From Enrolment Uncertainty to Employment Confidence

Employability Skills

Why the next big opportunity for education providers is helping every student understand what they have to offer an employer

Introducing Shape My Future – a practical solution to both scale and cost

For two decades, MyCareerMatch has helped universities, RTOs, TAFEs and online education providers answer one of the biggest questions facing a future student: “What should I study, and where could it take me?”

Using our 16-profile MyCareerMatch system, works because choosing education is personal. Students don’t simply choose a qualification. They are trying to imagine a future, who they could become, what sort of work might suit them, and whether the course they are considering can help get them there. MyCareerMatch provides the confidence to make that decision.

But there is another equally important decision waiting at the other end of the qualification.

“Now I’m finishing my studies. What do I have to offer an employer?” That is why MyCareerMatch Recruit has added Shape My Future to its product range.

MyCareerMatch helps students discover where they might fit.
Shape My Future helps them understand what employability skills they bring.

Together, they create a continuous student journey: Enrolment → Education → Employability → Employment.

A qualification gets students to the starting line

Australian higher education continues to deliver strong employment outcomes. However, the transition from education into meaningful graduate employment is not always immediate.

QILT’s 2025 Graduate Outcomes Survey found that 75.4% of undergraduates available for full-time work were employed full-time four to six months after completing their studies. Three years after graduation, that figure had risen to 91.7%.

That improvement tells an important story. A qualification has considerable value, but many graduates still need time to find their place in the employment market.

For universities and other education providers, the challenge therefore cannot end at graduation.

Helping students complete a qualification matters enormously. Helping them understand how to turn that qualification, their experiences and their personal strengths into employment value is increasingly part of the student success equation.

And this is where many students struggle. They may have completed placements, group assignments, casual work, volunteering, internships and major projects. They may be excellent communicators, natural organisers, analytical thinkers, supportive team members or emerging leaders.

But ask them: “What makes you different?” “What are your greatest strengths?” “Why should we employ you?”

And too often the answer becomes uncertain. The problem isn’t that students have nothing to offer. They haven’t learnt how to recognise it, evidence it and communicate it.

Employers look beyond the qualification. Technical knowledge remains important, but employers are increasingly hiring the person as well as the qualification.

Most universities provide excellent career resources.

There are career portals, resume templates, LinkedIn support, workshops, employer events, WIL programs, internships, interview preparation and one-to-one appointments. The issue isn’t a shortage of resources. The issue is personalisation at scale.

Students don’t simply want another article explaining how to write a resume. They want help answering: “What should I put in my resume?” and “What are my strengths, and how do I talk about them”.

Australian evidence – QILT’s 2025 Employer Satisfaction Survey, found employers were highly satisfied with graduates overall. Satisfaction with graduates’ technical skills reached 94.0%. But ratings were lower for collaborative skills and employability skills. Earlier Australian research involving students across 26 universities also found demand for more personalised conversations and career guidance connected to the individual student’s circumstances and ambitions.

QILT defines these areas around capabilities such as teamwork, interpersonal effectiveness, adaptability, independent thinking and the ability to perform and innovate in the workplace.

This is important. It suggests the opportunity is not simply to give graduates more technical knowledge. Education providers already do that very well. The opportunity is to help students better develop and articulate the human capabilities surrounding that knowledge.

For RTOs and private education providers

The challenge is often even more practical. Many operate with lean teams, limited careers staff and tight budgets, yet students still expect meaningful support as they move from training into work.

The question is simple: what personalised advice can you realistically give every student as they complete their qualification? Generic job-search resources have a role, but they rarely help an individual student understand what makes them employable, how to describe their strengths, or how to present themselves with confidence to an employer.

Shape My Future gives RTOs and private providers a scalable, affordable way to deliver that personal guidance without adding more staff or increasing one-to-one counselling costs.

Each student receives individualised advice on their strengths, communication style, teamwork, leadership, employability and how to present themselves in applications and interviews.

It gives providers a practical way to extend student support beyond course completion and show that they are not simply delivering a qualification they are helping students take the next step into employment with greater confidence and a clearer understanding of what they have to offer.

Students want personal career guidance. The difficulty is delivering it to everyone.

Australian research has repeatedly recognised the value students place on career readiness and personalised support. A 2024 study involving students found employability-focused activities were valued by students and could improve career readiness, confidence and the transition to employment. The researchers argued for employability development to be scaffolded throughout the degree rather than treated only as an activity at the point of graduation.

The problem for Career and Employment Services teams is obvious. You cannot provide thousands of students with individual career counselling whenever they need it.

Shape My Future is not designed to replace career services. It makes their expertise go further. It helps them understand their strengths, communication style, approach to teamwork, leadership potential and employability attributes — and importantly, gives them language they can actually use when presenting themselves to employers.

Instead of a careers adviser beginning a conversation with: “Tell me about yourself.” The student arrives with a starting point. They already have language around who they are, what they do well and how they may contribute. The adviser can spend less time drawing out basic self-awareness and more time doing what skilled career professionals do best; challenging, refining, coaching and helping the student turn those insights into action.

Employability shouldn’t begin weeks before graduation

Shape My Future also creates an opportunity to change when the employability conversation starts. Why wait until the final semester?

Introduce it in first year and students begin university with greater self-awareness. Use it before WIL and students can enter placements knowing which strengths they want to demonstrate. Return to it when students begin preparing resumes and LinkedIn profiles. Use it again when graduate recruitment starts.

The 2024 Australian employability research supports this direction, finding value in embedding and scaffolding career-readiness development throughout the undergraduate experience.

That moves employability from being an event at the end of education to becoming part of the student’s development throughout it.

One student journey. Two critical moments.

For 20 years, MyCareerMatch has helped education providers give prospective students confidence about their future. We now have the opportunity to support the other end of that journey.

Before course enrolment: Who am I, where might I fit, and what should I study?

Before employment: Who am I, what do I offer, and why should an employer choose me?

For education providers, that means the relationship with a student no longer needs to stop at delivering the qualification. You can provide something highly personal and practical that helps students take what they have learnt and carry it confidently into WIL, graduate recruitment and the workplace.
For Careers and Employment teams, it means personalised support can reach far beyond the number of students who attend a workshop or book an appointment.
And for the student, it delivers something much more valuable than another generic career resource.