Yes of course! However students sometimes do not know either themselves, or what they could be interested in very well. Nor do they often know much about the world of work. This makes identifying satisfying and enjoyable educational and career pathways very difficult. My role is to help them broaden their understanding of themselves, of their preferred skills and interests and coach them in how these relate to careers areas and respective educational/professional pathways. We then look at what they need to do next, how and set some SMART objectives. We work through these until they have achieved their goal.

Fantastic! Careers Tutoring will help a student understand how vast working in business can be. And which areas of it they could really love and excel in. Many students considering a vocational degree in Business have not had a chance to consider whether this or a more targeted degree would be ideal e.g. Marketing, PR, Logistics. Perhaps with a paid year in industry. Taking the time to review this and plan work experience to try out the field can lead to taking a degree (or Degree Apprenticeship) which is even more tailored to your strengths and interests. Why take a very broad business degree including Accountancy, IT, Law if you discover you actually love the Marketing element most? We also consider the value of Degree Apprenticeships in professional fields - these can save students tuition fees, mean they can choose to live at home or away and learn practically on the job rather than solely academically. There are huge benefits to consider.

If you feel your student or graduate is struggling to research ideas, is losing motivation and energy or feeling overwhelmed with choices or issues, then careers tutoring will help reassure and support them. All students by Statutory Duty should have been given the opportunity to take up a careers 1:1 by a qualified, impartial careers professional who is on the CDI UK Professional Register, by the age of 18. If yours has not taken up this offer at school or college, then now is the time. Careers tutoring focuses, energizes, motivates and reassures students. If you'd like this reassurance for your student or graduate please get in touch.

Great that your student already knows their needs well enough to start to evaluate the right choices for themselves! Careers tutoring can walk students through the amazing other options available. For those that like the idea of gaining a degree, just not full time, nor away from home, we look at a range of options including commuting to University, Degree Apprenticeships, Open University or degrees provided by local sixth form or technical colleges. There are so many ways to gain a degree education - whilst living at home. If they simply do not wish to study academically any more at age 18, we look at ideal first professional roles via Higher or Degree apprenticeships where students will learn on the job and gain qualifications. Or we can look at entrepreneurial ideas around starting a business. Students are supported with guided research, help to prioritize and plan and are gently encouraged to achieve agreed next step goals.

Great! Your students is clearly good at research already- a fantastic skill. If you would like a qualified, experienced and impartial professional to double check they have considered everything they should, then tutoring is ideal. Especially if they have few or mostly one dimensional thoughts as to what they wish to do later on. This is where careers profiling really helps students to pick pathways wisely and keep lots of options on the table. Both graduate roles and employment in general, are competitive. Careers Tutoring helps students to keep motivated during Job Search and perform to their best at interview.

Careers Tutoring checks students understand why they are taking a degree and what they wish to gain from it. We discuss the reality of work today, key skills for 2023+, local and national labour market intelligence and how to ensure their own employability via applying for internships, placement year, Masters or professional body qualifications. Meaning that whatever their degree or pathway, they remain focused on becoming highly employable. The question therefore is not a simple one. Students will be guided via research tasks and discussion, to pick the right route for themselves.

If undergraduates did not apply for, or gain, a graduate job during their Final Year (if they welcomed this), then they often need to return home, financially. As jobsearch is hard and relentless, they can find they slip into lower paid 'stop gap' roles just to gain some finance. This can sometimes last a number of months, even years and can leave a graduate feeling rudderless. Careers Tutoring helps graduates work out what they want to focus on career-wise, identify the right organisations to target, create effective CV's, support them to apply, practice interviews, prepare for ability tests and cope with full on assessment centres. Being coached through complex and intensive applications gently encourages and motivates them to keep going, which can make all the difference.

There are now so many options; subjects, colleges, apprenticeships, Full time University, Part time university, Degree Level Apprenticeships. Unsurprisingly many students and parents find it hard to navigate between multiple pathways. Or identify the values/consequences of each option. And most students feel they do not know themselves or the options well enough to 'future proof' their selections. Careers tutoring responds to all these issues and provides enough sessions to support individuals fully. In a nutshell - private careers tutoring offers 1:1 support and peace of mind.

I work as an independent Careers Counsellor for state, academy, private & public schools and privately with students/families globally. Quality careers guidance uses many approaches: dialogue, gentle questioning and challenging of ideas, exploring multiple options, providing psychometric evaluation and coaching (how to research, market intelligence, work experience). All this takes time and of course, budget. Sadly in state funded schools/academies, Careers Counsellors are not given the time to offer this full level of support, as funding for careers interviews in schools was removed by the government as part of the Education Act, 2011. This means that each school can only offer what it can afford, despite Statutory Duty requiring schools to provide appropriate support. Furthermore most UK state schools do not offer Year 10 careers profiling which is standard in the private sector and helps students considerably with A level, degree and degree apprenticeship choices. So there is a considerable difference. I look forward to this changing one day.

All staff in schools/colleges will do their best to ensure students pick the right courses and next steps for themselves. At college, very busy Personal Tutors/teachers are relied on to help their tutor group of 20+ students write Personal Statements - they do an excellent job with this. However tutors usually do not have the bandwidth to fully discuss and sanity check each student's university visit strategy/degree/uni/options and schedule meetings to discuss their research and ideas regularly before decision-making. Students also do not always seek out their college careers team for support. This is always advisable however these teams also can usually only offer 1 meeting per student instead of ongoing dialogue. It is therefore families that usually need to support their students - some families have more time than others! Careers Counsellors are trained to Degree and Masters level to support students, using the correct 'body of knowledge' to enable students to future proof decisions.

Yes! Careers Tutoring helps students to research and identify interesting local degree apprenticeships that could match their interests and early skills. We look at the practical details for each as each is very different. Coaching helps them to write a Master CV & teaches them how to adapt this to each application. Tutoring goes through ability and personality psychometric testing, Digital Interviewing, Telephone Interviews, In Person interviews and assessment centres so they are ready and confident at each step. Just knowing these recruitment steps and how to deal with each, gives students much greater confidence, meaning they can show their full potential to employers. It also saves parents/carers many hours/days of helping their student through all the above.

Private schools are in a better position to offer careers support as they have budget for this and as parents are often able to pay for extra support. However it is possible that private schools will not encourage students/parents to consider what is available at other sixth forms in time for applications (a year in advance). State colleges will usually have many more A level and BTEC subject choices/combinations; which could really suit the student. Many private schools also focus heavily on full time degrees at university as the main pathways for their students - with less (or even no focus) on Degree Level Apprenticeships. This doesn't suit all individuals. So actually many private school parents do choose careers tutoring- to ensure their young person knows all their options.

Careers tutoring supports students and their families at each key stage of their educational journey; through GCSE options, mid year 10 college visits, year 11 college applications, year 12 university visits, year 13 university applications. Also as undergraduates finding internships and graduates finding graduate jobs. Melanie works with many families over a number of years, helping their students from one stage to the next. Families value having a trusted expert they can turn to at any point. So students might have 3 or 4 sessions per year during key stages. The first session is always a Diagnosis (of needs) and subsequent sessions are to coach students in all they need to know.