Melbourne musings: Reflecting on the NAGCAS Annual Conference 2023

Paul Gratrick , President of AGCAS , recently attended the National Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (NAGCAS) conference in Melbourne, 'Empowering Tomorrow: Navigating a Better Future for All'. In this blog, he reflects on the sessions, shares learning and good practice, and calls for greater UK-Australian connections.

Being President of AGCAS comes with certain responsibilities that I take very seriously, but it also affords me many privileges which I am proud and grateful to receive. One such privilege is the reciprocal conference invitations that AGCAS and our Australian counterparts NAGCAS extend to each other (the extra N stands for National).

This blog is a summary of what I learnt from my recent visit to Melbourne for the NAGCAS annual conference. Conference themes this year were AI/technology, sustainability and diversity and inclusion. Though I couldn’t attend every session, I am spotlighting a few in the hope of prompting connections between UK and Australian counterparts.

Keynote insights

Any careers association conference worth its salt is inspirationally opened by the current President (or so I am told) and this was no different. NAGCAS President, Tessa McCredie , excelled at welcoming delegates back to a fully face-to-face conference format and it would be remiss of me not to mention that Tessa received lifetime NAGCAS membership at the conference dinner due to all her hard work and dedication to the association and the sector.

Up next, Professor Sherman Young , RMIT University reflected on his career and the significant technological advances he has witnessed. In his experience, significant technological changes within higher education often take longer to occur, but when they do the impact is always greater than he expected. This was in the context of generative AI developments and its likely impact on education.

Following that theme, Professor Patrick Dunlop , Curtin University summarised the generative AI landscape and its potential impact on the careers sector, both for practitioners and employers. He gave some sound advice about generative AI prompting and summarised the opportunities for careers teams as

• using generative AI to anticipate interview questions
• providing basic feedback on answers to those
• conducting research on companies
• scalability
• being able to respond in the moment.

Nadine Zacharias of Equity by Design then relayed some insightful research into parental influences on career planning and decision making. What stood out for me from this talk was her finding that in the absence of strong parental influences, peer support/mentoring networks at university become very important.

Parallel sessions: Curriculum approaches and employer engagement

For the first parallel session, I opted to see Candy Jenkins and Ruth Wilcock from University of Technology Sydney (UTS). Their talk on their curriculum approach at UTS mirrored a lot of what we see in the UK. I particularly found it interesting that anyone involved in this work at UTS has been through the Stanford Life Design course in order to apply its methodology and practices to their curriculum work.

Parallel session two highlighted a bold and brave approach to employer engagement that I applauded all the way home. Charmaine Marlow and Kelly Whitney from Western Sydney University covered a lot of ground but I was impressed by their choice to actively disengage with employers who do not have inclusive and accessible application forms and processes. This can add challenge when engaging employers is a tricky business in the first place, but it enables them to stay true to their values and in what they say they’ll do for students. I’m still applauding: there’s no point in having values if you throw them under the bus in the name of chasing metrics.

The first day ended with a panel of the UK's finest discussing their approach to implementing and utilising career registration data. Jane Campbell and Andy Blunt , University of Leeds plus Bea Carter and Dr Stephen Boyd , The Manchester Metropolitan University , captivated the audience in a session I hope they can repeat for a UK audience soon. It was a very proud President moment to witness the audience riveted, impressed and engaged with what UK colleagues were discussing.

Day two: Inclusivity, wellbeing and career outcomes

First up was Lisa Annese , Diversity Council Australia Ltd (DCA) discussing inclusive recruitment practices. My main takeaway from this keynote was the overview of the social and professional identities that students have, and the diversity within this. For example, social diversity in terms of gender, race and social class and professional diversity such as level of work experience, education and professionalism. As careers teams, we’re dealing with both types of identities in our work with students and the two are inseparable in that context.

Dr Elizabeth Knight has an upcoming book on wellbeing and careers based on her recent research. Her workshop-style keynote had delegates considering the intersection between wellbeing and careers work, and how the two may compliment/clash with each other.

Next, Samantha Kilmartin discussed her current PhD research into social class and career outcomes, referencing my own current PhD supervisor Sol Gamsu . For her, the UK is far ahead in terms of researching social class in general, let alone its impact on higher education and careers. Spoiler alert: social class does indeed have a significant impact on career outcomes in Australia as well.

Dr Maya Mendiratta, PhD, AFHEA , Monash University provided some useful reflections on delivering a Green Careers Expo for the first time. I'd encourage any UK colleagues thinking of the same to get in touch with Maya. Her work was nominated for a NAGCAS Excellence Award, no less.

Closing day two was an encore from Jane Campbell , this time in partnership with Karen Burland , her academic counterpart at the University of Leeds . Their model of Head of Careers in partnership with an Academic Lead for Student Opportunities and Futures is pretty much unheard of in Australia, and to a lesser extent in the UK. They were great at highlighting the benefits of this duality and parity.

Day three: Taking the stage

The third day brought a personal career highlight, as I opened with a keynote on generative AI use by careers teams. Being an ambassador for AGCAS members and articulating their innovations in the area of generative AI was a very proud moment for me. It was heartening to hear delegates say they felt inspired to try some of these techniques and practices themselves, which was exactly the point of what I was trying to get across. I was certainly standing on the shoulders of generative AI giants in the UK. Being able to celebrate your work and impart that wisdom is a Presidential opportunity and privilege that I won’t forget.

Continuing the AI theme, the Australian Association of Graduate Employers (AAGE) chaired an excellent panel of employers discussing research into AI and recruitment in Australia. AI uptake isn’t at the levels we’re seeing in the UK yet, but it’s definitely there and will only grow.

The final session I could attend was the showcase of Excellence Awards winners. Winners were able to talk in depth about their award submission and what was involved. Maya from Monash discussed the Green Expo again, Anna Lynch from The University of Sydney Business School talked about their Career Leaders programme and Marianne Buyskes-Abrahams , Swinburne University of Technology shared their job readiness scheme for vocational education students. It was good to see the award winners getting the time to talk about their work in more depth. I’m glad we do this in the UK too, and we’ll only continue to think about how best to disseminate excellent practice.

Return journey reflections…

Flying back to the UK, I thought about the context of the Australian university careers sector. Hats off to everyone working in that space. You may have certain opinions on the regulatory structures we have in place in the UK, but at least it puts the spotlight firmly on careers and employability, with resource coming from that. At the University of Liverpool , we have roughly 30,000 students and a careers team of around 50 people. In Australia, you’ll often have nearly double the numbers of students but a team under half that size. Seeing what our Australia counterparts are achieving in this context was fascinating and congratulations for the quality of work being done in that university context.

Circling back to my opening remarks, I’m very proud to be the current President of AGCAS . I am now halfway through my Presidential term, ahead of Barrie Grey taking the reins in January 2025. I will continue to champion the UK sector and the excellent work that institutions and teams of all shapes and sizes deliver. Being able to showcase that incredible work is something I’m really proud to have done, and none of that would be possible without the hard work and dedication of AGCAS members.