Southampton Business School: Empowering businesses with job-ready graduates

Southampton Business School (SBS) is internationally-known its phenomenal partnerships with the global marketplace and producing job-ready students for modern workforces, but what’s its secret to success?

As a founding member of the prestigious Russell Group and a Top 100 QS Global University (2019), the University of Southampton inspires students everywhere with its leading UK research and Southampton Business School’s outstanding work and industry involvement.

As a recent example of Southampton’s revolutionary work, Dr Denise Baden, Associate Professor at Southampton Business School, won an exclusive Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) award and her research has been recognised for having an ‘outstanding impact’ on sustainable practices within the UK hairdressing industry.

Secrets to SBS Success

One leading factor to the school’s success is its commitment to diversity.

Since the benefits of business education are everlasting, the school caters for learners from a broad range of backgrounds. Through the Business School’s Executive Learning Partnership, Southampton brings together senior managers from more than 25 of the region’s prime organisations to collaborate in specialist masterclasses and share fresh industry insights.

To enhance this knowledge-sharing practice, the business school runs monthly evening seminars that involve established speakers from academia and global industry.

Through strategic links with Future Learn, its students can get involved with entrepreneurial masterclasses. The vibrant startup accelerator Future Worlds gives student innovators the opportunity to mingle with researchers, entrepreneurs and successful startup initiatives.

Every so often, prominent figures in the business sector join students for informal gatherings. For example, when financial commentator and Southampton alumni member Justin Urquhart Stewart had lunch with second-year undergraduates, many questions were answered and valuable memories were made.

Empowering employability with SBS placements

Across the globe, recruiters are growing concerned over the problem of a “skills mismatch” in the employment market, which describes the gap between the prospective hire’s skill-set and the demands of the job.

This is why employers say work experience is crucial. Companies today are looking for job-ready or employable graduates, and more often than not, would choose to shortlist candidates able to decorate their CVs with actual industry experience.

Through a one-year industry placement, available to all undergraduate learners, students at SBS are exposed to the realities of their chosen work environment.

With a dedicated placements team that helps with interview practice and CV advice, a University Careers and Employability Service that seeks out fantastic opportunities to get students started in the working world and a comprehensive programme of opportunities, students here grow both personally and professionally.

By simply selecting a business degree at Southampton, students also increase their overall employability.  As a recent study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies found, business degree holders earn more than 10 percent above the average degree holder several years after entering the workforce.

As the table here shows, there’s a dramatic difference in earnings for Southampton business and management graduates. For male SBS graduates, there’s a +GBP10,400 increase while female SBS graduates rank 9^th with an impressive +GBP11,393 increase.

Along with these remarkable returns on investment, the Top 20 UK university and SBS helps students excel further in their current or future job with links to illustrious regional, national and international companies such as Paris Smith LLP, Red Funnel Ferries, J.P.Morgan, Co-op Food, Ford, BAE Systems, PwC and Morgan Stanley.

On the topic of industry engagement, business school students had the privilege of visiting the London offices of Seven Investment Management (7IM) as part of the Justin Urquhart Stewart competition. After being shortlisted, they met some of the brightest investment minds of the financial world and received an insight into an engaging workplace.

A great launch platform for careers

The SBS experience is an inspiring one for its students. More than an education, they get a taste of the real world of business, which in turn gives them a leg up in their career hunt later.

“The University of Southampton offers some fantastic business fairs and events. I’ve met representatives of every bank from Barclays to Zurich, supermarkets from Lidl to Tesco and many others such as Network Rail, Amazon and Jaguar,” says Sam Phelps, BSc Business Analytics (Graduating 2018).

“There are so many highlights throughout my journey at Southampton so far. For my first year, I completed an internship in SUSU through the Excel internship scheme. In my second year, I was a Halls officer and worked part-time on campus. This year, I successfully secured a placement year with Norwegian Cruise Lines with massive help from the Placements Officer at the Business School!” according to Athena Liu, BSc Accounting and Finance with Placement Year (Graduating 2019).

“The most enjoyable element of my course is having guest speakers come in and hold interactive lectures. Learning from people who are currently in inspiring job roles is eye-opening as to what I can potentially do in the future,” says Shannon Stack, BSc Business Management (Graduating 2020).

If your business is looking for opportunities to connect with some of the globe’s brightest sparks, Southampton Business School is the place to start!

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