Employability

The NCL Approach

At Nelson College London, our aim is not simply to support our students with their academic studies, but to fully and properly prepare them for their future.  Our students’ relationship with the College does not end at course completion, in fact, they continue to remain part of the Nelson College Family, under the auspices of the College’s Alumni Association.

However, we don’t wait until our students are ready to leave us to begin that support.  It starts from the moment that they join us.  All courses at the College are designed to be relevant to today’s employment market.  In some cases, students (alongside employers), play an integral role in deciding the selection of modules.  Additionally, lecturers are supported with visits from industry professionals to deliver workshops, whilst some courses have dedicated work-based learning modules and/or industry-based research projects.

Alongside the workshops, a whole range of underpinning field trips are arranged; these will include visits to employers, events, trade shows and much more besides.

Key pillars of the employability support offered to students are channelled through the College’s Employability & Progression team; these services are detailed below.

Employability

Employability is embedded in NCL’s approach from a range of perspectives.  Alongside the support listed herein, our students’ lessons are also informed by case studies and real-world examples; indeed, our lecturing team comprises both those with an academic background as well as those with an industry one ensuring a balanced approach between the theoretical and the practical.

Entrepreneurship

Many of Nelson College London’s students attend our courses to inform their desire to start their own business or enterprise.  We have many success stories of past students who have gone on to succeed in doing just that!  Our plethora of support services and publications recognises this desire, providing them with the tools required to make this dream a reality.

The Career Advisory Service [CAS] was launched in 2021. This service enables students to seek one-to-one guidance with employability professionals on matters specific to them as individuals.  The service operates hand-in-hand with the NCL Career Planning Journal, and the NCL Careers Hub.

The College’s Career Planning Journal is available to all students to help them prepare for and record their career planning journey.  Recognising that there is so much more to finding that ideal job than simply targeting job titles, this journal gives guidance on crucial areas such as selecting the right employer (for you, as an individual), interview preparation checklists and even aspirational charts.

The College operates their own employability-specific website, the NCL Careers Hub.  This site allows students to upload CVs for reading by one of the ubiquitous AI CV Readers (and then work with the CAS team to improve it, based upon the findings).  Students may also attend a mock AI Interview (with questions based upon their own CV) and access a series of training modules.

To provide full flexibility, there are also smartphone applications that support the NCL Careers Hub; these are available directly from both the Apple and Android app stores.

In 2022, the Entrepreneurs’ Mentorship Service [EMS] joined the CAS as another significant support tool for our students.  Acknowledging that many of our students would prefer to guide their own destiny and set up in business for themselves, this service provides those students with business mentors; those with a proven track record of success.  The service helps students who may be torn between employment and entrepreneurship to make the decision that is right for them.  It also helps with writing business plans, applying for finance, business strategy alongside any other areas where students wish to receive support.

This NCL Publication takes students on a journey towards finding their dream job.  The ten steps take them through preparations that they might make whilst studying, such as researching different employers and building professional networks, all the way through to the application and interview process – and beyond!

The publication is also available in NCL’s Kindle shop window: Ten Steps book.

Every year, NCL holds their Employability & Entrepreneurship Forum.  This brings together employers, entrepreneurs and students in an open, free-flowing, forum; it affords students the opportunity to pose any questions that they might have to a wide variety of employers; anything from CV-content tips, to standing out at interviews, all the way through to workplace advice and career pathways.

As the job searching process can be daunting for most people, the Employablity & Progression team has embedded this facility into NCLJobSite.  This has a live link to external resources, therefore, all the positions listed on it actually represent current vacancies.

We have partnered with GradGuide to ensure that every single NCL student has access to a mentor if they need one to help them with their future journey.  As with all the other facilities listed here, there is no cost to students for this service.

The College operates two separate YouTube Channels:

a) NCL: Employabilty & Progression, which hosts videos focussed upon career development, entrepreneurship and employability, and

b) NCL, which hosts videos specific to students’ studies and curricular matters.

Sometimes time demands that a quick guide, on a specific topic, is required.  Cognisant of this, the Employabilty & Progression Team has produced a whole range of mini-guides – 24 titles in total – each focused upon a different, single, topic.  These titles are available for students to collect from either one of the College’s libraries, or directly from E&P; they are also available to students in a downloadable format: NCL Mini-Guides.