Providing student employability support and guidance forms an integral part of education. Much academic and University Careers and Employability Services (CES) effort focusses on students’ skills and competency development for future vocations. Numerous strategies are employed to promote interaction with centralised University services and ‘career development learning’ (see Bridgstock et al., 2019). Students on our Medical Physiology and Therapeutics degree programme mainly focussed on employability as they approached final year studies. We aimed to encourage CES engagement, careers awareness and preparation for employability from year one using a simple activity.

Technology has offered new opportunities to enhance student engagement (JISC, 2022). We introduced a rapid, user-friendly ‘micro-engagement’ digital monitoring system for the students to track their interactions with careers support and their personal development towards employment. Simply based on a Microsoft excel spreadsheet template, the activity generated a visual ‘map’.  Piloted from entry level and giving clear instructions, students were asked to self-rate their CES interaction and exploration of different careers around subject topics and areas that initially had piqued their interest.  They were asked to gauge their engagement on 6 aspects using a scale of 0 to 6 that reflected minimal to maximal interaction.

Completion of the activity created a personalised visual map for each student with the shape of each map being dependent on the self-ratings. The ‘signatures’ reflect developmental needs and are anticipated to expand each year and provide a continuing, progressive record of active participation and CES proactivity in preparation for employment. The expectation is that exploration of career interests and gaining CES awareness in first year generates smaller area ‘maps’ compared to subsequent years which demands self- evaluation, preparation for career applications, and a more practice approach towards career applications.

The activity has been progressively introduced into the curriculum via three ‘backbone’ core skills modules that focus on study and academic skill development at each stage of our three-year Hons programme. Students are requested to include their maps in summative skills portfolios to incentivise completion, to provide a subtle reminder about the need for personal and professional development, and to also signpost the University CES support. Each year group has been asked to complete the activity using similar questions for familiarity, ease of use, and to enable simple comparison between their maps as they progress through the course.

To date, > 80% of year one students have completed the activity with informal positive commentary suggesting this is a useful way for them to reflect about their future employability, boost their awareness of professional services and consider their career development needs. Introducing this activity may also be a helpful aid for personal tutors to discuss and support their student’s individual progress towards career aspirations. It also bolsters students’ preferences for academic input regarding careers and employability support (AGCAS, 2022).