BSc Psychology

This units aims to advance your career readiness and there are two pathways:  

1. Short work placement pathway, which offers hands-on experience working within an industry
2. Experiential career pathway, which involves working in employer-designed briefs or completing virtual job simulations
    

Both pathways entail a duration of 30 hours and are designed to:  

• Support the development of practical, intellectual and interpersonal skills that will boost your employability and lead to positive career destinations
• Encourage you to reflect both on your personal and professional development in order to increase awareness of your strengths and weaknesses, particularly in the field of digital capability
• Support you to produce an effective and professional CV and Cover Letter that clearly describes relevant experiences and provide evidence to demonstrate attributes and skills relevant to a specific role
• Provide you with opportunities to gain experience in professional interviews (through the placement or by completing an online mock job interview)
  
   

The Experiential Career pathway is designed to:

• Provide you with activities (from which you can choose) to support your own career goals and development needs and encourage personal reflection on progress towards employability goals. These may include for example, employers projects or virtual job simulations. The choice of these activities should demonstrate your engagement for 30 hours
• Your participation is mandatory and crucial to then complete the final assessment in May entailing a 750-word reflective blog
  
   

The Short Work Placement pathway is designed to:  

• Help you gain relevant work experience at the graduate level  
• Having secured a short work placement, you will fulfil the role expected by the placement organisation, completing a minimum of 30 hours of work

The unit is assessed in several ways:

• Completion of CV, cover letter, and obtained AI-generated feedback of those
• Evidence of having completed an interview for a placement or alternatively completing an online mock interview
• Evidence of having completed 30 hours of placement or career enhancement activities (uploading relevant certificates of placement, online certificates, etc.)
• Completion of one 750-word online reflective blog on your career development throughout the year through the placement or participation in the different career enhancement activities
  
   

Everyone in the unit should also manage their time across the academic year to meet a target for collecting SEPS credits. The unit will allow you to demonstrate professional courtesy and conduct. 

The unit aims to:

• Enhance your confidence in career-related skills and digital capabilities, preparing you for life after graduation.
• Equip you with the essential skills to succeed in graduate-level applications, including CV writing, crafting cover letters, practising interview techniques, and reflecting on employability experiences.
• Offer tailored pathways to help you personalise your employability journey, aligned with your individual goals.
• Support you in creating a reflective, web-based blog to strengthen your digital communication skills and boost confidence in using digital media.
• Foster development in reflective practice and digital proficiency.
• Promote active engagement with career consultants and the careers service. 

In semester 1, you will be introduced to the unit, and you will make your initial choices in relation to the desired pathway.  

Irrespective of the pathway, all students are expected to participate in the following sessions:

• Week 1: Presentation of the unit and assignments
• Week 2: CV and cover letter drafting (online synchronous)
• Week 3: Q&A about the CV and cover letter assignment (online synchronous)
• Week 4: Interviewing (in person)
• Week 7: Ethics and professionalism (in person)
  
   

In addition, all students must complete:  

1. CV & Cover letter: You will be asked to create an application to either one of 6 fictional internship adverts or a real internship. This will include a CV and a Cover Letter. Learning is supported with online resources (podcasts, PowerPoint slides, example CVs etc.) and you are encouraged to seek support from careers consultants if required. You will be required to then upload these elements in Career Connect to obtain feedback on both your CV and Cover Letter. Your cover letter, CV, and pasted feedback for both obtained in Career Connect will be submitted online. This assignment will be pass/fail and you won’t receive feedback or marks from markers.  
2. Online interview: If you complete an interview as part of your placement you will be required to upload proof of your invitation. If you have not completed an interview or have selected the other alternative pathway, you will be required to complete a mock online interview for the same role for which you created the CV and cover letter. Learning is supported with online resources (Power point slides and resources from the careers services focused on interviewing).

In semester 2, irrespective of the pathway, all students are expected to participate in the following sessions:

• Week 1: Introduction to the reflective blog assignment and review of marking criteria
• Week 5: Drop-in Q&A about the reflective blog assignment

In addition, students are expected to complete 30 hours of career enhancement activities according to their selected pathway. Students will submit proof of completion online. This will be pass/fail without mark/feedback associated with it.

All students in the unit, will complete a 750-word reflective blog at the end of the unit reflecting on their career-readiness after completing the unit.  

Optional Elements

For those in the Experiential Career pathway activities can vary as follows:  

• Employers’ projects (capped at 100 students in total; 50 per semester): This initiative brings real-world projects and businesses directly to students. In teams of 3-5 working together across 8 weeks, students will work on a ‘project brief’ that one partner employer has set. The project will culminate in a poster session where students can discuss their findings with employers, the career service, and academics.  
• Virtual job simulations (capped at 50 students): This

• Identify career opportunities available to Psychology students.  

• Make effective use of software tools to create an online blog and to engage in relevant career related activities. 

• Apply professional writing skills to create an engaging and informative CV and cover letter.
• Prepare effectively for a job interview.
• Identify opportunities to build a network of professional connections  
• Demonstrate professional thinking and behaviour in various contexts.  
• Develop and apply reflective practice skills to enhance personal and professional growth by setting clear and actionable goals.
• Confidently communicate your achievements, supporting them with well-developed examples. 

See Assessment Methods

Not applicable