Employment Prospects for CAS Students
The Aim of Industrial Training Placements
Career Guidance Centres run in each College of Applied Sciences aimed at helping students find suitable Industrial Training placements at the end of Year 3 and employment when they finish their degrees.
The Career Guidance Centres facilitate the introduction of students to the world of work by providing them with opportunities to implement theory and principles learned in the classroom in a business environment.
Of benefit to students will be the opportunities companies have of selecting good quality students who have spent six weeks with them at the end of Year 3 to employ when they graduate a year later. Many employers are well aware of the benefits of work experience to students and often use their work experience programs as extended interviews. It is for this reason that placements are highly prized by students for the experience they gain as well as the potential for future employment with companies, many of which place great emphasis upon the value of workplace skills. Any work experience will add to a student's skills profile, supplementing those developed during their degree studies and through extra-curricular activities.
Placements also help to raise company profiles with students at an earlier stage than would be the case if they were to recruit only graduates. Additionally, students often bring companies new insights and the ability to tackle problems and tasks in innovative ways.
Preparing for an Industrial Training Placement
It is never too soon to begin thinking about your placement. During your first three years at one of the College of Applied Sciences you should begin considering which companies you might like to work in. An advantage Omani students have over students in the western world are their strong family ties, and it is suggested that family members who are already in the workplace are asked if they can provide suitable placements within their companies.
At the beginning of Year 3, students will be provided with a Student Handbook. During the year they will attend workshops on CV writing and interview techniques to help them prepare for the summer ahead. In addition, visiting industrialists will come to the collect to talk about their industries, and careers fairs will be held to which many different industries will be invited with the specific intention of providing placements and employment. Shell will also visit colleges to provide their Intilaaqah programme of Bright Ideas workshops which help students to generate business ideas and promote entrepreneurship thinking.
The Student Handbook gives further information on preparing a CV and interview techniques as well as what to put in covering letters, details of transferable skills, personal development planning, critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and influence skills.
During Your Industrial Training Placement
When you are on placement you will also undertake a series of activities aimed at helping you delve more deeply into the company in which you are placed. The activities will be similar, but different for each discipline - all students for instance will find out about the structure of the company they are in, describing job roles in the departments identified and evaluating their own performance at the end of the report. If you are to study International Business you will look at effective business communication skills, marketing, team working and change management. Other students will report against a range of other activities.
It will also be necessary to keep a daily log of your activities in a Student Logbook which will be provided. This logbook also provides the company with the opportunity to assess your work for them.
After the Industrial Training Placement – Year 4
When you return from your placement within a company you may well see things differently. You will begin to see the relevance your studies has to the world of work, how you can use the knowledge you learn in College to your advantage to help you secure the job of your dreams.
At the beginning of the year you will submit your Industrial Training Report for assessment by the Career Guidance advisers and subject to successful assessment you will receive a Certificate of Placement from the Dean of the College.
It is hoped that many students will have formed strong relationships with the companies in which they have been placed and that the company may have extended an offer of employment to that student for when s/he graduates.
