Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at DeakinTALENT
How we work at DeakinTALENT
We understand that everyone’s career development journey is unique. At DeakinTALENT we’re focused on ensuring our services, interactions and resources are developed for all students and graduates. We create personalised capability development for our staff and industry partners to broadly progress inclusive practice. We bring career stakeholders together (university staff, students and industry partners) to learn about each other’s needs.
When it comes to deciding who you want to be in the world of work, it’s common for us to experience internal conflict between the kind of professional we want to be and the expectations of others. We work with students and graduates to help them develop evidence of their abilities, skills and interests, and use that evidence to develop strategic relationships with the world of work. This supports their engagement with equity confident employers. Consequently, they discover that their lived experience is not the complicating factor they often assume it to be.
- We embed inclusive careers education in the curriculum for the benefit of all students.
- We create targeted career and employability learning programs that help students and graduates identify and articulate their unique professional identity and manage their career.
- Our targeted programs are complemented by equity-capable career coaches who provide one on one support for students and graduates navigating complex issues.
Employers understand that equitable practices help them attract and retain the best talent. We help employers identify and remove barriers to both inclusive recruitment and inclusive workplaces. We also develop and share strategies for giving everyone a stake in progressing inclusive cultures at work. We create opportunities for professionals in industry, government and the not-for-profit sector to listen to the insights and concerns of students and graduates with lived equity experience.
- Our discussions with the DeakinTALENT Advisory Board, a group of key employers across industries, helps our industry partners engage with student perspectives and needs.
- Our Australian Association of Graduate Employers (AAGE) Equity Insights event introduced employer and university AAGE members to a neurodivergent student panel. The panel discussed the persistence of inadvertent assumptions in recruitment processes and what can be done about them. A lively Q&A helped both parties connect and learn more about each other.
- Our regular review of DeakinTALENT’s employer pages ensure they're aligned with Deakin’s diversity, equity and inclusion values and reflect our employer partners’ progressive inclusion priorities.
We’re committed to building our awareness of DEI and enhancing our interactions with students to ensure an inclusive experience. DeakinTALENT staff actively seek to improve our practice to support the career development of our diverse student population.
- We participate in sessions to build our capability in supporting student equity and inclusion. Recent topics include unconscious bias, inclusive language, understanding student equity, digital accessibility, and disability awareness.
- We work closely with other Deakin University teams, like Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the Disability Resource Centre, to align our services with best practice.
- We are collaborating across DeakinTALENT teams to update our website and online resources for greater digital accessibility.