Personal Guidance Professional

Personal Guidance Professional

35 hours per week

Full time fixed term contract, term time only.

Minsthorpe is a successful 11-18 Academy in Wakefield and is the lead school of the Encompass Careers Alliance, a collaborative partnership of thirty schools who aim to provide high quality one-to-one Careers Education and Guidance across West Yorkshire.  We have secured funding from the Careers & Enterprise Company to create a hub of schools who are committed to embedding the Gatsby Benchmarks in their schools and to ensure that every student in that school receives more than the recommended one-to-one interview with a qualified Careers Guidance Professional.

Thus we are looking to appoint three Personal Guidance Professionals to provide high quality, independent CEG to enable students in a variety of schools across West Yorkshire to make informed, realistic decisions about their future learning and employment pathways.

The successful candidate may have previous experience when it comes to Careers Education and Guidance but could also be a graduate candidate who is passionate about changing and shaping the lives for our young people.  Candidates already possessing the QCF Level 6 Diploma in Careers Guidance and Development will find themselves at a distinct advantage.  However, training for the role and relevant qualifications will be provided and funded for the right candidate! 

This is a good opportunity for someone who has had experience in education or, alternatively, no experience but looking to progress and develop the skills and qualifications required to become an effective aspirational careers advice coach.   Initially you will be trained as part of a team at Minsthorpe Community College but then the team will become a Peripatetic one serving a further twenty nine schools in Wakefield, Barnsely and Kirklees and you will be working in a variety of different schools offering one-to-one guidance to students and helping the staff in these schools to be able to give up-to-date, informed CEG. The successful candidate will need to possess a clean driving licence and be prepared to move from school to school as directed.  Young people tend to be bewildered by the amount of careers information that is currently out there- it is not that there is not enough information, it is that there is too much and the difficulty for them is knowing which information is trustworthy.  Research shows that, when it comes to careers advice, most young people rely on their family, their friends, their peers and their teachers when what they really need is the advice given by impartial careers professionals.  That is where you will come in.

We are looking for a committed and enthusiastic Personal Guidance Professional who will:

• Provide a comprehensive careers advice service for students 11-18 years

• Give individual help, advice and guidance to young people to help them 

        firm up their career intentions

• Be passionate and committed to raising the aspirations of our young 

        people 

• Advise students on Work Experience/ Work Placements/ Internships/ 

       Traineeships and Apprenticeships

• Liaise with employers

• Provide support, encouragement and engagement to all students, 

        promoting the high expectations - no excuses ethos of the ECA at all 

       times. 

• Ensure staff, students and parents are aware of CEG support and 

        availability and lead sessions to raise awareness as appropriate.

This is an exciting opportunity to be involved in a far reaching project that could transform the lives and careers prospects of thousands of students’ right across West Yorkshire.  We will be targeting marginalised and underrepresented groups and students in disadvantaged areas in order to broaden their horizons and allow them to dare to dream.  If you share our mission to inform and educate young people about their possible career pathway and to recognise the qualities and talents that they may not know that they already possess then join us on what promises to be a transformational journey for the students of West Yorkshire.

Whilst initially funded for one year in the first instance the intention is that the partnership of schools adopt the PGPs as a paid-for-service and it is our hope that these roles will extend beyond the funding period.  However, this will depend on our being able to demonstrate the impact and success of the PGP network in the first year of operation and deployment and to use this proven record of impact to secure a financial commitment from schools to allow the project to continue.

All ECA schools are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. Rigorous checks will be undertaken of the successful applicant’s background credentials, including enhanced DBS checks.

The Strategic Lead is happy to discuss the role with prospective candidates. For an application pack please email Cath Green, HR Director at cgreen@minsthorpe.cc . Address your covering enquiry to Mr Ray Henshaw, Strategic Lead for the Encompass Careers Alliance at rhenshaw@minsthorpe.cc   or  rhenshaw@encompass.careers

Closing date for applications: 15th May 2019