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Moving Into Employment
The world of work might seem daunting at first. But we've broken down your options to help you to find the right path that will suit your individual needs and make you happy, confident and excited about working.
Whether you choose paid work or want to volunteer your time for a good cause, working is great for your mental and physical health. Working can also help you to gain independence, make friends and discover new talents.
Below you will find a range of information about different ways you can get into work and the support available to help you on the way.
If you are aged 13-19 and not sure what type of work you would like, your school, college or other education provider must offer face-to-face careers guidance. If you haven’t had any careers advice, you or your guardian can contact your education provider and ask to speak to a Careers Adviser.
My name is Claire. I'm a careers advisor. Hello, my name is Julie Taylor. I'm a National Careers Service advisor. Hello, everyone, my name is Monique Smith, and I am an area manager working for the National Careers Service. Hi, my name is Tyler. I'm a careers advisor for the National Careers Service in London. Hi, my name's Liz. I'm a careers advisor. I work for the National Careers Service. I talk to the person and see where they're at. They might have specific needs, and I would try to coach them through those. Some specific activities that I do include mock interviews and giving people pointers on how to come across really well in interviews. I also help people create a CV, guide them in looking at their skills, and show them what skills they can use in other roles, especially if they want a career change. They might be concerned or confused about what they can do and think, "Oh, actually, I can't do anything else," but that's never the case. In those one-to-one sessions, we may go through some general career advice. We look at the National Careers Service website, perhaps using tools like the Skills Health Check or Job Profiles. We also help find courses, and a common one is usually how to write a CV and a cover letter. Additionally, we may make referrals for job roles and employers so that the customer can leave with something concrete and feel content in the near future. Careers advice is valuable for anyone—whether you're looking to move into a new career, starting work for the first time, wanting to upskill, progress in your current role, or maybe you've enrolled in a course and want to use your transferable skills. Careers advice would be helpful for almost everyone. One of the questions I often get is, "I don't really know what I want to do. How can I find that out? How can I find the perfect job for me?" What I always say to them is, if you don't understand yourself, don't know what you enjoy, or don't know what your skills are, then you won't be able to make good choices about jobs and careers. My advice to anyone with that question is to start by taking an audit of your skills and get to know yourself. There are lots of ways to do that. Some people use formal career or personality-matching tests, like the Skills Health Check on our website, but there are also lots of articles and resources to help people explore their skills. Once you know what your skills and interests are, you can start exploring job roles that match. We’ve got resources like job profiles on our website's Explore Careers section. You can check them out to see if any additional training is needed or if there’s a particular skill you’d like to develop. The advice I always give my customers is to be open to options at any stage of your working life. Don’t necessarily have a fixed mindset like, "I need to do this" or "I need to do that." Be open. If you're offered some training, increased responsibility, or a slightly different opportunity, or if you see something that looks interesting, just go for it. You never know where that might take you. We work everywhere—you can find us in libraries, information centers, colleges, job centers—wherever there's a need. If you ring 0800 100 900, you'll reach our call center, and they’ll figure out the best place for you to see a careers advisor. It might be me, or one of my colleagues, all of whom are highly trained as careers advisors. Wherever you are in your career journey, the National Careers Service is here to support you, whether it's finding out what career suits you, helping with interview skills, or brushing up your CV. We can help with all of that. Just give the National Careers Service a call by ringing 0800 100 900, or use our web chat service. Even if you just want to browse our website, there's loads of great content on there.
The National Careers Service provides confidential and impartial advice to help people make decisions about their future. The support that they can offer depends on your age, and your employment status. ‘The National Careers Service’ website, is available to anyone, and can be used to research careers and courses, and help you to think about the skills you need for work. They have a section specifically for people with disabilities, you can find it if you click here.
If you live in Nottinghamshire or Nottingham City and are between 16-18 years old, and do not have an educational placement or job, you can contact Futures to ask if support is available. You can find their information here: https://www.the-futures-group.com/futures-for-you.html
If you would like support finding work, you can contact your local Job Centre Plus and ask to speak to a Disability Employment Adviser. They can help you to find a job, a training course, and helpful government schemes.
Nottshelpyourself.org.uk and Nottingham City Local Offer provide information, advice and guidance on different routes into work including your rights and signposting to organisations and services who can support you to find suitable employment options and choices.
Supported Internships
Supported Internships are a type of study programme that help people aged between 16 and 24 to get into work. Supported Internships help young people do most of their learning at work, which is often referred to as ‘on the job’ learning.
A Job Coach could be available to support you to feel confident doing the work. Supported Internships last at least six months. They are unpaid placements, but by the end of six months you should be ready to move into a paid job because of the skills and experience you have gained. All Supported Internships should be flexible so that they meet your needs and the employer’s needs.
You can find out more about Supported Internships by contacting Futures if you're a Nottingham City Resident.
If you're a Nottinghamshire County resident, contact the ICDS on 0115 804 1275 or email: icdsehcpost16@nottscc.gov.uk
You can also take a look at the Nottinghamshire SEND Local Offer Routes to Work section.
Traineeships
Traineeships offer training and work experience to give you the skills and confidence to get a job or apprenticeship, as well as improving your maths and English along the way. They can last between six weeks and six months.
There are three main parts of a traineeship:
- Getting you ready for work and feeling confident
- A work placement
- English and maths support if you haven’t yet got your GCSEs at grade C or 4, or a Functional Skills equivalent.
You can follow this weblink to find out more about traineeships: https://www.gov.uk/find-traineeship to search for traineeships near you.
Apprenticeships
Apprenticeships are available at different levels, from Level 2 (GCSE Level) to Level 7 (University level).
Apprenticeships are jobs, so the employers decide who they are going to take on, and what the entry requirements should be. For example, some employers may ask that you have GCSEs including English and maths at certain grades. You need to be at least 16 years old to start an apprenticeship, but you can apply before your birthday.
As with any job, you can request extra support to meet your individual needs, which are known as ‘reasonable adjustments’. You should speak to your tutors or careers advisers if you think you should have reasonable adjustments.
Where an employer is Disability Confident, the Disability Confident logo will be on display:
You can find out more about apprenticeships by following these weblinks:
If you begin to apply for jobs, some employers will ask you to send them your CV.
Your CV is a document that tells an employer why they should give you the job.
You use it to show off all the best things about you!
This section includes lots of information about CV's, such as, what sections it should have, top tips to make it stand out and links to templates you can use to start writing your own CV straight away.
When writing a CV you should make sure that you:
- Double check all spelling, punctuation, capital letters and grammar. Use spell check or get someone else to read over it
- Make sure it’s easy to read
- Your CV should be one to two pages long
Or you can find information about how to write a CV on The National Careers Service website: https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/careers-advice/cv-sections
You can download a free CV template and see some more examples of what a good CV looks like on Reed.co.uk.: https://www.reed.co.uk/career-advice/free-cv-template/
Section 1 - Your Details:
The top of your CV should have:
- Your first and last name
- Your address
- Your phone number
- Your email address
This is so that the person reading it knows who you are and how to contact you.
Don't Include:
- Your age or your birthday
- Your nationality (e.g. English, Indian, French)
- Your religion
Section 2 - Personal Profile:
- Your personal profile should tell the person reading it who you are and why they should hire you.
- You can use it to tell them what kind of job you are looking for and what you want to do in the future.
- It should be 3 or 5 lines long and grab the reader's attention.
Examples
I am a hard working A-Level student looking for my first job in IT. I am passionate about computers and enjoy keeping up to date with the latest technology news as well as spending time volunteering for a local youth group, where I look after the computers, consoles and other technology.
I am a confident and outgoing person who loves talking to people from all backgrounds. I am looking for work as a receptionist, so that I can use these skills and help people to find the information they are looking for.
Section 3 - Skills:
This video from BBC Bitesize has lots of examples of how everyday activities show your skills.
Section 4 - Education History:
The education part of your CV tells the reader what subjects you have studied and the results you got.
You should include:
- The date you got this results (just the month and year)
- The subject and qualification
- The school/college/university you went to
- Your results
You should put your most recent results first.
For example, if you have recently finished college or sixth form, you might have an education section that looks like this:
A-Levels | Nottingham College | June 2021
- English Language - C
- History - C
- Photography - B
GCSE's | Foxwood Academy | July 2019
- Computer Science - C
- English Language - C
- English Literature - C
- French - B
- Maths - C
- Science - C
- History - D
You do not need to add any education before your GCSE's
Section 5 – Work History:
Just like the Education History part of your CV, the Work History section should also start with your most recent experience.
If you have recently left school or college, you might not have had a jobs, but you can still talk about the skills you have that you can bring to your new job. You can include volunteering in this section of your CV.
For each job or voluntary position, you should include:
- Who you worked for
- Your job title
- The dates you worked from and to (just the month and year)
- What you did, plus any big achievements.
Examples: Work History Section
Forest Fields Youth Club | Volunteer Tech Support | March 2019 - Present
I currently help to look after the computers, consoles and other technology at Forest Fields Youth Club. I have been attending this youth club for over five years and have always been interested in computers, which lead to me being offered this job as soon as I was old enough to volunteer. My proudest achievement has been teaching staff how to use Zoom during the pandemic to make sure other young people can still talk to each other even though we can't be in the same room.
Bestwood Library | Work Experience | October 2018
I spent two weeks helping at Bestwood Library for work experience. My jobs involved putting returned books back in the right place and helping people find the books they wanted. I also helped customers to use the computers, particularly looking for information on the internet.
Section 6: Hobbies and Interests
Almost everything you do shows skills that employers want to know about. In this section of your CV, you can talk about your hobbies and any clubs or activities you are a part of and how they make you a better fit for work.
Prepare, prepare, prepare!
Learn as much as you can about the job that you are applying for. Make sure you understand what the company does and what the job will need you to do. Be ready to talk about your skills and strengths and why you want the job. Practice answering these questions with someone you know.
Bring a copy of your CV – it can help you to remember important things like your skills and strengths.
Dress smartly - wear work appropriate clothes like a shirt.
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Volunteering is a great way to get some work experience and it can help you get into paid employment. It can be good if you’re not sure what you want to do and want to try a few different jobs for a short period of time.
Volunteering can also:
- Give you the chance to learn new skills and practice existing skills
- Make you more confident
- Make your CV stand out
- Provide references for your CV
- Lead to new interests and routines you may not have thought about before
Access to Work is a fund provided by the Department for Work and Pensions. It provides additional help so that your employer can provide reasonable adjustments, and the support offered is based on your individual needs. You can request an Access to Work Assessment once you have begun working. The money doesn’t have to be paid back and won’t affect other benefits.
Examples of support offered through Access to Work:
- special equipment, adaptations or support worker services to help do things like answer the phone or go to meetings
- help getting to and from work
For more information on Access to Work, you can use these links:
www.preparingforadulthood.org.uk/downloads/supportedinternships/access-to-work-fund.htm
Download an easy read guide on access to work (pdf)
Useful Links:
UCAS have useful information on finding employment including exploring different jobs and pathways to your career.

SEND Local Offer
The Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council SEND Local Offers are a great resource for finding events, support and activities in your area.
City Council County Council