We know that many of you are keen to hear about the plans for the coming academic year, we are taking steps to ensure that learning can continue whilst protecting the health and wellbeing of students and staff. Below we have shared some new plans for engagement options and a further update on previous communications.
Student engagement opportunities - events, fairs and presentations
Whilst steps are being taken to re-open campus we have not yet confirmed any ‘in-person’ careers events but are working hard to establish our employer offer for semester 1. We are still facilitating presentations in the meantime (virtually) and we would encourage you to get in touch if you’d like to organise one during the summer months: CareersPresentations@leeds.ac.uk
We are making plans to deliver a range of themed Employability Weeks, virtual careers fairs, and our usual events programme including employer led skills workshops and presentations. If you are interested in participating in any of these please register your interest by emailing recruitmentfairs@leeds.ac.uk, and we will confirm details, sponsorship packages and associated costs (where applicable) once we have this available.
The planned dates for our careers fairs are below, we largely expect these to remain the same for online fairs, however there may be some movement. As these will be online they will naturally look and feel different and we can talk you through our initial expectations.
- Autumn Fair: Monday 5 October 2020
- Volunteering Fair: Tuesday 20 October 2020
- Law Fair: Thursday 15 October 2020
- STEM Fair: Thursday 22 October 2020
Vacancy advertising
We are continuing to promote a range of vacancies including those immediately available, remote and for 2020-2021 starts. You can post your vacancies on our MyCareer platform and we are encouraging students to continue to apply. If your vacancies have been filled or withdrawn, please email employerteam@leeds.ac.uk and we will close your vacancies on your behalf.
If you're interested in working in partnership with us, and have roles exclusively for University of Leeds students, you can access the Leeds Internship Programme, our fully managed free recruitment service. Please email workplacements@leeds.ac.uk for more details.
Placement year hires 2019-2020
We understand your organisation may need to prioritise and make difficult decisions during this period. In these decisions, we ask that our placement partners - in line with our tripartite agreement - treat our placement students as they would one of their own employees with regards to health, safety and welfare.
If a student wishes to leave their placement, we have asked them to discuss this with line managers and HR in the first instance. The University is supportive of students who may feel unable to continue their placement during the 2019-2020 academic year.
Where placements are terminated early, we will calculate module marks on the basis of assessments that take place, and where necessary, we will make use of our Special Cases procedures to ensure that students are not disadvantaged and are able to progress.
We are communicating with our students on placement and will support them to make appropriate and informed decisions in relation to their wellbeing as well as their academic progression.
As organisations are preparing to re-open, we will be contacting those who require our students to return to the workplace.
We will be carrying out a risk management process, and requesting employers to confirm they are operating within government requirements for the control of risks from COVID-19 where students are not able to work remotely.
Placement year hires 2020-2021
Where organisations require students to be physically located in the workplace, we will be carrying out a risk management process, and requesting employers to confirm they are operating within government requirements for the control of risks from COVID-19 where students are not able to work from home.
2020-2021 graduate recruitment and summer internships
We understand that many organisations continue to face disruption at this time which may affect summer internship, placement year and graduate recruitment.
If feasible at this time, we would ask you to communicate with students who are at interview or offer stage with an update on the current recruitment position of your firm or, where relevant, specific roles. Please let us know if we can help with any communications, we appreciate you may have a reduced team and we have colleagues on hand to assist.
Student assessment and progression
We understand that many firms are keen to hear what, if any, changes we have made to assessments for 2019-2020, when students may receive their results and how we are calculating marks. We recommend that you review the latest University guidance which outlines the position on student education, exams and results.
Student volunteering
In light of the current situation with covid-19 we will only be promoting online volunteering and volunteering as a part of government-led responses to the current situation. This is in line with government recommendations on social distancing. We anticipate that most of the opportunities currently on Leeds for Life will be on hold for the foreseeable future.
We would advise students need to safeguard themselves and only undertake opportunities if they are not in an at-risk group and are currently in good health. The NCVO has a page of advice on volunteering, visit the NCVO website for more information.