Employability Award Overview

There is a set of program requirements that must be completed before you can submit an application for the Award in your final semester. 

The program requirements are split into three activity categories which are outlined below. All three requirements must be met to progress.

• Work Experience Category (complete 100 hours)
  Activities you perform in a work environment that support the day-to-day running of the organisation to meet their business objectives.  The experience can be paid or unpaid.
• Volunteering Category (complete 100 hours)
  An activity that is undertaken for the main purpose of benefitting others, such as a church, sporting club, government school, charity, or non-for-profit community organisation, for which you do not receive payment.
• Supplementary Category (complete five different activity types)
  An activity that is purely for your own development. Involvement can lead to the development of either personal and professional capabilities or attributes.

All activities that count towards the Award must be extra-curricular (not for course credit).

An Activities Guide is available to help you start planning what activities might suit you best and what is considered an eligible activity.

After you complete an activity you will need to record and reflect on what you experienced.

This process is necessary as it serves as a record of activity completion and provides an opportunity for you to unpack the experience and recognise what capabilities and mindsets you developed. 

Taking the time to reflect and understand what you learnt from your experiences is an integral part of this program and will make it easier for you to effectively communicate your potential in the Award application stage and subsequently to future employers.

To complete this process, you will need to access your Employability Award workflow in StudentHub and record and reflect on your experience using the form link located under each Category in the workflow.  A short instructional video is available to help you navigate the workflow as well as more information on how to use the SEAL Reflection Tool.

How to access your StudentHub workflow        Using the SEAL Reflection Tool

Tip: We suggest you bookmark your Employability Award workflow in StudentHub so it is easy to locate when it’s time to record and reflect.

Once you have completed all the program activity requirements and recorded and reflected on them, you will receive an email inviting you to submit an application for the Award and the Application stage will become available in the Award workflow. 

The application stage includes a written application submission lodged in StudentHub followed by an Award interview (both of which are only to be completed in your final semester at UQ). 

An application guide is available on the Resources page and outlines what needs to be addressed in the written application. The application guide is subject to change so we highly recommend you follow the online instructions that are in place during your final semester at UQ when preparing your application.

Your application must be submitted by 29 April if you are graduating mid-year or 30 September if you are graduating in December or the summer semester.

Your interview is the final step in completing the Employability Award program and will be conducted between weeks 11 – 13 only.  

During this stage of the program, you will communicate your employability in an interview situation to a carefully selected interview panel. An Employability Award Interview Guide is available on the Resources page and outlines what to expect and how to prepare for success.

Upon successful completion of the Award interview, you will receive an email to confirm your completion of the program. 

In recognition of your achievement, we will make the necessary arrangements to have your Statement of Attainment presented to you on your graduation day and your name included in the Graduation Program as an Award recipient.

Award recipients will also be sent information to help promote the Employability Award on their LinkedIn profiles and will receive information about joining the UQ Future Leaders Program.  

The Student Employability team would appreciate any feedback or recommendations that you may have to enhance the program. We will send you an (optional) evaluation following completion of the program.