From training courses and informal networking to applying for new roles and secondments, there are many ways to develop your career in the College of Social Sciences.
University jobs and secondments
Search for current vacancies in the College of Social Sciences and the wider University.
People and organisational development (POD)
There is a range of learning and development options available in the People and organisational development (POD) unit including training courses, leadership programmes, one-to-one coaching and tailored POD consultancy support.
LinkedIn Learning
All staff have unlimited access to LinkedIn Learning; an on-demand library of high-quality instructional videos covering a vast range of software, business and creative skills.
PODbites and Mobile Moments
PODbites & Mobile moments are a series of short online training videos that all staff can access.
The Birmingham Professional programame
Birmingham professional offers development and networking opportunities for professional services staff. It aims to recognise and celebrate best practice and new innovations across the College. They also run events to enhance communication and wellbeing.
Shadowing
Work shadowing is an informal type of experience where you observe someone in their role to gain an insight into their day to day activities and a broad understanding of how they do their job. Use your contacts to identify who you can shadow, ask around and find out who the possible candidates are and get in touch with them, or their manager, directly to find out if they are available for shadowing. Be sure to keep your line manager in the loop and agree on the time required for your development. Find out more about other Birmingham professionals and useful contacts.
Find out more about Birmingham Professional Work Shadowing (PDF)
Volunteering
There are lots of different reasons to get involved with Volunteering whilst you are here at the University of Birmingham. Volunteering is a great way to understand more about the local community you are living in and develop yourself.
Mayor's Million Mentors
This is an exciting opportunity to be part of the first pilot scheme of its kind to be run by the College, as part of the wider College Wellbeing strategy, and to support individual career and skills development.
Find out more about Mayor's Million Mentors
Mentoring for Academic career development
Mentoring and coaching can provide useful support for academic staff development and the University provides some schemes centrally via POD (People and Organisational Development). Find out more about opportunities for mentoring support.
Networks
The Association of University Administrators (AUA)
The Association of University Administrators is the organisation for HE administration professionals; aims to promote excellence in HE management and to be a champion for our sector. Through the AUA there are networking opportunities amongst their 3500 members who are individually and collectively committed to:
- the continuous development of their own and others’ professional knowledge, skills and practices;
- actively championing equality of educational and professional opportunity;
- the advancement of higher education through the robust application of professional knowledge, skills and practices;
- the highest standards of fair, ethical and transparent professional behaviour.
The AUA offers various ways to connect with HE colleagues – special interest groups; local and national events, eg AUA Annual Conference; Twitter; LinkedIn
Joining the AUA is easy, visit https://aua.ac.uk/aua-membership/
Find out more about the AUA, Contact either Margaret Jelleyman or Sam Murphy (joint AUA Advocates at the University of Birmingham), or go to the AUA website
Communities of Practice
Communities of Practice bring together people from across the University with an interest in specific areas in order to connect, learn, and improve their skills.
Getting involved with a community of practice is a great way to develop your existing skills or learn about a completely new area. It could be the first step towards working in a different part of the University. It’s also a great way to meet colleagues from across the University.
Events
Build your networks and attend forthcoming Birmingham Professional Events
Reward and Recognition
To complement the University's BUAFTA award scheme, CoSS have launched the Diamond Recognition Scheme. Colleagues can nominate co-workers for displaying excellent behaviours and winners receive rewards including gift vouchers, a commemorative mug and an email signature block.
Career pathways
Some careers at the University are well defined while there are many career opportunities that you might not have considered. Colleagues from across Professional Services have agreed to share their career experiences - talking about their career journeys so far, the things that have helped along the way, and sharing their advice for others.
Expectations framework
This framework explains what is expected of all Professional Services staff within CoSS and the support that they can expect from their line manager in enabling them to meet their expectations.
Performance and Development review
PDRs are a vital part of ensuring that individuals are clear as to what is expected of them, receive feedback on their performance and are supported to develop to their full potential.
Learning and development guide
The brochure highlights a wide range of development activities available via the People and Organisational Development (POD) team.
The CoSS Student Communications Guidance
The CoSS Student Communications Guidance is a Canvas course providing evidence-based guidance and support to help staff in CoSS send mass communications to students in a clear, targeted and effective way. The course is designed around the work done byprogramme and student experience teams, but other student-facing staff across the College are also likely to find it a useful resource.
Access the CoSS Student Communications Guidance course