Engaging employers
Co-creation with employers has been a key pillar of Prosper since its inception. We have engaged diverse employer stakeholders, incorporating their insights and specific expertise across all elements of Prosper.
In this section, you can explore what we’ve done to engage employers where we signpost you to the most relevant employer-informed resources and suggest how you might use these in delivering Prosper at your institution, confident that it’s informed by employer cocreation.
What you could do to engage employers. We share the lessons we’ve learned from our cocreation and a range of resource including: top tips, dos and don’ts, and session templates in order to help you on your own employer engagement journey.
Finally, please Share your practice with us. We’d love to hear about how you are using our co-created resources. If you’ve chosen to take employer engagement forward at your institution we’d also love to hear your experience.
What we've done to engage employers
Prosper’s employer engagement at a glance
Co-creation with employers has been integral to developing and delivering Prosper.
Over 100 employers have dedicated more than 500 hours to diverse forms of cocreation.
This has included:
- Over 50 1:1 consultations which informed our overall approach
- 10 focus groups and workshops to develop the Prosper career clusters
- Over 30 in-depth interviews
- 7 employer workshops and panels delivered to postdoc audiences, and available to all
Employers have shared insights into their particular companies, sectors and specialisms as well as more general information about the most in-demand core skills and competencies and how to excel in the application process.
The co-creation with employers has been woven throughout Prosper.
Postdocs knowledge of the employment landscape beyond academia is often unclear and they can feel unsure of where to start to begin building their awareness. To address this, Prosper sought employer stakeholders to co-create 12 career clusters, to help postdocs navigate the career landscape by segmenting it.
The clusters represent areas where highly skilled employees are most in-demand, and where we suggest postdocs may find the most rewarding careers.
For each cluster page, along with a co-created description of the cluster, you’ll find a range of employer interviews which provide direct insight into working for organisations within the relevant cluster.
Supporting postdocs to understand and act upon the range, depth and marketability of their skills is an integral aspect of Prosper.
Informed by our employer cocreation, this section presents six core competencies that have emerged as some of the most in demand in today’s employment market.
For each of the competencies, we present a description informed and supported by employer insights and quotations, suggestions of where postdocs may already have developed these skills or could do so and links to additional commissioned and co-created resources.
Each of the six competencies presented (Communication, Leadership, Creativity, Project Management, Commercial Awareness, Growth Mindset) has been informed by employer insights.
We highlight the project management resource in particular which were developed from a workshop between postdocs and diverse project management professionals.
A selection of panel sessions and interviews covering areas such as the nature and culture of the employing organisation, the key skills and competencies required to thrive therein and the personal career journey of the interviewee.
Includes interviews with former postdocs who have pursued rewarding careers beyond academia. The interviewees are approached as former postdocs rather than employers. The content therefore tends to focus on topics such as comparisons between academia and industry and the process of making this change. These offer valuable insights into the realities, demands and rewards of working within different organisations beyond academia.
The example of a non-linear career pathway, careers in policy, was informed by discussions with employers working in this field.
Employer viewpoints, insights and top tips are weaved throughout this guide to successfully navigating job applications, which offers advice and guidance on every aspect of the process, from cover letters, to interviews, and salary negotiations. You could use what employers have told us about the common pitfalls of job applications or how to craft an impactful CV to support your postdocs in this process.
Here you’ll find a wealth of advice in the form of video clips, short quotations and tips regarding how to set up your own business and become your own boss. Here, we include commissioned material as well as advice from former postdocs and employers who have pivoted to self-employment.
What you could do if you wish to engage with employers
If you’re interested in adapting and supplementing the employer informed resources outlined in what we do, the bank of resources here will help. From making the case internally for resourcing your employer engagement, to top tips for how to identify and nurture relationships with employers and suggested best practice for running and evaluating employer activity.
There really is no one-size fits all approach for employer engagement. The level of resource you have, the type of employer input you’re seeking and what you hope to achieve for your postdocs will determine the best way carry out your activity.
We therefore recommend that you explore the following resources with an open mind. There is no need to follow the resources step-by-step, simply take what you need from them.