Grads
An essential member of the Graduate Transitions Team is our Graduate Transitions Intern (Jack); provided with the same expert led training as our Career Coaches and guidance from senior members of the careers team, Jack has enhanced our peer-to-peer service by offering tailored support and coaching sessions for graduates only. Providing them with a friendly, knowledgeable, and positive experience to nudge them in progressing closer to their career aims/goals.
Having a graduate coach in place has enhanced our service delivery by ensuring our graduate customers feel the same element of relatability and shared experience as our student customers. Since implementation of the team, we have seen upwards of 30% increase of graduate coaching appointments booked and many of these customers returning for follow-up appointments.
“…express my gratitude for your assistance during our session…I felt confident and well-prepared going into the interview and I was offered the job…I want to thank you for your assistance and support. I am grateful for your expertise and guidance, and I will be happy to recommend you [Jack Thorpe] to any graduates seeking career guidance.”
Lanxin, 2022 Graduate
Alongside our Graduate Transitions Intern, we recruited six Graduate Transitions Champions, who supported the team by talking to our 2022 graduates from around the world to promote, signpost and support them in their graduate career journey. The Champions focused on enhancing graduate engagement with our Your Future graduate offer and our exciting graduate projects and services, whilst promoting the completion of the annual Graduate Outcomes Survey.
Hiring students for graduate call campaigns is nothing new to the careers sector, with many universities hiring temporary staff to support in collecting outcome data and up to date contact details. We aimed to take this beyond a cold calling service for data collection and instead aimed to inform and empower graduates to re-engage with our careers team and services.
During our class of 22 campaign, our champions attempted to contact over 2000 graduates, which resulted in over 400 graduate account activations on our careers platform (Handshake) and saw 34 alumni interactions with the Careers Team in the month during the campaign, a 30% increase in engagement when compared to the previous year.
Led by Graduates, for Graduates
The Graduate Transition Team co-ordinate workshops and events throughout the academic year, designed to support final years and graduates with career development and confidence. Our aim is that 100% of these have input from, are delivered/co-delivered by or include members of our professional graduate community. In the academic year 2022-23 we have had over 100 graduate guest speakers and careers content form part of our delivery and communications.
One of our key events of the year was our Your Future Graduate Lounge. Our Graduate Lounge was designed to embed “Grads supporting grads” throughout. We specifically wanted all our suppliers, entertainers and panellists to consist of, and represent our talented and diverse graduate cohort.
“The Graduate Lounge was a peer to peer led event with local community at its core. We wanted to create a warm, inviting space for grads in Liverpool to learn from each other, hear authentic and inspiring stories, and create real connections with other grads across the city. Every element of the event, from the band through to catering, was by grads, for grads.”
Emma Ward, Event Manager
Nurturing our Graduate Talent through Internal Recruitment
In the last 12 months the Graduate Transitions Team has supported colleagues to recruit for over 60 graduate level jobs and opportunities across the institution and are currently working in partnership with HR to explore further opportunities for graduate development programmes, roles, and schemes across the institution, to address skills shortages, growth opportunities and retain local talent.
Leading by example, the Careers and Employability team currently have 8 recent graduates within their workforce and have hired over 30 current University of Liverpool students to support in their initiatives over the last 12 months.
What next for the Graduate Transitions Team at UoL?
With the Liverpool City Region continuing to be the “place to stay” for graduate employment (21% of our “in work” graduates in 2021) and further study (46% of our FS graduates in 2021), the University of Liverpool will continue to be a place where local talent can thrive and develop into successful professionals in their respective fields. Strengthened graduate partnerships will remain an essential part of the university's efforts to support and retain local graduate talent, and we can expect to see continued growth and success inspired by the work of the Graduate Transitions Team in the future.
The foundations of a new “graduate community” have been set by the team, and they plan to grow this, with a focus on building local connections and opportunities for the graduate cohorts of the future.
