Resources for those wanting to change career

Here you will find a selection of resources which we have found helpful. They are organised by topic. Also check out Sector Summaries for information on routes, qualifications and jobs directly from the professional bodies that represent the careers in each sector.

We have resources for Changing Careers, Improving Prospects, Returning to Work and Other.

Changing Careers

ACareerChange

ACareerChange was formed to offer a unique reference point on how to make a career change or job move.

Aimhigher Sussex

The goal of Aimhigher Sussex is to help more young people get into college and university by raising aspirations and supporting achievement.

Aimhigher Sussex works with schools, colleges, universities and a range of other partners to give students an experience of university and college life offering taster activities and classes, support learning, give advice and guidance and make sure support is available at college and university

They work primarily with young people from 13-30 who might not otherwise consider higher education, especially students who have no family experience of university.

Contact details:
t: 01273 642440
e: aimhigher@brighton.ac.uk

Capability Jane

Capability Jane is a young, innovative organisation dedicated to helping organisations increase the number of women in senior roles and make flexible working a culturally accepted reality. We provide fast growth SMEs with flexible/part-time management teams and support senior executive women looking to return to work and improve their work-life balance.

Diversity Programmes develop and implement recruitment programmes designed to attract and recruit high calibre women into leading roles within areas of a business where they are traditionally under-represented.

Talent Scouting
Capability Jane holds the largest database of high skilled professional women returning from maternity leave in the South East, 70% of whom do not return to their previous positions. Using either our Talent Scout or Alumni Connection services, we can build a talent bank of these women with backgrounds in particular sectors or businesses to aid with future recruitment requirements.

Candidate Community
If you are looking for a fulfilling and flexible senior role then please do join our network today. In addition to being able to match your skills and experience with the roles we are handling, we will also keep you up to date with all our news and invite you to any local events and seminars.

Phone 0845 604 1916 or email info@capabilityjane.com for more information.

Career Development Loan

A Professional and Career Development Loan could help you pay for learning that enhances your job skills or career prospects. It’s a bank loan, so you’ll have to pay it back once you’ve left your course. However, you don’t pay interest for the period when you’re in learning.

Career analysts

Career Analysts is one of the few career counselling services in the UK that offers career counselling and career advice in London provided a team of fully qualified psychologists.

Careershifters

Careershifters is a good way to kick start your career change. Careershifters provides service for anyone making a major career change, run by people who have done it. It provides a mix of affordable expert advice, resources and a community of thousands of people like you, we help you find out what you want to do and how to get there. Take a look at their Guide. Read about people who have succeeded.

Careers Group University of London

The Careers Group University of London provides information on developing or changing your career. It offers careers advice and support to professionals, career changers and experienced graduates.advice, resources and services.

Home Learning College

Home Learning College, in partnership withGuardian Jobs, offers a wide range of career development courses. There are courses in IT and Computing, Book-Keeping and Accountancy, Business and Marketing, Psychology or Social Care.

How to Choose the Right TEFL Course

How to Choose the Right TEFL Course will give you some ideas if you're thinking about learning to teach English as a foreign language, be it for an excuse to travel the world or to teach at home to children and adults who don't have English as their first language.

iCould

iCould is a not-for-profit organisation with the aim of giving people ideas about potential careers. It uses 4 minute video clips from just under 1000 people from a wide variety of professions to talk about their experiences of their careers. The clips also talk about real issues related to starting or changing career such as problems at home, taking a year out, failing exams or coping with redundancy.

There are also a number of well known people or “icatchers” talking about their experiences, for example Alan Milburn MP, Davina McCall and Richard Branson.

The service is aimed primarily at students, careers starters, career changers, career developers, professionals and teachers. A large number of employers work with iCould in order to motivate and recognise their staff by showcasing key individual achievements within the business and to recruit staff into areas of key skill shortages.

Contact iCould by telephone on 0800 1123504 or by email at info@icould.org.uk

Legal Futures

Legal Futures offers legal, compliance and financial services recruitment expertise throughout Asia Pacific from our offices in Tokyo, Japan and Hong Kong, China. They cover a wide variety of position types across the Private Practice, Commerce & Industry and the Banking & Finance sectors and have built a reputation on their quality of service and dedication to excellence and place only the highest calibre of candidates.

They offer focused executive search and headhunting services utilising a broad network to actively search for candidates who meet the requirements of clients. Alternatively, they can include open positions in their Asia-wide advertisements or in unique campaigns specifically tailored around individual client needs. In addition, Legal Futures can assist its clients in planning future staffing levels by advising on current market trends, candidate availability, skill levels and salary expectations.

There is no charge to candidates for the services that Legal Futures provides.

Contact information

Japan
Tel: 81(3) 3580 3101
japan@legalfutures.com

Hong Kong
Tel: 852 2167 8382
hongkong@legalfutures.com

Lifelong Learning Network

The Lifelong Learning Network is a portal to numerous other sites for information about qualifications, post 16 learning, older learners, family learning, financing learning and a number of other topics.

A contact form is available here.

Liverpool University's Careers Service

Liverpool's Careers Service provides a guide outlining factors to consider when choosing a postgraduate course; this is equally applicable to a career development course.

Narrowing the Gap

The ICAEW’s Narrowing the Gap programme focuses on helping support our members prepare for a career break, return to work after a career break and with their career progression thereafter.

Nursing Courses in the UK

Nursing Courses in the UK allows you to explore available courses and helps you decide how to choose which one is for you.

Proteus Consultancy Ltd

Proteus Consultancy Ltd helps facilitate career change for professionals. They offer short career planning projects to complete career improvement programmes incorporating personal presentation coaching and job search.

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Ambassadors

The STEM Ambassadors programme brings illumination to the classroom and switches on the minds of young people to the potential of STEM subjects and careers.

STEM Ambassadors are everyday people from real working backgrounds who volunteer their time for free to act as inspiring role models to young people. Anyone who has a desire to inspire children and young people in STEM subjects can become an Ambassador. The main qualities that all Ambassadors share are enthusiasm and commitment, along with a passion for what they do.

They provide a refreshing change to regular lessons and activities and open the door to a whole new world for young people, helping them to see STEM subjects and careers with a fresh perspective and engage their interest and imagination in new ways.

Volunteering as a STEM Ambassador is your chance to promote your skills to young learners, actively encourage them to enjoy STEM subjects, and inform them about the unique career opportunities that are available to them. By volunteering as an Ambassador, you could be opening up life-changing opportunities for many young people in your area.

Each Ambassador is registered, trained and CRB checked.

Phone: 0203 206 0450
Online query form available here.

Teach First

Teach First is and independent charity launched in 2002 to bring excellent young teachers into secondary schools across the UK.

Our mission is to address educational disadvantage by transforming exceptional graduates into effective, inspirational teachers and leaders in all fields.

Statistics show in 2007, all 19 year old pupils with professional parents were twice as likely to be in further education, higher education or training, than their peers’ parents who were unemployed or working in routine occupations.

Teach First aims to close this achievement gap by helping top graduates become excellent teachers in challenging schools, committed to leading classrooms and overcoming the obstacles of deprivation in order to increase the access, achievement and aspirations for the thousands of young people that lack the opportunities that many others take for granted. Long-term, our goal is to develop our Ambassadors into leaders who will create the systemic change necessary to improve these statistics in a national scale.

We believe that by giving exceptional graduates the opportunity to teach and make a difference in the most challenged schools, we are equipping tomorrow’s leaders with the motivation, skills and understanding to address educational disadvantage on all levels.

Phone: 0844 880 1800
Email: enquiries@teachfirst.org.uk

VETNET

The VETNET Lifelong Learning Network was established to increase opportunities for vocational learners to progress into veterinary and animal related higher education.

VETNET LLN aims to produce a comprehensive qualification map to clarify existing animal and veterinary related courses available across the country, develop a curriculum that will allow vocational learners to progress smoothly into veterinary and animal science related degree courses and compile a catalogue of career and professional development opportunities for those working in the animal and veterinary sectors.

The Network also includes representation from the professional bodies related to this sector, including:

Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS)
British Veterinary Nursing Association (BVNA)
Lantra (the Sector Skills Council for the land based industries).

Contact form available here.

Improving Prospects

ADAB Trust

The ADAB Trust is a charity with the aim of increasing graduate level employment outcomes for inner city UK residents and EU students from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities, particularly South Asian.

ADAB offer employment placements and employability training, both free of charge, provided students meet a list of criteria.

The “Leadership by Example” programme ensures that employers receive quality students while students are well prepared for careers in graduate jobs.

Contact information is available here.

Aimhigher Sussex

The goal of Aimhigher Sussex is to help more young people get into college and university by raising aspirations and supporting achievement.

They work primarily with young people from 13-30 who might not otherwise consider higher education, especially students who have no family experience of university.

Contact details:
t: 01273 642440
e: aimhigher@brighton.ac.uk

Architecture for Everyone

Architecture for Everyone helps Britain’s best young designers to turn their talent into a career.

It is a partnership between the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust and architectural firm RMJM - a nationwide project which encourages young people from Britain's inner cities to consider a career in architecture and urban planning.

The Waste of Space competition encourages young designers to give their ideas about how they would improve a wasted space near their home with the potential of winning a fantastic prize which will help further their design careers. Architecture for Everyone also runs workshops for aspiring designers.

Contact details: email info@architectureforeveryone.org.uk

back on course

The aim of back on course is to help HE non-completers to make positive decisions about their future.

back on course is a free and impartial advice and guidance service funded by HEFCE and provided in partnership with UCAS, HEIs and the NUS . We provide careers and educational guidance by telephone, for UK domiciled undergraduate students who have left Higher Education without completing their intended qualification.

In addition to providing this IAG service we are also working with UCAS to help the sector better understand the experiences of students who leave HE early. Our research will be the biggest study of its kind, look out for the publication of our next research report in autumn 2011.

To access the service you can either download a registration form from our website http://www.backoncourse.ac.uk/contact-us; contact us by telephone on 0845 366 0476 or by email contact@backoncourse.ac.uk.

Brightside

Brightside is an education charity using online technology to connect, inform and inspire people to achieve their potential through education.

Brightside create, develop and manage ementoring schemes connecting individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds with an online mentor who can help them develop skills, gain confidence and explore their education and employment options.

Brightside also provide free online resources –

Bright Knowledge – the essential guide to careers, education and student life
Student Calculator – an interactive budgeting tool helping students prepare to manage their money at university

Career Development Loan

Citizenship Foundation

The Citizenship Foundation is an independent educational charity which encourages individuals to play an effective role in democratic society.

The Citizenship Foundation is committed to ensuring that their resources and programmes can be accessed by young people experiencing, or at risk of, exclusion in those communities that are most commonly excluded from participation and engagement, both locally and nationally.

We seek to enable young people, others in the voluntary and community sector, and frontline professionals who work with children and young people to contribute their voice to current debates about Citizenship.

Within our primary beneficiary group of children and young people, we also focus on specific groups, for example pupils excluded from mainstream schools, young asylum seekers and refugees, and those likely to be offered fewer opportunities for participation.

Contact by email at info@citizenshipfoundation.org.uk or by phone on +44 (0)20 7566 4141.

Fastlaners

Fastlaners is a two week course for graduates in East London looking to improve their employment prospects.

It focuses on improving the graduate’s confidence, their self-awareness and their ability to work in a team. It also aims to improve interview technique, increase awareness of the job market and educate participants about the available routes into professional networks as well as how best to take advantage of them.

After completing a Fastlaners course, graduates were able approach graduate job opportunities with renewed confidence, market their experience, skills and understanding in order to secure graduate employment, and able to advance their careers by taking advantage of networking opportunities.

Our ambition for Fastlaners is that they will enjoy healthy and happy graduate careers and demonstrate to their employers the multiple benefits of recruiting from a diverse graduate talent pool.

Contact jack.graham@youngfoundation.org or Fastlaners here for further information or
with any queries.

Graduate Talent Pool

With over 6500 vacancies and two thirds offering payment, the site matches talented graduates to internship opportunities. Internships allow graduates the opportunity to develop their knowledge, skills and experience in a real working environment and give an insight into what a particular career has to offer as well as being one of the best ways for graduates to improve their employability.

Look here to find an internship or register here with the Graduate Talent Pool to get emails with the latest vacancies.

If you graduated in 2009 and have been claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance for six months or more, from January 2010 you may be able to claim a training allowance while doing an unpaid or expenses-only internship.

More about graduate placements: including claiming a training allowance.

King's College Extended Medical Degree Programme

The Extended Medical Degree Programme (EMDP) is a six-year medical degree programme designed for students attending non-selective state schools or FE colleges in designated boroughs in London and the south east which have high levels of social disadvantage. The number of places available is approximately 50.

EMDP students cover the same topics, at the same level of detail, sit the same examinations and are required to achieve the same pass mark as the students on the standard MBBS programme.

The first two tears of the course is taught over three years in order to allow the students additional time to cover medically related aspects of chemistry, numeracy and writing skills, together with the more difficult concepts in the medical course itself. In their final three years, EMDP students experience the clinical parts of the course at exactly the same pace as the conventional students and will be indistinguishable from them.

The medical qualification obtained by EMDP students at the end of their course will be identical to that obtained by students on the five-year course.

Click here for further information on the programme, the application process and entry requirements.

Click here for information on fees.

National Council for Work Experience

The National Council for Work Experience (NCWE) promotes, supports and develops quality work experience for the benefit of students, organisations and the economy.

Recent research undertaken by NCWE shows that increasingly employers see offering work experience as an effective way of recruiting graduates, since both have a chance to see what each other have to offer. This trend is likely to continue and demonstrates the growing importance of getting some form of work experience before leaving university. Students also benefit by gaining an understanding of what employers are looking for when they come to recruit graduates and can therefore make more informed career choices.

The importance of undertaking a period of work experience, if you are a student, or providing work placement opportunities, if you are an employer, is growing year-on-year.

Employers want to recruit graduates who have some knowledge of the working world and this is something that students are becoming more aware of. A period of work experience can benefit both students and employers offering students the opportunity to put theory learning into practice and employers the opportunity to see what graduates are capable of.

The Quality Mark is an accreditation awarded by the National Council for Work Experience (NCWE) to recognise employers who have reached the required standard of work experience provision.

Contact:
Heather Collier Director 0161 277 5267
Anna Tayler Executive Assistant 0161 277 5273
Rachel Wood-Harper Quality Adviser 0161 277 5215

Query form available here.

Position Ignition

Position Ignition is all about taking you to the next step in your career.

If you're looking for a new career direction, a career change, a successful second career or just need help getting back into the marketplace - this is the place to look.

Prospects

Graduate Prospects is the UK's leading provider of information, advice and opportunities to students and graduates. Our employment and postgraduate study guides are available online, digitally, and in print from all UK careers services, careers fairs and on campuses across the UK. Prospects.ac.uk is the UK’s biggest and busiest graduate careers website, with over 900,000 students and graduates every month.

Students

Prospects offers students advice on how to use your qualification, what options are open to you and what other have done before. It also offers guidance on handling discrimination, how leaving your course will affect your career plans as well as information on careers fairs, career coaching, using language skills and other careers resources.

Graduates

Prospects gives graduates information on job types, employers and industries, job hunting tips as well as application, CV and interview advice. There is also guidance on work experience, working abroad, gap years and becoming self-employed. Prospects maintains a huge job search engine with graduate job vacancies from all over the UK which can be browsed by category or location so you can find a job which meets your requirements as quickly and easily as possible.

Further Study

Graduate programmes for research and further study can widen your skill base, further your knowledge in your chosen field and greatly improve your job prospects. Graduate Prospects has a wealth of information and expert advice for graduates thinking about entering postgraduate study.

General comments: comments@prospects.ac.uk
Telephone: 44 (0) 161 277 5200

Russell Group Outreach Programmes

The Russell Group of Universities, supported by its Association for Widening Participation, believes that it is part of its social responsibility to increase and widen participation in higher education. The educational opportunities offered by the leading universities that form the Russell Group are high quality and distinctive, and the Group is concerned to ensure that the best students with the greatest potential can benefit from these opportunities.

The Russell Group universities are also very active in raising aspirations and awareness of potential students on behalf of the whole HE sector, and have made significant and substantial contributions to date.

Russell Group universities run master-classes in many subjects and Saturday schools in subjects such as Mathematics, English and Chemistry. These are generally offered to students in the final two years of school/college. Summer schools offer potential students first-hand experience of university life. While academic programmes enable participants either to try out new subjects or to increase their knowledge of familiar subjects through intensive study, summer schools also provide programmes of study skills and advice about university life and the application process.

Russell Group universities pay particular attention to induction and to on-course support both academic and personal, and after graduation a Russell Group education confers an advantage in the graduate employment market. Russell Group universities seek to equip all students, whatever their background, with the knowledge and skills to meet their career aspirations.

Contacts regarding Widening Participation:
Dr. Penelope Griffin, Widening Participation Officer, The University of Nottingham email: penelope.griffin@nottingham.ac.uk

Ms. Ceri Nursaw, Head of Widening Participation, The University of Leeds email: c.nursaw@leeds.ac.uk.

Query form available here.

Social Mobility Foundation

The Social Mobility Foundation is a registered charity, with the objective of making a real improvement in social mobility for bright young people from financially disadvantaged backgrounds.

We work with students from Year 12 and provide them the inter-related supports of E-Mentoring, Summer Internships and University Application sessions. We believe that these supports empower the students to make informed decisions about Higher Education and future careers.

Our aim is the creation of a nationwide framework whereby all academically-talented disadvantaged students have access to complementary supports which help them plan their professional future.

To join the Aspiring Professionals Programme, students must be in Year 12, in receipt of Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) or Free School Meals, in possession of at least 5 ‘A’ grades in five different subjects at GCSE and predicted to obtain at least an ‘A’ grade and 2 ‘B’ grades at A-level.

Eligibility is also assessed on the basis of the quality of their completed application forms, their school/college context, family history of higher education and teacher references.

Contact by telephone on 0207 953 4007 or by email at info@socialmobility.org.uk

Student Parents

Everything you need to know about balancing the pressures of raising children with study, Student Parents contains an interactive budget calculator specifically for student parents, which works out how much money you can get in child support and student loans. There's also plenty of tips on study skills, childcare options and where to find additional support.

The Careers Group University of London

The Careers Group University of London –advice, resources and services.

UK Career Academy Foundation

Career Academies UK leads and supports a movement of over 700 employers and over 120 schools and colleges, working together to raise the aspirations of 16 to 19-year-olds. 95% of Career Academy graduates go on to higher education, or an equivalent level of work-related training, compared with a predicted 40% based on their GCSE performance at the start of the programme.

Career Academy students follow a rigorous two-year curriculum equivalent to at least three A levels. It can include vocational qualifications such as BTEC or Applied A levels, as well as the Advanced Diploma, or a combination of these, depending on local need. Importantly, these all feature in the National Qualifications Framework and so are recognised for entrance to university or employment.

The whole Career Academy class follows the same programme of study with its various curriculum enhancements, such as visiting speakers or “Guru Lectures”, mentoring by employee volunteers, employer-led seminars and the “jewel in the crown” six-week paid internship which takes place in the summer between the two years of the course based on a standard working hour week in a real operating environment and aiming to use the skills and knowledge the student has learned in school/college.

Email: info@careeracademies.org.uk
Tel: 020 7986 5494

University of Southampton BM6

The University of Southampton’s BM6 programme aims to widen access into the medical profession. It involves studying for an extra year on a specially designed year zero course before joining students on the BM5 programme.

It is aimed at students with circumstances such as being a first generation applicant to higher education, being looked after young people living in supported accommodation, living in an area with a postcode which falls within the lowest 20 per cent of the Index of Multiple Deprivation (authenticated by the University), or being a member of a travelling family.

Student on the BM6 programme will receive extensive tutorial and pastoral support as well as being eligible for a Year 0 bursary of £1,000 for their first year of study.

The BM6 timetable is structured across three days per week which allows students an opportunity to carry out part-time work in order to support their studies.

Students will go out on a day placement every other week, usually as part of a pair or a group of 3/4 students looking at both primary and secondary care around the Southampton area.

List of contacts available here.

VETNET

The VETNET Lifelong Learning Network was established to increase opportunities for vocational learners to progress into veterinary and animal related higher education.

The Network also includes representation from the professional bodies related to this sector, including:

Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS)
British Veterinary Nursing Association (BVNA)
Lantra (the Sector Skills Council for the land based industries).

Contact form available here.

Returning to Work

Capability Jane

Phone 0845 604 1916 or email info@capabilityjane.com for more information.

Lifelong Learning Network

A contact form is available here.

The Careers Group University of London

The Careers Group University of London –advice, resources and services.

Other

Aimhigher Programme

The Aimhigher Programme seeks to widen participation in HE by developing the abilities and raising opportunities available to young people form underrepresented groups.

The “Healthcare Strand” aims to expand access to the healthcare professions through raising aspirations, strengthening vocational routes and encouraging career development.

“Summer Schools” aim to give pupils from years 9-12, who may only consider a limited range of HE courses/institutions or may not consider HE at all , a taster of HE.

The “Aimhigher Roadshow” allows pupils to talk to recent graduates about their experiences of HE.

National and regional contact details are available.