Although University is a place to have fun, meet new people and study for the degree program of your choice, it is also an important stepping stone into the working world. At the University of Newcastle there are plenty of ways you can get ahead to ensure you stand out from the crowd when you’re approaching graduation and start applying for graduate jobs. Career Connect is a brand-new program, targeted at students from all disciplines who are keen to gain skills and practical experience which will make them more attractive candidates to potential employers and help them to become well-rounded graduates.
There are no pre-requisites for this program and all students are invited to engage with it and improve their employability skills. As a pressed for time University student, I’m sure you’re wondering how you will find the time for this program – well good news! Becoming a member of the Career Connect is as simple as registering for a workshop which will teach you everything you need to know about the program and once you’ve joined, you can choose how much time you put into it depending on your schedule.
The Career Connect program was founded after extensive employability research to identify the skills that employers deem as a priority when recruiting and the skills, they believe graduates need to improve upon most. From there, the Careers team have put together a program which will enable you to build on these skills outside of the classroom in a supportive environment.
Employability Program Officer (Career Connect) Hannah Stark says, “every event and activity in Career Connect has been assessed and has one or two identified skills attached to it…students can choose what events and activities they want to participate in based on the skill/s it will develop and/or the skill/s they want to focus on…These skills include analytical thinking, leadership, digital literacy, problem solving and resilience.”
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