Our service offer evolved during the pandemic to ensure we continued to provide for our stakeholders. Our hybrid delivery model received positive feedback and offers flexibility for students, graduates, staff, and our partners. As we look to the future we outline where we
will focus our energies as we continue to evolve and work toward common goals.

Our purpose is: To use our specialist expertise and data insights to enable all our students and graduates to prepare for and transition into futures that align with their personal goals, values and aspirations.

Five areas of focus will be central to the strategic direction of The Careers Service from 2022 - 2028; these are outlined below. 

Strategic and operational framework

Developing and supporting our students and community

Students and graduates remain central to the work we do, and this work extends into many areas of the university. We will continue to evolve our offer for the benefit of the Imperial community.

We recognise this will include:

  • Understanding the changing needs of our community and engaging them in the development of our services to the benefit of all stakeholders while ensuring that equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) is at the forefront of what we do;
  • Supporting various Imperial strategies that embed employability into the curriculum and support outreach initiatives that promote and support social mobility;
  • Proactively build networks within the university to establish mutually beneficial collaborations and partnerships and to be agile and receptive to requests for our input and expertise. 
Supporting opportunity providers

We will evolve our services to capitalise on ways to engage with opportunity providers and connect them with our talented students and graduates for mutually beneficial outcomes. 

We recognise this will include:

  • Maintaining existing relationships while expanding our networks and seeking new collaborations with less established opportunity providers to enhance the diversity of options available for our community locally, nationally, and internationally;
  • Creating formal networking, innovation and collaboration channels with opportunity providers to ensure the best services, events and outcomes are being achieved;
  • Co-creating engaging student and graduate skills-based employability learning opportunities with our employer networks to enhance their attraction strategies.
Developing data and tech capabilities

Service development will be informed by data and underpinned by technological innovation to target limited resources and to personalise the user experience. 

We recognise this will include:

  • Nurturing a robust data informed service to inform decision-making, target resources and personalise communications to benefit of the student experience;
  • Curating accessible digital content that caters to all our students and graduates and which ensures they can develop their own career pathways;
  • Reviewing service delivery against impact measures to ensure value for money on investments and compliance with regulatory obligations.
Developing our international outlook

We will work to ensure that global opportunities are visible and accessible throughout the student lifecycle to support Imperial’s global reach. 

We recognise this will include:

  • Exploring collaborations, including third-party solutions, to maximise international networking and opportunity for our community and to consolidate our international careers support in terms of employment, internship, and study options;
  • Supporting Imperial activities to attract talent and ensure our services are relevant and accessible for the current and future recruitment markets;
  • Ensure our services work to develop students to have an international outlook and support those with aspirations to work or study internationally.
Developing our team for success

Ensuring our team are innovative and resilient by focusing on their personal development while respecting individual contributions to help achieve our collective goal in changeable and challenging circumstances now and into the future.

We recognise this will include:

  • Cultivating an ethos of excellence and innovation by investing in the development of our team to recognise the new skills and behaviours required to deliver success;
  • Integrating the university values and reflection into our everyday work and enabling full and frank discussions in response to feedback to help us to grow and improve;
  • Celebrating and communicating our successes to raise our profile internally and externally and to be recognised as the professional service to approach regarding student and graduate career development at Imperial.