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Careers Adviser

Do you want to become a Careers Adviser? Here is some information to help point you in the right direction:

Job Description - Print Page

Careers advisers and Connexions personal advisers help people to make informed and realistic choices about their education, training and jobs, and to put these decisions into practice.

They work mainly with young people and adults on a one to one basis. They:

• help them to use computers and other sources to gather careers information
• research occupations and the labour market
• give talks and lead group discussions
• liaise with employers, education institutions and training providers
• use computers for administration and to produce written reports.

Careers advisers work a 37-hour week, Monday to Friday. Connexions personal advisers' hours vary and may include evenings and at weekends. Advisers are usually based in offices that are open to the public.

Most newly-qualified advisers start on around £18,000. Middle managers and specialists earn up to £35,000 a year.

A careers adviser or Connexions personal adviser, needs to be:

• keen to work with people
• interested in people and be able to help them develop
• self-confident, with a mature outlook
• able to establish good relationships
• confident about speaking to large groups.

Employers include Connexions partnerships in England (and their equivalents in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), careers companies, higher education institutions, voluntary organisations, private careers consultancies, and firms in industry.

No set academic qualifications are needed, but applicants need to be able to cope with academic study and are usually graduates or equivalent. They either do a full-time course for the Qualification in Careers Guidance (QCG), or train while at work.

Promotion is to supervisory and management posts. Some advisers become self-employed, as a researcher, writer or consultant.

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