Professional services staff play an essential role in supporting learner success, both during students’ time at university and following graduation. Yet if teams do not have sufficient institutional influence, there is a risk that their work will go unrecognised or fail to have meaningful impact.
In late 2023 AGCAS evaluated the institutional influence of our members’ work as careers and employability professionals as part of our 2023-24 Member Resources Survey. Completed by 115 UK and Ireland heads/directors of university careers services, the findings revealed four factors that can be described as “levers of influence” – which could apply to any professional services leader. Where present and effective these levers enhanced institutional influence, but if the levers were absent or ineffective, they reduced or damaged levels of influence.
Overall, our research found that over the past year, 19 per cent of careers service leaders reported becoming significantly more influential and 56 per cent of respondents reported becoming slightly more influential. 17 per cent of heads of service felt they were currently highly influential within their institution and 61 per cent felt they were quite influential. However, this still left a significant minority who felt their influence to be limited, which is concerning, when employability is increasingly recognised as being essential to student success.
