UCT Careers Service as a client

University of Cape Town’s (UCT)  Careers Service contracted us to provide Data Analytics and Copy for traditional print and web.

Data Anlayses

UCT conducted exit surveys to gain a better understanding of the outcomes of their graduates. Technobunnies were engaged to provide a report for use internally – across all UCT departments to communicate these outcomes. There are some interesting results that came out of the analyses, such as a significant difference between the employment success of male and female graduates (across all faculties).

Simple statistics and graphing were employed. The statistics used were Chi-square tests to compare frequencies between different outcomes by student groups. Data visualisation was mainly through pie chart or histogram to demonstrate the proportion of students engaged in particular activities.

Below is an example Chi-square test that would be reported as part of the appendices of such a report. NB the data has been changed to protect the rights of the vendor, who has a fixed term MOU with UCT careers and may dictate data use (a surprise to us, as UCT is a publicly funded body, but there you have it). To protect the raw data, but retain the essence we present here a deliberately reduced Chi value, achieved by “faking” the data with a bias away from that of the statistical trend.

This data can be presented visually in a very simple format as so:

NB the outcomes are not faked, the numbers are. I hope the reader appreciates the choice of colour, I am not sure where one starts when addressing an -ism that exists on such a huge scale, but I assume part of the answer is “anywhere”.

Copy Writing

The technical writing team provided writer, editor and proof. Adopting a process by which no one person performs any other role, we provided excellent, error free take-away pamphlets targeted at undergraduates and postgraduates. Novel topics such as how to perform well at an assessment centre, how to network – both in the real world and online, were communicated in 4 page or 2 page pamphlets, as were more traditional topics such as how to write a cover letter.

The final versions will be provided online and in print. It is likely that the resources will be available here.