The UON Employment Promise
Date 5 October 2022
A student’s perspective on the Student Futures team and their commitments, like the Northampton Employment Promise, with supporting relevant information.
When we join an organisation to pursue education, the major concerns for us as students is the future support we’ll receive for employment opportunities after the course. It’s the predominant area where we might doubt our decision when choosing an organisation.
Lucky for me, as a student at the University of Northampton, I’m part of a university which strives to contribute to creating a better world, and transforming lives and inspiring change, which I, as a UON student, will experience during my time there. The University has a designated department known as Student Futures that incorporates the Changemaker Team to support students with these concerns.
As a UON student, I’ve personally experienced the deep impact of the support given from the Changemaker Team on my professional portfolio. As a Student Changemaker, their commitment towards me had the biggest impact due to the nature of the opportunities provided:
- Changemaker Certificates
- Employability Week workshops
- Changemaker, Enterprise and You workshops.
The Northampton Employment Promise supports each student to inspire change. It aims to help you to still achieve your ambitions if you haven’t found full-time employment 12 months after graduating. A Career Development Consultant from the Student Futures team will do this by securing you a 3-6 month paid internship, or supporting you into postgraduate study.
To qualify for the Northampton Employment Promise, you will need to fulfil these steps:
- Achieve a 2:2 or higher in your degree or complete your HND
- Complete one of the Changemaker Awards – either Changemaker Certificate or Employability Plus.
The Changemaker Certificate allows you to explore what it means to be a Changemaker and its relevance in the professional world. It provides opportunities to explore innovation, social impact and commercial enterprise development and is delivered in three levels – Bronze, Silver and Gold.
The Changemaker Certificate especially motivated me and my peers to work on cultivating a Changemaker Mindset, gaining essential skills and attributes that are important for us to think about for the future. Our Passionate & Goal Driven Mindset makes us a section of our age group that is aiming for the world to be a better place and to make changes throughout our lifetime. The Employability Plus Award gives us the ability to find and excel in our career. We can complete one award per year of study. The three Employability Plus awards are Bronze, Silver and Gold.
If I decide to take up the Northampton Employment Promise, I will be contacted by a Career Development Consultant after around six months after graduation to have a chat. This will be to understand my ambitions, the skills I have and what areas I can develop.
The Consultant will make a plan with me for the future and if I still haven’t found employment in 12 months, they will find an internship to match my skills. This will be a great opportunity for me to get some practical experience on my CV and to further develop in the future!
The Changemaker Team is located within Student Futures on the ground floor of the Learning Hub at Waterside Campus. Find out more about them and their contact details on the Student Futures webpages.
Bhavya Mohan is an LLB student at the University, as well as President of the Hindu Society, and Business and Law Students’ Officer. Bhavya's free time is filled with family, writing, singing, occasional painting and content creation for Instagram blogs.