Understand yourself.

The more you understand your interests, hobbies, likes and dislikes, and the types of local employment opportunities available, the easier it can be to find the right education and training pathway on the journey to employment.  

The quizzes section will help you to learn more about your personality type, skills, and strengths and the results also include some suggested jobs and sectors which might suit you.  

It’s also useful to think about your learning styles. How do you learn best? Do you enjoy classroom learning? Are you a hands-on person who learns best by doing? If you can choose a pathway that plays to your strengths, then you will give yourself the best chance of success moving forward.  

Think about your future – what is most important to you? A work life balance? Being able to afford a particular lifestyle? Working with others? A role in which you can positively impact your community? There are lots of things to consider, but being able to pinpoint what motivates you and what will make you happy will help you when considering different careers.  

Work through the different parts of the Myself section of >log on | move on> to learn as much about yourself as you can. 

Start at the beginning and make sure you understand all the different pathways and qualifications. Which ones will suit you and your learning style best?  

Next, think about the jobs and sectors you researched earlier. Which of the qualifications and pathways you know about now are suitable for those jobs? There are lots of websites that will help you research careers.

Finally, and most importantly, which courses and apprenticeships are available in our area? Lucky for you, we have a huge online prospectus of opportunities on our website from education and training providers as well as employers in Hull, East Yorkshire and beyond. Search by keyword, sector, qualification, or provider, and narrow down your search by level or distance. You can apply for courses from October of Year 11 using your >log on | move on> learner account!  

Once you have a plan of what you would like to apply for, we recommend that you also make a plan B, just in case things don’t work out. Hopefully, you won’t need it, but it can make things less stressful to know you have a backup option. This might be a similar course at a different setting, or another course at the same setting, or something completely different somewhere completely different!

Remember: if you are applying to several very different courses in one application, make sure you explain why to the provider. It can look strange to see very different courses in one application (but that shouldn’t stop you!), so make sure you clearly set out your reasons for applying to each course and how you will chose between them when the time comes. 

Great applications and interviews: 

Use the ‘Making Applications’ section to prepare for the next stage. Whatever you decide to apply for, make your application the best it can be.  

Use the Skills Passport in your >log on | move on> learner account to work out, record, and develop your transferable skills and be sure to include as many of these (and examples of when you have shown these skills!) in your personal statement for applications, or in your CV if applying for an apprenticeship with an employer. If you need to write a CV, use the CV writer tool in your >log on | move on> learner account. 

Using Labour Market Information to choose the right career: 

It’s really important to use Labour Market Information (LMI) when you’re considering future careers. LMI is good quality information about what is happening now, and is expected to happen in the future, in the local, regional and national job market – essentially, which industries employ the most people in our region, which are growing, and are any shrinking?  

Using this kind of information when planning your career can help you to choose a route which is more likely to lead you to getting a job. Some subjects are incredibly popular as education and training options, but in reality there are very few jobs available in that sector and young people find they need additional or conversion qualifications to find a job when they wish to join the workforce.  

Our sister site, Skills Hull & East Yorkshire, is an excellent source of LMI and has lots of information about employers in our region, and the types of roles they have in their organisations.  

Seeking advice and guidance: 

Schools and colleges have a legal duty to provide you with independent careers guidance, which is designed to help you work out what your best next steps are. Often, this will be a one-to-one session with an independent careers adviser who will help you to work out your best next steps. Your time with a careers adviser might be limited, so find out how to make the most out of your guidance interview.

Speak to the Careers Leader at your setting about getting some careers advice and talk everything through with the important people in your life too.  

If you are Electively Home Educated, do not attend school, or would prefer to speak to someone outside of school, you can contact the National Careers Service for support. 

While it’s important to try and make the right choice for you first time around, if you find that you start a course or apprenticeship and it is not right for you, you can change your mind. Don’t just stop attending though, make sure you speak to someone at sixth form/college/work about the way you are feeling and find out what your options are.