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A tribute to Eileen Fitzpatrick, RIP We dedicate this newsletter to our colleague Eileen who sadly passed away this year following a long illness. Eileen will be remembered for her

passion, drive and total commitment to working to enable students develop their career potential. From humble beginnings as a one woman show,

her foresight ensured the Career Development Centre now enjoys a high profile in DIT. We as colleagues and indeed DIT owe her a debt of gratitude.

The Career Development Centre aims to deliver quality career learning, services and resources to empower and enable students to make personally satisfying career decisions throughout their lives. !What we can do for you… !Making student referrals to the Career Development Centre Some students may be:

• Considering leaving college before they sit their exams or wish to change course

• Thinking about their options or changing career direction

• Looking for information on further study in a similar field or conversion courses

• Seeking advice on application procedures and interviews

• Wondering about options related to their degree

• Looking for help with job hunting strategies !!How to make a referral? Contact us by email or phone. We also refer onto other services as appropriate. !!In recent surveys… The Centre continues to score highly in student satisfaction scoring:

3.4on a four point scale for importance &3.2 on a four point scale for satisfaction.

!85% of students are aware of the Centre.

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Newsletter

Careers Development Learning (CDL) Programme for Students !Our award winning Career Development Learning programme continues to go from strength to strength and is being delivered to almost 100% of full-time undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. !The programme draws on best practice in CDL, teaching and learning methodologies and contemporary information sources to ensure that students: - Develop an awareness of their fundamental career motivations - Have knowledge of how to make well informed career choices - Learn how to apply more successfully to jobs and courses - Develop an understanding of options available with their degree - Gain a thorough understanding of the range of selection methods employers use, including aptitude tests and assessment centres - Have a good knowledge of the skill requirements of graduate employers and how to provide suitable evidence for such skills,

drawn from their academic, professional and personal life experiences - Produce professional applications (CV, cover letter & application forms) - Learn how to effectively prepare and perform at interview - Q & A sessions with industry speakers and alumni may also feature in some sessions. What students are saying about us… !“Greatly appreciate the efforts made to make the workshop relevant to our industry. Fantastic work, thanks very much” !“The interactive nature of the workshop was excellent” !“Thanks for giving me the confidence to open my eyes to whatI need to do” !“A thoroughly fulfilling, enjoyable, worthwhile workshop” !“It should be included in all courses” !!!!How you can help Contact us to arrange a career learning day (over one or several sessions) for your students (third or fourth year or postgraduate classes);

strongly encourage attendance and promote the event; help with room booking; where possible provide a contact for an industry speaker. !!!!!!

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New Career Workshop for First Year Undergraduate Students – College Ready/Career Ready-Connect, Commit, Communicate! !As you are aware, the early weeks of college life can be challenging for some students and if a student is at risk of leaving research suggests that

they are more likely to do so within the first six weeks of starting College* (DIT Retention Data). The Centre is now offering a one hour interactive

workshop for first year groups to help them reflect on the transition to College and also make students aware of the many supports and

resources available to them. Students are also encouraged to take positive career decisions from the moment they begin college life. It is

particularly aimed at courses that experience a high dropout rate but would be relevant for all undergraduate programmes. !Outline of Session Introduction to the Career Development Centre, managing the transition to 3rd level, how to kickstart your career, online and other resources.

“First year students found the Career’s office workshop very relevant as evidenced by their particularly high

attendance for it. Throughout the workshop, students were fully engaged with the facilitator as he involved as

many students as possible in his interactions. Through a mix of humour, light hearted comments and thought

provoking questions, he managed to raise students’ awareness on how to maximise their chances for a successful

third level experience.” Odette Gabaudan, DIT School of Languages !!Other workshops recently delivered by the careers team include: - Making Good Career Decisions – DIT Open Days/First Year Access Students - Introduction to MBTI (Myers Briggs Personality Type Indicator) – Campus Life Team Day - Introduction to Guidance – Trainer, AGCAS (Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services – UK and Ireland) - Introduction to Advice and Guidance Courses – Fellow of the University of Warwick/Lead Trainer, AGCAS (Association of Graduate Careers

Advisory Services – UK and Ireland) - Employability in the Curriculum – Post Grad Diploma in Learning and Teaching DIT - Key note speaker/Facilitator – National Forum on Guidance - Presentation to Governing Body on work of Career Development Centre – DIT - Careers in Research Session – Engineering and Science, DIT - Sharing Good Practice – AHECS (Association of Higher Education Careers Services in Ireland) - Careers Talk – DIT Societies Training – Fashion Society - CV and cover letter writing/Interview skills – DIT, lunch time sessions - Advice Desks – Gradireland Fair, DIT Open Days, DIT evening for parents, etc. !What students are saying about us… “Today I am taking away a new look on my future. I enjoyed the team work exercises and now feel like I am more

ready for College.” !“Best career guidance I have ever received. I have a better understanding of my motivations to study and what the

core reasons to pick a particular course.” !“Today gave me a positive energy towards the future. Knowing that there is support from the Careers centre and

at DIT gives me confidence.” !!!!How you can help Arrange a workshop for your first year group, within or close to induction week by getting in touch with the relevant Careers Adviser.

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Training & Development !Continuous training and development is a core value of the team to ensure that we offer the optimum service to students. With this in mind the

team participated in the following training in conjunction with colleagues from other Career Services: Sharing good practice day, cognitive

behavioural therapy, positive psychology, strengths based interventions with students, using social media, strategy day, career theories. !!www.dit.ie/careers !The Career Development Centre’s website was re-developed last year. Taking a ‘needs based’ structure the website contains comprehensive

information for students/graduates, employers and academics. Special features include interactive videos and RSS feeds of job

announcements and labour market information. The website will be ‘mobile enabled’ this year. We continue to use facebook and twitter to

promote careers news and events. !The Academic section includes information on referring a student, a handout on writing student references, labour market reports, employer

surveys, careers education and more. !!!!How you can help Take a look at our website www.dit.ie/careers. Refer students to our A-Z of information resources.

Like our Facebook page. Contact Sinead Rafferty if you would like anything included on our website or Facebook page.

Employer Liaison !Carol Kavanagh, Employer Liaison Officer, is responsible for managing our on-line vacancy bulletin called jobscene. Students can register

with the site to receive email alerts for jobs or graduate programmes matching their profile. Jobscene receives approximately 80 new jobs per

month and has currently 35 graduate programmes listed. Currently, five and a half thousand employers have registered on Jobscene.

The Events Diary is updated regularly with information about employer visits, talks on campus and other career events. Over the last year, we

collaborated with academic colleagues to arrange for over 100 employer visits to the Institute - including EY, KPMG, Vodafone, IAESTE, Irish

Distillers, Castle Hotel Group, etc. !!Recent Events Numerous employer talks and site visits

Gradchances Language Fair, RDS

Postgraduate Fair, RDS

Entrepreneurship workshop for all Engineering students

Graduate Attributes – Employer focus group

Career Learning workshop, Aungier Street/Bolton Street – open to final years/postgrads of all disciplines

Lunch-time sessions - CV and application forms, Interview preparation, using social media, teaching, postgraduate study and conversion courses

See careers diary for more information on dates, times and venues !!!!How you can help Actively promote jobscene and the careers diary to students and employers. Contact Carol if you would like promote any vacancies or pass on

employer contacts.

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Publications/Research Initatives/Committee Members !A number of publications, written by the Careers team are available to students and staff in various site libraries and also downloadable from

our website. These include: !The Creative CV Guide

How To Make An Impression in the Creative Industry contains CV samples, useful weblinks, and information on various promotional tools. !My Qualification what next?

An outline of possible career and further study options related to DIT courses. This series is available in

hard copy and will shortly be available on our website. From time to time, members of the team also write and contribute to publications on the gradireland website !What do graduates do?

The Careers Service conducts the annual first destination research survey (FDR) of DIT graduates on

behalf of the HEA approximately nine months after graduation. This data is useful in terms of

ascertaining whether graduates of your course are in employment, further study, seeking employment

or ‘not available’ for employment or further study (usually due to travel). Contact Sinead Rafferty, Office

Manager to receive survey results for your course. !Committee Members/Research projects

Staff are actively involved in DIT and External Committees and Working Groups, including AHECS (Directorate and Staff Training and Development),

Dignity at Work committee, AGCAS (Trainer/Lead Trainer), Lead Module, Employability working group, Graduate Attributes, Access Committee

!Employability !Employability is now a key national agenda as highlighted by the Hunt Report and the subject of statements by employer bodies such as Ibec and

ISME. Dave Kilmartin, Head of Centre has recently described it as: !‘…a set of attributes which enable DIT students and graduates to develop academically, vocationally, socially and

personally; empowering them to contribute to society and the economy, in career paths which are personally

fulfilling and successful.” (Kilmartin, 2013) !Dave Kilmartin, is an active member of the Student Experience Committee focusing both on graduate attributes and student engagement. DIT

Careers service is keen to support academic colleagues in your discussions and plans on embedding employability skills into the curriculum. We have a range of resources for your information. !!!

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Useful Information !- Graduate Attributes – the Career Development Centre has worked with colleagues across the Institute to develop DIT Graduate Attributes

http://www.dit.ie/lttc/aboutthelttc/lttcspotlight/ditgraduateattributes/#d.en.78358. The attributes have been passed by academic council for

inclusion in future course reviews. - Languages Strategy for HEA proposed by gradireland (a partnership between Association of Higher Education Careers Services (AHECS)

& GTI Ireland), November 2013 - http://www.ahecs.ie/wp-content/uploads/Languages-Strategy-for-HEA-Nov-2013.pdf - Strategy for Retail 2014-16, produced by IBEC/Retail Ireland - www.retailireland.ie - Forfas Skills reports: - Action Plan for Jobs 2014; - Regional Labour Markets Bulletin 2013 - Guidance for Higher Education Providers on Current and Future Skills Needs of Enterprise: Springboard 2014 - State Investment in Research and Development 2012 - 2013 !!Staffing News !You may have noticed that the Careers Service has changed its name to the Career Development Centre to reflect the integrated, developmental

and pedagogical work we undertake. !The Centre welcomes Christiane Brennan, Careers Adviser, back to the team. Christiane job-shares with Georgina Higgins and looks after a variety

of programmes in Aungier Street and Kevin Street.

Finally… Thank you for your continued support for our career initiatives. Get in touch if you think we can support you and your students. We are always

open to new ideas and developmental feedback. Looking forward to continued collaboration in 2014.

The Careers Team !!Contact Details !Southside Office

College of Business, Arts and Tourism, Sciences and Health & Engineering

Room 2038, Aungier Street

t. 01 4023082

e. careers@dit.ie !Northside Office (our new location)

College of Arts and Tourism, Sciences and Health &Engineering and Built Environment

Room 149, DIT Bolton Street

t. 01 4022961

e. careers@dit.ie !www.dit.ie/careers www.facebook.com/DITCareersService https://twitter.com/DITCareers

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