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Making the case for employer engagement
If you need to make the case for either diverting existing resource or bringing in additional resource the following points may help you win support for an employer cocreation approach at your institution:
- Sector-leading - HEIs are rarely the experts on careers beyond academia. To develop a high quality, relevant and competitive researcher development offer that responds to the needs, opportunities and cultures of diverse sectors of the economy, you need the expertise, networks and “insider knowledge” of a representative range of employers beyond academia. Acknowledgement of this makes Prosper stand-out within the sector.
- Capitalising on opportunity - We have found through Prosper that there is a great amount of goodwill and readiness to support postdoc career development amongst employers, and there are several sectors that are especially interested in the postdoc talent pool. Dedicating some resource to harnessing and nurturing this goodwill can pay dividends.
- Strategically aligned - External engagement aligns with a more general impetus within higher education towards increased partnership with employers and civil society. Engaging employers creates opportunities for more joined-up working, strategic alignment and mutual benefits across other internal teams such as careers, partnership development and alumni relations.
- Diverse - The postdoc community is diverse and responds variously to different inputs. With Prosper we provide a combination of commissioned, employer co-created and internally delivered sessions and our evaluation shows that this mix worked well in its ability to cater to the diverse needs and interests of our postdoc community.
- Responsive -we know that postdocs are keen to have direct access to employers. Highlighting your employer engagement will drive postdoc engagement.
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