How to prepare students for a global working world

Today’s creative graduates are international – and so are their potential employers. Here’s how universities can support graduates to compete within a global job market, making the most of digital resources and skills.

Teach students how to present their work online

In-person networking can be an invaluable experience to connect with potential clients and collaborators. But also teaching students how to present their work online increases their reach and helps them to understand how to market their skills to employers. As part of University of the Arts London’s Showcase offer, students have access to a series of resources about:

• Presenting work digitally
• Writing about their work
• Making work digitally accessible
• Protecting their intellectual property (IP)
• Communicating professionally with industry.

Our Careers and Employability team also provides guidance for freelancers and start-ups on how to market themselves online. They point out that an online presence is a cost-effective way for students to promote their skills, services and business, and outline what students need to consider when promoting themselves. This includes signposting to resources they can find outside the university, including:

• Free and paid website and portfolio builders
• A breakdown of what makes a good website
• How to use social media for marketing.

Having an online presence is a non-negotiable part of any creative graduate’s career. Teaching them not only how to become professionals in their chosen discipline, but also how to communicate and market their skills to others, means supporting their employability beyond their time at university. 

Connect students to your university’s existing networks

When students arrive in their chosen university town or city, many arrive without a network of contacts. Aside from the education students receive on their course, joining a university also comes with the benefit of becoming a member of a wider network of industry contacts, not to mention prospective employers who scout talent during graduation shows and other university events. The latter is exactly the reason why we have introduced QR codes to graduates’ online Showcase profiles at our events, to allow visitors to revisit graduates’ work and easily find their contact information – like a digital business card, but with direct access to their work, social media accounts and contact information. 

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We also host a global employers jobs board called Creative Opportunities, which connects students and graduates across UAL with people looking to hire creatives for paid work, and our Careers and Employability team runs the UAL Founders and Freelancers club on the Dots, which students can join during and after their studies. The platform allows them to connect with potential collaborators and employers and advertise paid work opportunities. Leveraging the university’s existing online networking sites gives students a starting point for their job search and allows them to practise their networking skills long before they leave university to enter the working world. 

When students graduate, they can join UAL’s alumni network – no matter where they find themselves in the world. Alumni joining the network can stay in touch through WhatsApp groups and online networking events with other members who might include brand owners, social enterprises, freelancers and CEOs. 

Enable students to benefit from your university’s digital reach beyond graduation

Students might feel alone when they step off the graduation stage and enter the working world. Universities can support them beyond graduation through strong alumni relationships and opportunities for them to stay connected. Allow your students to benefit from your university channels’ reputation and reach by inviting them to participate in social media takeovers and incorporating them in your digital campaigns.

We recently reframed our Showcase platform as an always-on global platform for creativity, promoting graduate work up to one year after graduation. This gives us opportunities to promote work online outside of in-person shows and ensures we’re reaching potential employers on a global scale.

For example, UAL graduate Bhargavi Mohan caught the interest of Indian children’s publishing house Ektara after sharing her Showcase profile with employers. They loved her work and commissioned her to illustrate stories and poems for their magazines Cycle and Pluto.

“UAL Showcase really helped me to promote my work and to establish myself. Even after coming back to India, I made many contacts this way,” Bhargavi recalls. “UAL Showcase was our ray of hope.” 

We also have a shop and associated online store called not just a shop, which sells student artwork and design products to the public. We stock work by many international alumni, providing a platform for them to sell their work. As well as generating sales, the shop provides a hands-on learning experience for how to work with retailers. 

Universities are more than just places of education – for many, they offer first encounters with the same professional environments they wish to make a living in one day. By making sure they are equipped with digital skills and resources to navigate a global world of employment, universities can help bridge the gap between students and employers. They can serve not just as an education provider, but as a gateway to future opportunities.

Richard Sant is project director of Rethinking Employability in UAL’s Careers and Employability team. The university’s Digital Public Platforms team has been shortlisted in the Technological or Digital Innovation of the Year category in the 2024 THE Awards. A full list of nominees can be found here. The awards will be presented at a ceremony in Birmingham on 28 November 2024.

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