Anyone a Careers Advisor or involved in their recruitment? Bonus if you know about the Napier University course

[TallPlant]

Wondering what the current job market is like for new graduates in Scotland ? Is it like manother industries where there’s huge competition or is it a shortage profession currently?

DD graduated not really sure what she wanted to do next and has had a couple of different roles but hasn’t found her niche yet. As a result she had quite a bit of help from the uni Careers advisor and in now interested in this role! When she was a student she was an Ambassador for her university (paid role) and worked at all the open days, ran events for prospective students, did outreach in schools and always had a bit of an interest in this area.

She’s looking at the Napier course but not sure if she’d need some more relevant work experience as what she’s done since graduating is not in that area at all. She’s also concerned about giving up work to do a full time post grad course if she then has difficulty getting a job in Scotland. She knows Skills development Scotland is the main employer

Not sure I can help really but to give some recent advice. I am both a careers adviser and have a son graduating (hopefully with a first) this year from a top Scottish uni. He applied and got a job in the Scottish government (and turned them down). But he told me they had over 4,500 applicants from recent and current grads and only 10 places. He also got a job offer with a big international firm - same kind of story. So I would say it is pretty hard at the moment. I'm being. bit dense but I can't see what the Napier course/role is?

Thanks for the reply.
It was the Career Guidance and Development course at Napier she’s looking at.
I’ve realised it maybe wasn’t clear in my OP, DD is considering training as a Career Advisor but is concerned about the job prospects currently

ex careers adviser here, which should say it all, there's been closures and cuts all over the industry, more things moving online now, careers advisers still exist in schools through SDS but local careers centres have shut, and universities are making cuts in uni careers services. Don't go to the UWS course, its shit.

Thanks for replying @poodlemum01
Yes she’s aware of the university cuts hitting the career service as the 1 person she knows who works in this field is in a university.
Shes a bit concerned about investing in a post grad course and then finding she’ll be competing for jobs against people with 20 years experience who’ve been made redundant.
Thats why she’s keen to get a feel for current recruitment in this sector

The course at Napier is very well respected but if she’s interested in working as a university careers adviser/consultant then she might want to consider the course at Huddersfield as they have a specific higher education pathway and it’s where lots of universities send their staff to train.
However it’s a distance learning/online course so that may or may not appeal. Although the course has live online teaching and has a reputation of being very supportive.

Universities are going through a tough time at the moment but I would say the careers services are not being hit as hard as academic departments.

To work in a university there is an expectation that you have some experience working in a university. She will have to do a placement so she should speak to the university to check they can support her getting one at a university. If she’s definitely wanting to go to Napier then I’d also ask how many of their graduates go onto working in a university careers service and how much of the course content covers working in HE.

Working as a careers adviser is a really lovely job and working in universities opens up lots of opportunities, especially if they have a large careers service but it can be competitive to get in - it pays better than schools! She needs to make sure the course she chooses is going to be able to give her the experience and knowledge universities look for.

Can't speak for the HE sector but there's still recruitment going on at SDS and a maturing workforce I'd say. Recruitment rurally appears to open up opportunities and often city dwellers will start in rural locations and work their way back once they get a foot in the door. Flexibility is the key to getting in.
The issue is that as a public sector body there's always change and redesign of services which can be unsettling. Voluntary redundancy crops up in cycles but no compulsaries to this point.
I think the safest place at the moment is probably school. Lots of HE sector knowledge required which might suit if unable to work in the HE sector and guidance is guidance whoever you're helping. Pay is also very good in comparison to England and arguably better than some of the vacancies I've seen previously in the HE sector.

Thanks @SunshinePlease24 and @TearsforBeers
Thats really helpful information and I’ve passed this all on to her.
Good to know the job market is not too hard hit (yet!) if she’s prepared to move, which she would be to get started.

Shes not wedded to the idea of working in universities, I think it’s more that’s what she knows. She’s had a few months working in a uni, but in a totally different field.
Good to know about the Huddersfield course too and she’d be ok with online. She’d heard good things about the Napier course and the opportunity to have a placement attracts her. It’s traveable from home too.

Do either of you know if the courses are looking for people to have done some relevant work or volunteering experience eg. working with young people or group etc before applying?

All of the courses will have placement. She should make sure whatever course she chooses is CDI accredited (both Napier and Huddersfield are) as that is the professional accreditation which is really important when it comes to looking for jobs, especially if someone is new to the sector.
The CDI accreditation requires students to complete a minimum amount of professional practice in order to complete the qualification.
Even though the Huddersfield course is online, there are still placement and professional practice requirements which will be done locally to the student.
If she’s still unsure about where she wants to work then choosing a course which covers all aspects of careers work is important as this means gaining a wider insight and having different placement opportunities - my advice would be to ask for placements in different settings so she can try them all out. She should check that this is possible.

Not having direct experience is not a problem for gaining entry on to the courses as it is open to people wanting to move into the sector. However, being able to articulate why she wants to train as a careers adviser is important and any related experience which involves working people generally is important.

If she wants to work in a university then previous experience in any role will be valuable.

It would be valuable for her to reach out and speak to course leaders and ask the following:

How are different aspects of the sector covered (working in HE, schools, employer engagement)

How do placements work. Are there opportunities for placements in different settings? How many days are required? Is there support in finding a placement?

How is professional practice assessed?

What are the employment figures after the course and where are graduates working?

How many students on the course? - I know some courses have quite small numbers which can impact student experience and networking opportunities.

How is the teaching structured?

I used to be a careers adviser and did the Napier course ages ago. I left the profession though about 12 years ago. What I found frustrating was for the vast majority of school careers advisers, there was zero career progression (ironic given the job) - it started to become very repetitive. I think working in HE would maybe be different but in my experience starting out in schools was common and there were less jobs in HE. School careers advice is always at the whim of politicians and frequently there were new initiatives that were ill thought through.

My experience is obviously from a while ago but I guess I would advise your daughter to try to get some honest feedback from current CAs - not just about job prospects but actual job satisfaction.

The HE sector has changed a lot over the last decade. It's now quite common for people to go straight into a career in HE without having to start out in a school. That was pretty much unheard of when I qualified!

Graduate Outcomes is such a key focus for universities that many of them invest quite heavily in their careers teams so there is a variety of roles and progression opportunties.

Like you say, that is a big issue in schools and is a reason HE tends to be more attractive.

That does sound better. Certainly I know a few people from my course who went to work in HE and have had really interesting careers.

Uni’s act as a big labour market so there are opportunities to move departments and focus.
I know people from my course who have worked in student recruitment after being a careers adviser and a couple who are now academics with PhD’s!

Thank you very much everyone, this all so helpful and I’ve passed it all on to DD.
I said to her I thought the women of Scotsnet would be able to advise!

That makes perfect sense about the HE sector having to be very destination focused now @TearsforBeers

@Intothewhite I hear what you say about the roles in schools being at the mercy of whatever the current political direction is. I also work in the public sector!