Transcript Careers Advisers and the GDS

9:00 – 9:45


Careers advisers are a key user group of GDS data
Labour market information is used in advice for current
and prospective students
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
Names of employers
Type of employer
Type of work
Salaries
Job search details
Work-study relationship






Careers Advisers get final Tables A & B at the
conclusion of the data processing period
They also get access to Tables C-J when they become
available
They get the CoP and offers of advice from GCA
They are encouraged to discuss the data with SMs
Presentations at national conference (NAGCAS)
Careers Advisers also get the AGS reports

Careers Advisers also get cut-down data files showing
◦ Employment-related (incl. job search) details and employer
names
◦ Further study details
◦ Spreadsheets with value labels rather than codes
◦ Careers advisers analyse and make lists by sorting on variables

These files are copied to Survey Managers for
information with encouragement given to both SMs
and CAs to communicate about the use of the data

Do SMs have any concerns with this process?

Careers use is less about stats and more about lists and
reports – breakdowns of employer name or occupation
by FoE, for example

Currently no careers adviser representation on the SRG

AQHE report suggests possibility of bigger response
rate requirement for GDS to meet careers needs for
richer data
◦ Hybrid model proposed

Feedback from Uni Adelaide re SM and careers
services working together
“an ongoing and valuable work relationship”
“We receive a number of reports from David including
tables on how our graduates found their current job, what
methods they used to look for work in the past year, how
important their program or field of education was to their
current job, and their occupations by field of education
[and] … a listing of employers who have hired our
graduates.”
“I refer to this information when I am preparing
presentations for students and staff of the University of
Adelaide and it is always received with interest by the
audience. I could be confident in saying that some
aspect of the GDS is included in every presentation I
make and I see it as an extremely valuable tool for
Careers Service staff to utilise. If I want to use the
information for an external presentation, I request
permission from David Hirst, but this would be very
rare. The GDS data adds validity to the work of Career
Service staff and is one of the ways we can measure our
performance.”

UK analysis of their FDS data for careers use
concentrates on professional and non-professional
employment whereas we concentrate on full-time
employment only.

We do analyse the level of reported occupations in
terms of professional, managerial, etc., but it’s
subsidiary to our core reporting model.





Where to deploy scarce resources
Where can we make a difference
Advising re course development
Major employers – by
university/campus/faculty/cohort
Importance of cell size: a census not a
sample!


Sophisticated decisions – small cell sizes no
help!!!!!!
Centralised processing helps





Using your degree – informed choices
Private benefit and public good
Major resource for open day
Students and parents want real information
...and we want our students to stay – high
cost of attrition






Agents want real data not gloss
% gaining employment in Australia
Off shore outcomes
A census not a sample
Importance of international education to the
economy
What information do competitors provide?




Outcomes by campus/faculty/cohort
Advise the university: analysis of data
Marketing versus spin: code of practice
New course design





Knowing who the stakeholders are
Rankings by number of graduates
Always some surprises
Employer engagement approaches
Operational planning



Place on survey reference group?
Analysis of industry trends
Data needs to be digestible