EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS - 2021/2

Module Overview

The module seeks to enhance the employability of students on the Accounting & Finance programme through building their knowledge of the skills, behaviours and attitude required to secure employment (i.e. part-time work, internships, placement or graduate jobs) and be successful in the professional workplace.  By increasing their self-awareness through exploration of their experiences and the competencies developed from these, students will be better able to evidence these competencies in their job applications.  By developing their understanding of the recruitment tools used by employers (i.e. CVs, Linkedin, interviews), students will be more effective in marketing themselves to employers.  By exploring alternative career paths in Accounting & Finance, students will be able to shape their professional interest and career goals.  The assessment for the module will evaluate the development of their written and verbal communication, reflective evaluation and team working skills.  

Module provider

Surrey Business School

Module Leader

HAZEU Heidi (SBS)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 5

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 1

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

Indicative content includes:

Developing a professional portfolio to include an effective CV, Cover Letter and LinkedIn profile. 

Enhancing knowledge of career paths in Accounting & Finance to inform professional interests and career goals through exposure to professionals in the sector.  

Developing written and verbal communication, team working and reflective evaluation skills through self-evaluation questionnaires, interviews, the development of a team presentation and a written reflection of professional development journey.  

Undertaking the Bloomberg Certificate (BMC) as a self-paced e-learning course to gain an introduction to financial markets and the core functionality of the Bloomberg terminal.

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

Individual presentation

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of employability skills and hoe to communicate their skills through a job application process. A reflection of learning will enable students to critique their own work and improve their application process abilities. Students will also learn the importance of managing their on-line presence, curating their Twitter, Facebook, etc. sites and creating a LinkedIn profile. Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of: • A Portfolio of evidence submitted in week 7 (this will include, for example, CV; LinkedIn profile; answers to common application questions; evidence of job search process, evidence of self-analysis of skills using skills questionnaires, etc.) • A Reflection of learning submitted in week 13. Formative assessment and feedback The Portfolio will be marked by the Module co-ordinator, with marks being returned to the students within the University required time frame. The weekly drop-in session is used to provide individual feedback to students at each stage of the portfolio building process. This feedback will help the student Improve their applications and encourage reflection of learning. This feedback is both formative and summative. Both assessments have detailed marking schemes that take into account the Portfolio building process and ensure consistent marking where there is more than one module tutor. The tutorial activities are designed to lead students through a job search and application process with feedback which will enable students to assess their learning and prepare for future employability.

Module aims

• Develop and apply the knowledge, skills, behaviours and attitude appropriate to the professional workplace
• Explore potential career paths within Accounting & Finance
• Develop greater self-awareness through the reflective evaluation of experiences

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to give students the opportunity to develop an understanding of the skills, behaviours and attitude required to secure employment and be successful in the professional workplace by putting these into practice.   

The learning and teaching methods include:

• interactive 2 hour weekly workshops in which students work individually and in teams to understand and put into practice the professional skills, behaviors and attitudes of the workplace.


• online (on demand) weekly one hour tutorials introducing the focus for the week and guiding students through various practical activities to enhance their employability.


• interviews with industry professionals to help students better understand the career paths open to them and how they might access these.


• mock interviews to help them practice their skills as an interviewee.


• mentoring/coaching by alumni and/or final year students to support their professional development and understanding of how to effectively engage with employers and secure employment. 


• encouraging engagement with Surrey Pathfinder and Employability & Careers service events to help students develop their professional portfolio, an effective job search strategy and engage effectively with employers.


• access to the Bloomberg Certificate (BMC) as a self-paced e-learning course to gain an introduction to financial markets and the core functionality of the Bloomberg terminal.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: MAN2178

Other information

N/A

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2021/2 academic year.