It has been a very interesting journey to work on my research, to read about how to do it from a creative perspective, to collect all the information, to challenge the process and to conclude with findings and an action plan.

After determining the participation on my survey was not conclusive, Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2019). I put all my attention on the casual interviews as I mentioned on my previous post “Research Challenges”.

Once I finalised all the interviews, I color coded the key mentioned topics which were common across the participants. The color coding helped me to visually unify ideas and to easily transcribe them in a table where I highlighted key categories, concepts and possible solutions. It has been revealing to observe both perspectives, from academic staff and from the students. 

The key findings are:

• The MA FDM course doesn’t have any formal traceability tool in terms of employability.
• Students wonder about their future in the industry from an early stage as the course lasts 1 year. 
• Networking is key for employability, the LCF provides multiple options, but students lack confidence to take advantage of the opportunity, which makes them feel uncertain about their future. 
• Students would appreciate guidance as networking help them to feel included and helps them to move toward their professional goals. It would be valuable to provide support to define and action plan and a follow up accountability process.
• Networking should be contextualised and seen as an opportunity for development, a learning experience where information is exchanged, no matter the ultimate outcome. 
• Not all the students are ready to participate in some of the activities provided by the LCF. We could support them building confidence, however, this is a journey where they need to keep being curious.

Is it evident on the research that the networking opportunities are there, students are eager to participate, but they feel not confident and equality somethings they’re not ready to move forward. The proposal solution would be to provide a space were we complement the current Tutorial Framework with a Tutorial Framework for employability addressing the MA’s FDM concerns about their future employability and where the current networking opportunities are consciously explored according to the students needs and interests.

Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2019) Research methods for business students. 8th edn. Harlow: Prentice Hall. (Pages 297 & 298)