A new book on women's career development edited by Jenny Bimrose (IER University of Warwick), Mary McMahon (University of Queensland) and Mark Watson (Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University) is now available.

This multidisciplinary volume pulls together contributions from sociology, management, industrial, organisational and vocational psychology, geography and career guidance. International perspectives from nine countries also provide compelling narratives about the patterns of women’s career development continuing to reflect structural labour market disadvantage. Published on 18 January 2015, the book features chapters from members of IER staff (Professor Jenny Bimrose, Professor Anne Green, Professor Chris Warhurst) and IER Associate Fellows (Professor Nancy Arthur, Dr Simone Haasler, Dr Ying Kuang, Dr Mary McMahon, Professor Philip Taylor, Dr Pamela Suzanne, Massimo Tomassini, Professor Mark Watson).

This free workshop is being convened by Universities UK in collaboration with the Institute for Employment Research at the University of Warwick. The workshop is intended for participants interested in using labour market information to support their work in UK universities and higher education more generally. It will explore how labour market information (LMI) can support the work of universities and introduce the LMI for All project funded by UKCES. LMI for All is an online data portal which provides access to existing sources of high quality, reliable LMI. The data is made available via an Application Programming Interface (API) for use in websites and applications. For more information on the workshop and to register go to the workshop webpage.

Employers need to be able to recruit the right talent for their businesses, so that they can use employee potential efficiently. The government’s ‘Careers guidance action plan’ recommended that employers should work with the National Careers Service to achieve these ambitions. Recently published research, led by Professor Jenny Bimrose at the Institute for Employment Research, examined the need for greater levels of employers to work with schools, and the role of National Careers Service in fulfilling this need. One conclusion suggests that employer links not only inspire, inform and advise students about particular occupations and sectors, but also enhance the provision of careers and work-related education in the curriculum. Read the full report 'Understanding the link between employers and schools and the role of the National Careers Service' here.

Following his retirement as Director of IER, the Robert Lindley Scholarship in Employment Policy Research has just been established. This scholarship is intended to encourage cross-over between the academic and policy-maker communities. The first recipient is IER's PhD student Lorraine Johnson. Her research interest lies in late career transition with a focus on the experiences of professional women.

Career ‘transition’ and ‘adaptability’ have been significant themes running through Lorraine's own career to date. In the last 5 years she has transitioned from Further Education College Lecturer, Secondary Pathways Adviser (developing web based career transition tools) and more recently Project Manager for a United Kingdom Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) project. Her earlier career provided plenty of opportunity to practice “transition” initiated by a move from London to Birmingham to take up a promotion to Senior Careers Adviser responsible for project work and then further promotion to trainer. During this period she also undertook two career breaks to support her partner's career development. The first involved living in Tsukuba Science City, Japan, whilst home teaching her two children. The second moved her to Tokyo, working at the British School whilst studying for a Masters in Education.

This seminar, to be held on 28 November in London, will outline key findings from a mixed methods research study undertaken by a consortium of experts on the link between employers, schools and the National Careers Service, led by Warwick Institute for Employment (IER) on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills.

Professor Jenny Bimrose and Dr Deirdre Hughes will present findings from the research that illustrates how employers are working and linking with schools/colleges in a variety of ways that bring significant benefit. They will share the outcomes from a systematic literature review, a survey of over 300 companies, data analysed from 78 schools and 20 colleges, including in-depth interviews and case-studies, 8 Prime Contractors from the National Careers Service and 23 interviews with senior leaders from education, business and the career development profession. The seminar will reflect on key findings and consider future options for the triangulation of education, employer and careers service working links. Findings indicate that a new paradigm shift is taking place, with the critical question for all of the actors involved being: ‘where next?’.

The seminar is free to attend but places are limited and must be booked in advance. To book a place please visit the Education and Employers Taskforce website.