Workshops

Workshop 1(a) Room EQ112

‘University Challenge’ - 'Advancing professional practice to meet the needs of Gen Z’

Ciara Tallon, Fionnuala Rahilly, Niamh Mullen, Career Development Team, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), University of Medicine and Health Sciences

We propose interactive, collaborative round-table ideation stations to encourage ‘radical collaboration’ amongst peers to help to:

• ideate one overarching challenge (one per table) that affects those in support roles for the Gen Z student population for example:

Work placement, IT/AI, Learning Support, International student challenges

• ideate potential solutions (quantity over quality)
• make each challenge available to the wider room –through the use of flip charts/display boards
• encourage shared thoughts, suggestions, and support from peers
• positively pool expertise and experience
• use the idiom of ‘Yes and..’ to build on each other’s ideas and recommendations.

This workshop offers the opportunity to pool our knowledge, skills, and expertise to facilitate those who support Gen Z students within our educational establishments. By understanding the varied challenges and opportunities brought by a Gen Z cohort, this exercise offers new, innovative approaches incorporating ‘radical collaboration’ with peers. Through the use of display boards, music, and the encouragement of ‘wild ideas’ and technology we plan a ‘fun, high-energy’ session.

This is aimed at professional staff who support Gen Z students, who seek to think ‘beyond the box’ to engage, support and empower them.

Workshop 1(b) Room EQ208

Early Careers Employer Survey 2024

Gavin Connell, Head of Careers, Cooperative Education Manager (Global) & Olga O’Sullivan, Cooperative Education Manager, Global Programme, University of Limerick (UL)

The Early Careers Employer Forum (ECEF) aims to provide insights and solutions for Ireland's graduate and placement recruitment market.

The ECEF has two main components: a survey and a publication. The survey is the largest in Ireland, revealing the latest trends and challenges of recruiting graduates and providing placements in the current year. The ECEF survey is useful for understanding the needs and preferences of employers who recruit and develop graduates and young professionals. The Early Careers Employer survey is an online questionnaire sent to employers who have hired graduates or offered placements in the past year or plan to do so next year. The survey covers recruitment methods, selection criteria, salary levels, skills gaps, training opportunities, diversity initiatives, and satisfaction levels. The survey gathers recruitment, retention, development, and diversity data for early career talent. The survey results can help employers compare their performance, learn from best practices, and enhance their strategies for attracting and retaining early career talent.

This workshop is of interest to all delegates interested in the current and future challenges and opportunities in the early careers market.

Workshop 1(c) Room EQ116

Mission Impossible? Engaging and supporting Gen Z through the curriculum, focusing on emotional intelligence, enhancing well-being and developing resilience for future workplace leaders

Cathy Moore & Norman Hagan, Employability Consultants, Ulster University (UU)

Following a 6-year journey of innovative curriculum design, learning, teaching, and assessment, in this workshop we will explore the pitfalls and positives of embedding the development of Wellbeing, Resilience, and Emotional Intelligence into the curriculum.

From a Gen Z perspective, Emotional Intelligence is essential for career progression. It enhances their interpersonal and leadership qualities and enables navigation of the complexities of the modern workplace with adaptability and resilience. Employers increasingly value these qualities as reflected in emerging recruitment practices. Informed by research and evidence, we designed, delivered and evaluated a suite of active learning workshops aligned to Emotional Intelligence and embedded these into the business school curriculum in 2018. As a central department, with an emphasis on embedding employability into the curriculum, working collaboratively with academic staff across all faculties, we were instrumental in the integration of Wellbeing, Resilience and Emotional Intelligence into all faculties.

Gen Z are reported to be the loneliest generation. Grounded in contemporary research, examining shifting priorities of Gen Z’s needs as they transition into university and progress into professional employment. The requirement to understand, develop and demonstrate emotional intelligence led to the development of an innovative curriculum-based active learning programme. The digital audience engagement tools Vevox or Mentimeter will be used to engage participants. By way of example, a number of our Emotional Intelligence Development Tools will be shared interactively.

This workshop offers an example of best practice in embedding critical skills for career development for Gen Z into the curriculum. It is of interest to any Careers Guidance staff, those working in partnership with academic colleagues, as well as those with learning and teaching or a curriculum advisory remit.

Workshop 1(d) Room EQ211

IADT Careers, Employability Digital Pathways– Using student-led design to solve employer skill gaps

Dawn O’Connor, Head of Careers, Institute of Art, Design & Technology, Dun Laoghaire, (IADT)

IADT Careers, employers, and various cohorts have come together to co-create a skills portal that is both practical, and engaging and has its finger on the pulse of current Industry skill gaps. Supporting and complementing the courses being taught in IADT this library of digital badges for different courses is freely accessible for students and alumni. IADTPlus encourages users to add to their technical portfolio with industry-standard technical skills that aren’t taught on their courses but highly sought after in their sector.

Digital badges could never replace the depth of teaching in the classroom, but completing them shows an employer - interest, willingness to learn, commitment, and drive.

A two-day competitive design sprint, with four-person multidisciplinary student design teams (coming from numerous cohorts, IT, UX, Graphic Design, Animation, Art, MA Camera, TV, Design for Film) completed the digital badge design, ‘for students, by students’, which launched in March 2024.

Anybody who is interested in: Employability, Engaging Employers, Engaging Students/Graduates/Alumni, Student-led design, Skills Gaps, Skill Acquisition, Encouraging Students and Graduates to deep dive, Curating Skill Pathways, LinkedIn Learning, Bespoke Employer Training/Recording, NTUTORR, Building Digital Skill Banks/Libraries, or simply, cutting, copying and pasting IADTSkillsHub methodology and mapping same to their organisation should attend this interactive workshop.

Workshop 2(a) Room EQ112

The Art of Career Development: Career Motivations and Support for Gen Z Students in Creative Disciplines

Emma Lennox, Careers Consultant, Queen’s University Belfast

How does a university careers service engage with and support Gen Z students who are pursuing non-linear, creative, or freelance careers? This session highlights findings from two research projects on career motivations and influences on arts, English and languages students and asks:

• What are the career motivations and influences on students pursuing creative subjects?
• What expectations do these students bring with them regarding careers support?
• What barriers do they perceive in developing career management skills?
• What interventions and support, in hindsight, would they have found useful at each stage of their academic journey?

Using the Systems Theory Framework model, this session encourages accessibility and innovation, encouraging practitioners to critically reflect on practice, identify student barriers, and develop sustainable and meaningful interventions to confidently support this cohort.

This workshop will be useful to student-facing colleagues who work with cohorts engaging with non-linear, creative, or freelance careers and supporting their career management skill development. Employer engagement colleagues will find it useful in identifying which sectors students want to engage with and academics will appreciate the curriculum relevance feedback.

Workshop 2(b) Room EQ208

The WACE Global Challenge – Unlocking Global Potential

Olga O’Sullivan, Cooperative Education Manager, Global Programme, University of Limerick (UL)

The University of Limerick is excited to share its involvement in the WACE Global Challenge, an innovative student-industry program fostering collaboration between universities worldwide. This initiative connects diverse student teams with organizations to address challenges aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Leveraging students' varied skill sets, they analyse client issues, each contributing based on their expertise to propose impactful solutions. The Global Challenge mirrors today's multidisciplinary work environments, offering students a unique opportunity to cultivate skills and understand the advantages of cross-disciplinary collaboration.

With participants from 21 countries spanning China to the United States, the program celebrates linguistic and cultural diversity. The University of Limerick is proud to showcase this opportunity to the AHECS community who may be interested in participating in the future.

The workshop will consist of an overview of the WACE Global Challenge but also the challenges of running such a programme. We will also share some student videos highlighting the voice of the student participants. The workshop is relevant to Placement specialists, career advisors, and talent development specialists. They'll gain insights into enhancing employability programs with a global perspective, ensuring participants acquire skills and experiences applicable on a global scale, thus boosting their professional appeal in a diverse and competitive job market.

Workshop 2(c) Room EQ116

How the world’s first AI research university built the flipped classroom model into an online employability program to engage students in crowdsourcing internship and graduate opportunities

David Casey, Advisor to the Provost, Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, (MBZUAI )

As the world’s first specialised research-based AI University, MBZUAI recognised the need to develop an employability strategy tailored to the AI sector for its students and graduates. Given the expanding opportunities in various fields of AI and their applications, MBZUAI seeks to introduce its students (well before graduation) to employment choices by mentoring them into the world of startups or introducing them to potential employers through mandatory internships, career fairs or networking sessions.

The maturity of the AI job market, ill-defined industry AI strategies leading to role confusion and misaligned job expectations, and many opportunities requiring 3-5 years of experience were challenges needing to be resolved to overcome a supply versus demand situation for students.

An online program was designed to:

• inspire MBZUAI students to pursue high-impact and high-growth careers that build on their unique AI skills to tackle urgent global challenges and drive positive change.
• equip students with a framework and a guide to make future-fit internship and career decisions
• foster the growth of MBZUAI ecosystem by connecting students with emerging learning pathways, startups and organisations driving the future of AI.

This workshop will unpack and provide solutions for a new approach to the delivery of career education programs online using the flipped classroom model to crowdsource internship and employment opportunities allowing the growth of employer databases.

Workshop 2(d) Room EQ211

Supervision for Career Professionals: Supporting ourselves so we can support our students

Georgina Higgins, Career Coach and Coach Supervisor, Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin)

This workshop will explore how supervision can play a vital role in our professional development and self-care so we can support and engage Gen Z and other learners.

For career professionals, supervision provides an opportunity to discuss and reflect on our practice in a safe, confidential, and supportive space. This can increase confidence and creativity in our work with students, provide support for our wellbeing and help maintain ongoing professional standards.

Supervision is mandatory for counselling/psychotherapy and many helping professions. Guidance Counsellors working in second level and further education benefit from regular supervision. It is recommended by all coaching bodies, features in training programmes and postgraduate courses in guidance and coaching, and regularly forms part of admission to professional bodies. And yet, supervision practice for career professionals working in third level remains inconsistent.

Join me to find out more about supervision, evaluate its benefits for you, your service, and your work with students and gather some useful resources.

Workshop 3(a) Room EQ112

Recognising the challenges faced by global health services to retain trainees, the HSE have just introduced 7 Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) as an important clinical assessment component of the HSE Internship Training Programme

Prof. Gozie Offiah, Phd, MD, MMedSc. Associate Professor, Director of Curriculum, School of Medicine & Fionnuala Rahilly, Career Development Manager, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, (RCSI), University of Medicine and Health Sciences

Internship in Ireland is the period of transition from a medical student to a registered medical practitioner. Intern training is a critical stage in a doctor’s professional development. The internship programme is delivered by the six Intern Training Networks, affiliated to the six medical schools in Ireland. The programme normally lasts for one year and provides new medical graduates with a combination of education, training and clinical responsibility that enables them to develop the professional and personal competencies that result in good patient care and provide a basis for lifelong learning. The current curriculum for the internship was devised by the Intern Training Networks in 2010, and revised in 2011.

Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) are an approach to operationalising a competency-based approach to medical education and training. EPAs are units of professional practice or essential tasks that a trainee can be trusted to perform without direct supervision, once sufficient competence has been demonstrated.

This workshop models the seven Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) defined for the Irish Internship programme as well as some of the resources for assessing interns, how they are planned, and how feedback is provided using the EPA supervision entrustment scale. This workshop will be of particular interest for those engaged in preparing medical students for internship and working in the healthcare system.

Workshop 3(b) Room EQ208

Psychometrics in Recruitment: How Can We Support Gen Z Students to Compete with Confidence? Definitive, expert advice from a panel of industry and professional experts

Deirdre Parker, Senior Career Consultant, University College Cork, (UCC) and Michael McDonnell, Careers Manager and Coach. Smurfit College, University College Dublin, (UCD)

Increasingly, organisations are using psychometric tests to screen and select graduates. They offer greater scientific validity than traditional hiring methods, and ways of accessing a larger pool of talented candidates.

Meanwhile, the advice for students on how to prepare for psychometric assessments is often complex and contradictory. How much practice is necessary? To what extent can practice improve performance? Is it possible to prepare for a personality assessment?

Two psychologists in the same room may not always agree… making our important work more challenging. There is a need to challenge the myths and misinformation around psychometric testing and to advance our professional knowledge in this area. Our students deserve nothing less.

In this session, a diverse panel of experts will be invited to reach a consensus on key questions set by career professionals in advance. It promises to be a riveting discussion, that will inform and empower careers staff to inform and empower our students.

Panellists:

• Dr. Ultan Sherman, University College Cork
• Dr. Serena Murphy, Aon Human Capital Solutions
• an employer representative who is also a Chartered Psychologist (Public Sector/MNC)
• a GenZ student representative(s) to share their experience of undergoing psychometric tests and assessments

Panellists will be prepared for the discussion through the provision of pertinent questions from career practitioners in advance.

Workshop 3(c) Room EQ116

Supporting Gen Z students with Mental Health challenges make the transition from education into employment

Christiane Brennan, Career Coach, Technological University Dublin, (TU Dublin)

Many Career professionals feel that they have a lack of skills, knowledge and experience in working with students with mental health issues. With this in mind, this workshop will introduce delegates to a guide that has been developed to assist them to better support students in their one-to-one coaching. It will cover areas such as the impact of wellbeing on career choice, signs and symptoms of poor wellbeing, creating a safe and supportive environment and normalising mental health. Given the reported increase in Gen Z’s challenges with mental health, TU Dublin Career Development Centre has designed a series of interactive web resources tailored for students experiencing mental health difficulties and also for Career professionals to enhance their knowledge, to assist students make the transition from education into employment. They provide information on areas including: the pros and cons of disclosure; supports available, job search strategies, prioritisation of self-care and coping mechanisms. These resources, along with the Career Coaching Guide for Career professionals working with students with mental health concerns in a 1 to 1 setting, will be shared with delegates during this workshop.

Workshop 3(d) Room EQ211

How to Attract and Retain Gen Z Graduates –An Employer /Student Engagement experience with a focus on Student’s perspectives

Mary McCarthy, Careers Consultant, University College Cork, (UCC)

Gen Z has clear expectations of employers and their career development and post-COVID Gen Z’ers have expedited this changing trend even further.

The topics of attracting and retaining Gen Z talent are highly relevant for employers.

We share our experience of successful collaboration with an academic in the design and teaching of a module ‘Transition to Professional Life’, the key objective being: to equip students to be career-ready. Each year students research topics related to real-world workplace organisational issues where they identify and propose solutions and engage in hands-on collaborations with employers across a wide range of sectors, this year’s focus was: Gen Z

We share how we worked with 32 economics students, guiding them through the process of conducting research into Gen Z career priorities and delivering professional, team presentations of their findings and recommendations to employers, (including a summary to Career Consultants) and how they reflected on the experience.

This workshop is of relevance to delegates interested in:

• finding innovative ways to get students to think about their career development priorities and identify actions they can take to gain key skills to support achieving priority goals
• increasing employer-student engagement
• professional skills modules
• exploring and identifying pertinent issues that could be discussed at employer-student panel discussions.