Matthew Wyman and Sarah Longwell

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Estimated 1 million unemployed under 25s by September 5.5% drop in the number of graduate vacancies this year Tendency among many students to postpone thinking about life after university until graduation Lack of basic transition skills among politics and IR graduates

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Level 2 option module on ‘The Practice of Politics’ which we’ve run for 3 years (If it’s not in the curriculum it won’t be done properly) I focus on the development of political skills – currently public speaking, campaigning, leadership and people skills Sarah leads a section which is explicitly career development education Development of resources for the module funded by the politics subject centre, and Keele innovation award to develop relations with alumni

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Skills analysis and the identification of personal values and priorities (reflective diary) The graduate labour market and politicsrelated opportunities (career profile) Political campaigns and campaigning Political leadership (leadership profile) Career decision making and the art of application forms (prospects planner exercise and application form segments) The political speech (reflection on public speaking, analysis of classic speech)

Writing effective CVs and interview success (CV) 8. People Skills I: developing affinity, rapport and trust (reflection) 9. People skills II: skilful listening, assertiveness and negotiation, building successful teams (reflection) 10. Assessment centres and psychometric testing 11. Planning for the future; happiness at work; the way careers develop, general tidy up 12. Political debating and question time + n.b. Exclusively electronic submission – staggered over whole module 7.

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For each of the three years, leadership study marks a class and a half higher than career development related work Particular problems in articulating skills and in self-reflection generally ‘Brilliant to have a module which adequately prepares me for life after university’ ‘Outside speakers – brilliant idea even if sometimes I felt they weren’t relevant to me for my career, but they did provide a valuable insight into the workplace as a whole’

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‘Learning skills we need for after uni. for example writing our CV, interview skills and job searches’ ‘The topics discussed and covered are relevant for the stage we are at in our lives...’ ‘Enabled me to get a full understanding of what it would mean to work in the political field and how to get involved.’ ‘Because I was forced to evaluate myself and my potential career I now know what I would like to pursue as a career’