As the higher education sector readies itself for the first intake of students under the new fees regime the pressure on universities to produce employable and highly skilled graduates has never been so great. The Wilson Review has reiterated the call for improved extra-curricular employability opportunities as an integral part of the degree experience. Structured schemes designed to support students in recognising skills and experience have also been emerging recently in further education, national membership bodies and other training providers. However, in the wake of the government's White Paper reforms, there is now a far stronger emphasis across the sector on careers information, rather than advice and guidance. An innovative employability award, which looks beyond narrow vocational definitions of skills and encourages participants to become "career researchers" rather than passive recipients of information, demonstrates the benefits of a wider, more personalised approach to skills development.