GRADUATE JOBSEARCH ONLINE: 2005 - University of Strathclyde Careers Service Project Team: December 2005
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University of Strathclyde Careers Service
GRADUATE JOBSEARCH ONLINE:
2005
Project Team:
Project Manager - Roma Thompson
Research Assistant - Julie Scott
Graphic Designer – Scott O’Donnell
Internet Officer – Duncan Ireland
December 2005
Summary
Graduate Jobsearch Online (previously known as Guide to Jobsearch on the
Internet) is an invaluable graduate job search tool featuring evaluated web
links to global job search resources. Due to increases in the number of
international students attending the University of Strathclyde (and other UK
higher education institutions), combined with an ever more global graduate job
market open to UK students, there was a need to expand the sections of the
site to incorporate areas beyond the UK. With generous funding from the
Higher Education Career Services Unit’s Practitioner Research Fund and the
University of Strathclyde’s Graduate Association, the Careers Service at the
University of Strathclyde was able to undertake an extensive revision of the
site. The upgrading of the site involved checking the validity of existing
content combined with the identification, evaluation and incorporation of new
websites which would be of value to UK and international graduate job-
seekers. The outcome of this project has been a major expansion in the
range and content of websites featured on the site and a complete overhaul of
Graduate Jobsearch Online’s graphical look and feel.
iACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks go to all the students, graduates and careers service practitioners who
took the time to complete the online feedback form which provided such
valuable information.
I would like to thank, in particular, the following people for their invaluable help
and support throughout this project:
Barbara Graham
Roma Thompson
Scott O’Donnell
Duncan Ireland
iiTable of Contents
SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................. I
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................................... II
TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................... III
LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................... IV
1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1
2 BACKGROUND ........................................................................................................... 4
3 METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................................... 5
3.1 EVALUATION AND VALIDATION OF EXISTING CONTENT ........................................................ 5
3.2 USER FEEDBACK ............................................................................................................ 5
3.3 IDENTIFICATION, EVALUATION AND INCORPORATION OF NEW, ADDITIONAL WEBSITES
RELEVANT TO GRADUATE JOBSEEKERS .......................................................................................... 7
3.3.1 Sources of new content ................................................................................... 7
3.3.2 Evaluation of new content ............................................................................... 9
3.3.3 Incorporation/ Organisation of new sites ......................................................... 9
3.4 IT LIAISON .................................................................................................................... 11
4 DISCUSSION AND OUTCOMES............................................................................... 12
4.1 KEY FEATURES OF IMPROVED SITE ................................................................................ 12
4.1.1 Content .......................................................................................................... 12
4.1.2 Design and Layout......................................................................................... 14
4.1.3 Navigation...................................................................................................... 15
iiiList of Figures
FIGURE 3-1 SCREEN SHOT OF 2003/4 VERSION (GUIDE TO JOBSEARCH ON THE INTERNET) –
WEBSITES BY AREA ............................................................................................................ 10
FIGURE 3-2 SCREEN SHOT 2003/4 VERSION (GUIDE TO JOBSEARCH ON THE INTERNET) – WEBSITES
BY SUBJECT ...................................................................................................................... 10
FIGURE 4-1 SCREEN SHOT OF NEW GRADUATE JOBSEARCH ONLINE HOMEPAGE ........................... 15
FIGURE 4-2 SCREEN SHOT SHOWING FLOATING MENU BAR ........................................................... 16
iv1 Introduction
The purpose of Graduate Jobsearch Online is to direct graduate jobseekers to appropriate
career and job related websites. An electronic version of Graduate Jobsearch (previously
known as Guide to Jobsearch on the Internet) was first created for academic contract
research staff in 1997 and has proved to be a useful resource, not only for the original target
group, but for graduate users worldwide. Each revision of Graduate Jobsearch since 1997
has incorporated users’ feedback and recommended favourite websites. Users can be
assured that all websites linked to Graduate Jobsearch have been evaluated for relevance
and regular updating practices. A number of career services throughout the UK and
institutions with interests in graduate career development or services, including the Higher
Education Staff Development Agency (HESDA) recognise the usefulness of Graduate
Jobsearch and direct their users to it through links from their own websites.
This report details the most recent upgrade of Graduate Jobsearch that was undertaken to
ensure it continues to address the career information needs of all its client groups. In
response to the large increase in international students in the UK, there has been substantial
development work to incorporate job search websites from many overseas countries.
Funding for the project was obtained from the Higher Education Career Services Unit’s
(HESCU) practitioner research fund and the University of Strathclyde’s Graduate Association.
Their support for this enhancement of Graduate Jobsearch is greatly appreciated.
Project Objectives
1. Identification, evaluation and incorporation into Graduate Jobsearch of new
websites relevant to graduate job seekers, primarily for countries most likely to
be of interest to graduates from the main supplier countries to UK universities.
Graduates and other job seekers can use the Graduate Jobsearch to access
recommended websites for a specific career interest or recommended online
resources to help identify vacancies in a particular location. The Graduate Jobsearch
can never be an exhaustive or definitive career resource for every country in the
world or a comprehensive listing of vacancy websites relating to all career interests.
It can, however, be an evaluated online resource with content that reflects student
and graduate demographics and trends at a given time.
From 2002 to 2004 over 3,000 International (non-UK domiciled) students per year
attended the University of Strathclyde. Recent figures from the Higher Education
Statistics Agency (HESA) reveal that the total number of UK higher education
students domiciled outside of the UK in 2003/4 increased by 9 per cent from 275,270
1to 300,055. International students are consequently vital to the UK higher education
system and are an important client group for career services throughout the UK.
Appropriate career advice and information resources should be available whether it is
the intention of an international student to secure employment in the UK or return
home. In an increasingly competitive market UK students are also looking for
opportunities abroad as well as trying to secure graduate employment back in the UK.
Tailoring the Graduate Jobsearch to meet the needs of students also requires a look
at trends in the subject of study chosen by students and graduates. This information
may be used as a useful indicator of intended career choice and future employment
trends. Statistics collected for the year 2003/2004 show that courses under the
business and administration umbrella are the most popular in UK higher education; in
2003/2004 300,065 students were taking business and administrative based studies
which incorporates business studies, management, finance, human resource
management and accounting. Subjects allied to medicine were the next most popular
with HE students taking subjects such as anatomy, pharmacology, nursing and
medical technology.
These patterns and trends in student demographics compel a review and expansion
of sections of the Graduate Jobsearch to represent areas beyond the UK and give it a
more international perspective. New subject specific or career specific sections
would have to be incorporated and existing ones updated.
2. Checking validity of the current content of Graduate Jobsearch Online and
amending it appropriately.
The content of Graduate Jobsearch Online had not been updated since 2004 and
updates prior to that had been done on an ad hoc basis when external funding could
be secured. Validating the content is crucial and requires testing all featured web
links within each section to establish that they are still live and to make certain that
text descriptions attributed to them are correct, up to date and adequately explain the
purpose of a specific website.
3. Additional links to websites advising on CV styles in countries included in the
Graduate Jobsearch.
The Graduate Jobsearch has to be able to adapt to the demands of its users and this
will mean the inclusion of new features or the removal or development of existing
ones. In previous research into the career information needs of international students
2conducted by the University of Strathclyde’s Career Service, careers advisers and
students had expressed a wish to be able to access CV examples from a range of
countries around the world. Including more website links to examples of international
CVs, resumes and application formats would also benefit UK students looking to work
abroad.
4. Improving the navigation, format and design of Graduate Jobsearch to facilitate
easy identification of appropriate resources.
The look, design and navigation of Graduate Jobsearch were rather dated and
rudimentary. Users now expect a more structured and sophisticated site that is easy
to navigate but also aesthetically pleasing. The upgrade of Graduate Jobsearch
builds upon the existing layout, including an HTML text navigation bar to the left of
each page, but it also needs to incorporate more sophisticated navigational tools
such as floating and drop down menus to manage the increased website content to
be added.
5. Improve publicity for Graduate Jobsearch Online.
Publicity is important to bring Graduate Jobsearch to the attention of those student
and graduate jobseekers and those careers service professionals working with them.
32 Background
The first version of Graduate Jobsearch Online was originally in print format entitled “A guide
to job search on the Internet: a researcher’s guide to academic and non-academic job
resources on the World Wide Web” and was published by the Scottish Graduate Careers
Partnership. An electronic version of Graduate Jobsearch was first developed in 1997 and
was produced with the help of funding from the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council as
part of the Scottish Contract Research Staff Initiative of Universities UK. This initiative was
set up to encourage good practice in the management and career development of contract
research staff. The electronic Guide to Job Search, as a portal of websites relating to
vacancies and research opportunities within and beyond the academic sphere, provided
contract researchers with valuable customised careers information.
The first minor update was carried out in 1999 with a small grant from the Association of
Graduate Career Advisory Services (AGCAS). A more extensive review of the site was
undertaken in 2000 and again in 2003 with funding from the Office of Science and
Technology (OST). These versions incorporated feedback from researchers and other job-
seekers via an e-mail facility from the websites. The aim of the review in 2000 was to evaluate
the online content of Graduate Jobsearch that had been in place for a number of years and
was largely based on the original hard copy. The specific objectives were: to validate existing
links included in Graduate Jobsearch, to survey researchers about potentially useful websites
to be added to Graduate Jobsearch, to identify other appropriate websites from a more
extensive internet search and to improve publicity for Graduate Jobsearch through print and
electronic methods. A further upgrade took place in 2003/4 with a similar scope and range of
objectives as the 2000 upgrade. This most recent review of Graduate Jobsearch in 2005
effectively builds on those foundations.
43 Methodology
3.1 Evaluation and validation of existing content
The first phase of the project was to check and validate Graduate Jobsearch’s existing
content. Over 200 websites had to be reviewed which required:
• Manually checking, deleting, maintaining or updating website links as appropriate;
• Rewriting text descriptions where necessary;
• Re-locating website links to new or more appropriate sections within Graduate
Jobsearch.
Website details, links and associated text descriptions within separate categories of Graduate
Jobsearch were copied and pasted directly from the website into new Word documents for
easier manipulation and evaluation purposes. Data could then be altered or removed where
necessary while retaining any content that was still valid and accurate.
Each website was evaluated in terms of how suitable it was for a graduate job seeker’s
purpose. For a website link to remain part of Graduate Jobsearch the website had to feature
graduate or professional level vacancies; it had to be easy for a user to navigate and its
content had to be complete and authoritative, well organised and up to date. Consideration
was also given to any websites that featured useful graduate careers related advice
particularly with relation to graduates seeking employment outside of the UK.
3.2 User Feedback
User feedback has always been an important tool in the continual development of Graduate
Jobsearch and users register their comments via an online feedback form accessible from a
static menu bar.
Any feedback received since the completion of the review in 2003/4 had been collated by the
Graduate Jobsearch administrator and this was forwarded to the project researcher to be
reviewed as part of the current upgrade. Each comment was allocated to one of the following
categories depending upon which aspect of the Graduate Jobsearch it referred to:
• Design of Graduate Jobsearch
• Existing content of Graduate Jobsearch
• Navigation
• New information to be added to Graduate Jobsearch
• Recommended new links
• Other
5This allowed the project researcher to monitor those areas that users had responded to as
well as identify areas of Graduate Jobsearch that users had suggested needed improvement.
Generating additional feedback was also important and for the purpose of this project the
online feedback form was altered slightly to inform users that Graduate Jobsearch was
undergoing an extensive upgrade: it was hoped that this would encourage more in-depth
feedback. A drop down menu was added to the Feedback page so that users could select
the subject or nature of their comment. The options given to them on this menu were:
Comment about:
• Existing site content
• Site design (e.g. graphics, layout etc.)
• Navigation
• Suggesting a new link, website or resource
• Information I would like to see on the site
• Other
Respondents were then asked to write their comment in a text box and leave their details if
they wished.
Details of the upgrade and requests for feedback were disseminated, via email, to careers
service practitioners throughout the UK and other useful contacts asking them to browse the
site and register their comments via the online form.
Those contacted included:
Internal Contacts - University of Strathclyde
• Careers service staff
• Jim Wilson – International and Graduate Office
• Ian Jones – Alumni Office
• Rose-Marie Barbeau – Communications and Marketing Office (Prism Magazine)
• Strathclyde University Staff (including academic heads and staff)
• Saskia Hansen – member of the European Consortium of Innovative Universities
(ECIU) Secretariat
• International students who had participated in previous research conducted by the
University of Strathclyde careers service.
External Contacts
• Jane Artess – Research Manager, HECSU
6• Gillian Cappuccini, James Williams, Lee Harvey, T Bowers-Brown – Careers Advisory
Services and International Students (CASIS) researchers
• Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS)
o Chris Jackson – Arena (AGCAS online journal)
o Rachel Roberts – Phoenix (AGCAS Journal)
o Terry Jones – AGCAS Employability Forum
o UK Careers Service staff via AGCAS Serviceline
o Careers Information Officers via AGCAS CIO.
Those contacted were also invited to distribute details of Graduate Jobsearch and the project
to other groups or individuals who may be interested in Graduate Jobsearch’s development.
Any subsequent feedback comments submitted by respondents were then automatically
relayed to the project researcher’s email account for review.
3.3 Identification, evaluation and incorporation of new,
additional websites relevant to graduate jobseekers
Sourcing new websites that would qualify for inclusion into Graduate Jobsearch was a crucial
aspect of the project and the first step of this phase was to establish the agreed criteria for
potential new websites. Initial meetings between the project researcher, project manager and
the Careers Service director stipulated that:
• New websites featured on Graduate Jobsearch should reflect the national origin and
disciplines of the student, graduate and contract research staff population.
• Additional sites should include graduate/professional level job vacancies or useful
graduate careers related information.
• New websites should be assessed as to their currency in terms of being frequently
updated and ease of use. Potential websites should be tested by random ‘dummy’
graduate job searches relevant to the website’s stated aims.
3.3.1 Sources of new content
Careers Service Resource Centre
The resource centre in the University of Strathclyde’s own careers service was the obvious
starting place for useful material. It stocks careers information in both print and electronic
formats across a wide range of topics including job seeking skills, occupation specific
information, employment overseas, as well as a dedicated resource section for international
students.
7Information available within the resource centre is updated on a regular basis and has been
assessed and evaluated by careers service information staff and/or careers advisers. Details
of any new print or electronic resources (including lists of useful websites) that have been
added to the resource centre are communicated to careers service staff via a weekly
electronic bulletin called the Information Update. Back copies of these updates were
reviewed in order to quickly identify any relevant resources which could be added to
corresponding sections of the new Guide.
Creating a complete online replica of the resource centre was beyond the scope of this
project but those websites directly relevant to the purpose of Graduate Jobsearch, namely
resources relating to major donor countries and most popular subject/occupation areas, were
included.
Previous Research Projects
Recent research carried out by the careers service into the career information needs of
international students also provided a source of relevant graduate vacancy or career
resources. Most resources were the result of specific online searches but a number of
websites had been recommended by international students or graduates who had found a
particular resource helpful.
Feedback
As stated earlier, feedback from users also included their personal recommendations for sites
to be added to Graduate Jobsearch.
Online searching
To locate comprehensive and high-quality material for Graduate Jobsearch it was necessary
to undertake extensive searching and browsing of other online graduate career portals
combined with tailored internet search queries using a variety of search engines.
Graduate careers services throughout the UK and abroad have varying online resources to
cater for the demands of their diverse client groups and a search of their websites, particularly
those with working overseas or occupation specific sections produced a range of useful links.
Links to UK graduate careers service websites were obtained from the AGCAS website which
also provided links to AGCAS equivalent organisations around the world including the
National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) (United States), Canadian
Association of Career Educators and Employers and Graduate Careers Australia.
Popular internet search engines including Google and Alta Vista (UK versions) were used to
search the web for largely UK graduate career resources. Foreign websites were sourced
using meta-search engines (which search through a number of search engines
simultaneously) and international versions of search engines e.g. Google Français
8(http://www.google.com/intl/fr/). The online translation service Alta Vista Babel Fish allowed
for the construction of search queries in a number of different languages for use with these
search engines and it was also used to translate sections of foreign vacancy and career
websites into English to enable evaluation by the project researcher.
3.3.2 Evaluation of new content
Any website being considered for inclusion into Graduate Jobsearch was marked against the
criteria agreed by the project team and was subject to a usability test. The majority of
websites identified as a result of online searching or recommended via feedback were
vacancy or job database driven websites which featured some kind of search facility. A
dummy search query was therefore carried out on these websites. The searches were used
to:
• Ascertain whether the search facilities were appropriate, i.e. allowed users to conduct
basic or advanced searches
• Check that search results contained up to date and pertinent content relevant to the
needs of graduate job seekers
• Monitor how often site was updated
• Check that any external links were live.
3.3.3 Incorporation/ Organisation of new sites
The number of new websites being added warranted a rethink of how content should be
organised within the site. Previously, lists of websites under each particular category were
organised into alphabetical order on the webpage (see Figure 3-1 and Figure 3-2).
9Figure 3-1 Screen shot of 2003/4 version (Guide to Jobsearch on the Internet) –
websites by area
Figure 3-2 Screen shot 2003/4 version (Guide to Jobsearch on the Internet) – websites
by subject
10Effective organisation of the web content was important to help users identify those websites
relevant to them from the hundreds listed. Consequently, recurring, standard sub-categories
were introduced to organise the website lists as follows:
Function: Sub-Categories:
Search by Location Vacancy Sources
CV help/Careers Guidance
Newspapers
Other useful links.
Search by Job Sector Vacancy Sources
Professional Associations
Research and funding opportunities
Other useful links.
Each evaluated website is allocated to the most appropriate sub-section and then organised
alphabetically within it.
3.4 IT Liaison
Web designers and the web team from the University of Strathclyde were approached to help
with the technical aspects of improving and updating the site. We contacted Scott O’Donnell,
Graphic Designer, at Learning Services and Duncan Ireland, Internet Officer, from the
University web team to help with the project. After consultation with the Project manager and
project researcher about the requirements of the site, Scott was charged with identifying the
most appropriate templates to use and to help develop the general look and design of the
site. He was also responsible for ensuring that all pages of the new site were CSS and xhtml
compliant, and that accessibility issues were taken into consideration e.g. using appropriate
screen readers to ensure that users with visual impairments could access and use the site
easily (the site is using LIFT software). The navigation of the site also needed to be
addressed and Scott was able to recommend templates that allowed better access to the
content as well as ensuring the site followed University regulations as to the use of logos etc.
Duncan was involved at a later stage of the project and was responsible for making structural
alterations to try and ease maintenance of the site. He also uploaded the new site to the
University of Strathclyde’s Careers Service main website.
114 Discussion and Outcomes
As stated in an earlier section of this report user feedback has always been an important tool
for developing the Graduate Jobsearch so that it can address the diverse career information
needs of its wide user base. Many of the changes carried out in this project have been
carried out as a direct response to that feedback.
4.1 Key Features of Improved Site
4.1.1 Content
Comments regarding the original content of the site included:
Initially confused as to what the site could give me on the home
page. Needs clearer signposting. Websites by area/subject good but
listings very spread out.
Web sites by area section. I know this is in alpha order but is this
most logical in this situation? May be UK, then Europe then rest of
world may be more appropriate given the audience?
What about adding a Northern Irish section to the area pages as many
of our students go to Scottish Universities but want to come home to
work?
As a result of this project the range and scope of the online content has increased vastly.
Earlier versions featured websites relating to only a few countries which did not adequately
reflect the needs of our client groups. The countries previously featured were America and
Canada, Australia, Europe, Ireland, United Kingdom and International Organisations.
Websites listed for each of these countries were generally job vacancy sites organised
alphabetically with no further classification. The new version of the Graduate Jobsearch
Online has extended the number of countries to reflect the major donor countries of
international (non-UK) students. Web pages relating to each of these countries incorporate
links to vacancy sites, sites giving advice on job seeking, and popular online newspaper sites.
Countries now represented by Graduate Jobsearch are:
• UK – General
• England
• Scotland
• Wales
• Northern Ireland
• Europe – General
• Belgium
• Denmark
• Finland
• France
12• Germany
• Greece
• Ireland
• Italy
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Spain
• Switzerland
• Canada
• US
• Australia
• Africa
• Asia
o China
o India
o Japan
o Korea
o Malaysia
o Singapore
• Middle East
There is also a web-page featuring useful links regarding international organisations included
in the Country section.
Earlier versions of Graduate Jobsearch also featured a limited list of occupations and subject
areas which was picked up by some users:
I notice that there is presently no subject specific info for arts
students. If possible, this would be a useful addition.
Before this update was carried out, the occupations and subjects featured on Graduate
Jobsearch were: Business and Law, Engineering and IT, Environmental Science, Medical
Science, Social Science, Maths, Physics, Astronomy and Chemistry. With the increase in
new sites to Graduate Jobsearch some of these categories were re-classed as individual
sections, while completely new subjects were also added. The revised subjects/occupational
areas featured are:
• Art and Creative Industries
• Computing and IT
• Education
• Engineering
• Environmental Science
• Finance
• HR
• Law
• Life Sciences
• Management Consultancy
• Marketing
• Maths
13• Physical Sciences
• Astronomy
• Chemistry
• Physics
• Social Science
• Voluntary
Of the 200 websites that had previously been featured on Graduate Jobsearch approximately
40 had defunct links; in some cases the actual website was still available, however, the URL
was invalid and needed to be updated. A number of websites and their associated links were
completely obsolete; they either no longer existed or the domain had been taken over by
another organisation. Other websites were live with appropriate links but with insufficient
and/or out of date text descriptions. Text therefore had to be re-written to adequately
illustrate the scope and extent of each particular website. A percentage of previously
featured websites needed no action and could remain as they were.
At the end of this project the number of websites featured on Graduate Jobsearch Online has
increased from 228 websites (across all sections) to over 650.
4.1.2 Design and Layout
Feedback from users was on the whole was very positive especially with regard to content but
they did find the design and layout of the old site unsophisticated and unappealing. A couple
of comments about the design are listed below:
…stylistically - the design of the site looks clunky to me in just
one respect -for me your text is too tightly aligned to the edges of
the tabulations - I can see you are using a stylesheet for
positioning - but if you had been using tables - it would be a matter
of adjusting the cell padding in main content and menu bar.
More can be improved in terms of blending neutral colour background
with the appropriate wordings.
The new version of Graduate Jobsearch Online now has a more clean and modern
appearance with the predominant red background of the previous version being replaced by
blue and white which is also more in keeping with the overall style of the University of
Strathclyde’s own website. A main title bar appears on each page throughout the site which
is simple and clear with a subtle graphic behind the main text which enhances the site visually
but does not detract from the content (sees Fig. 4.1). The text font has been kept as it was in
previous versions.
14The site still retains a fairly simple layout which will assist users when they come to using it for
their job search purposes. The new site still features some of the main elements that were
popular in the previous site including the online feedback form which is simple and easy to
use for the user, whilst also a useful evaluation and development tool for the project team and
future site administrators.
Figure 4-1 Screen shot of new Graduate Jobsearch Online homepage
4.1.3 Navigation
One area that has been improved dramatically is site navigation through the adoption of more
sophisticated navigational tools. A static menu bar appears on the left hand side of the home
page (and all subsequent pages) enabling users to switch easily between pages. Visitors to
the site can access the content in two ways; using either the new floating navigation bars (see
Figure 4-2) or by using an alphabetical list which is accessible by clicking on the relevant
“Search by…” tab on the main menu bar. A breadcrumb trail, visible along the top of the
page under the main title, has also been introduced to help users recognize where they are in
the site e.g. how many ‘levels’ they are away from the homepage.
15Figure 4-2 Screen shot showing floating menu bar
The main benefits of the new site are:
• UK and international graduate job-seekers have online access to a free, global job
search facility which has been evaluated and updated with relevant websites;
• Careers services throughout the UK will have another online resource to recommend
to their students and graduates, especially international students;
• The new site features improved content, navigation and has a new, modern look that
will appeal to its users;
• As an online resource, Graduate Jobsearch Online can be easily referenced on other
organisations’ websites as a “Useful Link”.
Julie Scott December 2005
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