Getting in to School/UCAS Careers Advising

[whereswaldo]

I am posting this in The Staffroom too but thought some of you might be able to help too. I have spent 10 years working in University UG student recruitment (Oxford Uni & Nottingham) and now work advising students applying to US universities. Basically spend a lot of time helping students making decisions about the Higher Education choices

However, long term planning I am really keen to work with students in a school setting but struggling with how to get in to it. My main problem is that I can't do the PG Dip in Careers Advising (OU) without already being a Careers Adviser - catch-22 anyone?

Anyone got any advice about how they got into this field- I have applied to volunteer with a 'back into work' charity but any other thoughts/ approaches gratefully received.

TIA

It's tough to find paid work in this field at the moment - I have all the qualifications and 12 years experience and following redundancy I still can't find a job due to all the cuts in funding..

If you are ok with the uncertainty of where careers guidance is going, I would try to find work where you can study towards an NVQ 4 in IAG. Student support, advice work etc would be a good option.

Sorry to sound negative but under the present government and with funding cuts (funding has been passed to schools who don't want to pay for it), the prospects for careers advisers and careers guidance in general are pretty dire at the moment. Adult careers advice is actually being funded more coherently than careers advice in schools - this may be an alternative option for you depending on whether you are keen to work with this client group.

Hi lookdeep- for some reason I haven't been getting notifications that anyone had replied but I am v grateful.

Have you tried going 'freelance' with ISCO or Morrisby Testing or is that equally competitive? Are you in London too?

I am finding the cuts to funding a bit strange tbh. Schools are being asked to source independent advice so how are they getting it without paying for it?

I've been accepted to volunteer with the Careers Development Group so would be working with adults which I hope will give me some insight and experience to start thinking about the qualification.

Thanks again