Careers and Development

A Leap into the Future for years 12 to 13

Welcome to Leap into Future Careers and Development Toolkit.

The Leap into the Future toolkit is designed to

In addition to the Leap into the Future Toolkit we have:

Making an Early Start
(Years 7 to 9)

Positive Choices
(Years 10 and 11)

Guidance for Parents and Carers

Guidance for Coaches and Mentors

Each section of the toolkit contains useful tips and strategies, resources, contacts and information to help raise educational and career aspirations.

You can use the toolkit together with any information, research, support provided by your school, careers guidance teams and teachers.

For further information about this toolkit or to ask about other support opportunities please contact

info@positivefuturesgroup.org

An introduction video to our toolkit

A LEAP INTO THE FUTURE IS A LEAP TO SUCCESS

The Leap into the Future Toolkit is designed to support young people in Years 12 and 13 doing

their A’ Levels, vocational or practical courses such as BTEC, NVQs and who are considering next steps.

There are tips, tools and questions to guide, inform and support young people, including links to useful sites and resources.

Before we go any further, please check out these two key pieces of information:

https://www.youthemployment.org.uk/employment-help-young-people/choices/

Understanding the different entry requirements.

You can also visit for more information: https://careerpilot.org.uk/qualifications

Level 1

GCSEs, NVQs/VQs, awards/certificates/diplomas. Vocational and work-related qualifications may be studied full or part-time inschools and colleges from the age of 14. They are offered at levels 1 to 4 and are usually ‘BTECs’, ‘Cambridge Technical’ or ‘City and Guilds’qualifications. Broad range of subjects on offer eg engineering, artand design,construction, health and social care, business, IT and
leisure. Often course work based however changes mean that somecourses now include exams or practical assessments.

Level 2

GCSEs, NVQs/VQs, awards/certificates/diplomas

Level 3

A levels, T levels, NVQs/VQs, awards/certificates/diplomas

and other qualifications

Level
4 to 6

Higher education – certificates/diplomas, NVQs/VQs, foundation degrees, degrees

Level
7 to 8

Postgraduate and professional – Masters, PhD

Foundation Degree

A foundation degree is a combined academic and vocational qualification in higher education, equivalent to two thirds of an honours bachelor’s degree. It is often pursued when you do not know what you want to do immediately after A levels.

Let’s get Started

You are in Year 12 or 13, further education college or training setting pursuing a vocational courseeg BTEC or NVQ or learning a trade or skill.

You have chosen specific subjects or skills to study/develop in detail and working hard to achievethe grades you need to help you progress your career goals. Some of you already know what you want to do next, for example:

Progress to a University of your choice to pursue a degree programme
A degree apprenticeship – combine an apprenticeship with a degree (when investigating apprenticeships, ask the organisation if you can do a degree apprenticeship and whether they cover the costs)
Apprenticeship or traineeship
Find a job
Pursue a scholarship opportunity abroad
Travel and work

Take a year out (Gap Year) before moving into Higher Education or employment
Pursue a hobby or interest
Set up your own business
Volunteer with a local charity
Learn a new skills
Change the subjects you were doing at A Levels so you can progress your career goals

There may be some of you who do not know what they would like to do after their GCSE exams.

What you must remember is that though some young people start off with one career goal, this may change at some point in their life. Some of you may go through several careers, training, education or employment opportunities before settling on what you actually want to do….

So do not worry if you are unsure about the next steps for you. With the right advice, guidance and support you will be able to make an informed decision.

Your priority at this stage is to work very hard to get the qualifications you need to progress your future goals. This toolkit offers helpful tips and ideas to help you develop your confidence in the subjects you are studying. It also empowers you to do well.

Remember there will be opportunities to study different subjects or change your career goals in future. Knowing how to, developing the confidence and ability make the changes and improvements you desire will help you to succeed.

MAKING THAT IMPORTANT LEAP

Case Study

Daniel is doing History, Geography and Art A Levels.

He has been considering a range of careers since Year 13. He has spoken to a number of people as well as online research about the following careers which interest him, he also does very well in the subjects he chose:

One of the key drivers for Daniel is financial stability. He wants to earn a good level of incomeso he can live comfortably.

The research he has done so far shows that none of the careers he is thinking of will givehim the type of money he wants.

Become an actor potentially would, but there are so many out of work actors. It is also a hard industry to crack and most importantly due to Covid-19 the arts and creative sector has been brought to its knees.Many artists are struggling.

Most of the professional areas he has chosen requires him to go into Higher Education, something he is not keen on doing. This is because he has lost interest in doing written, he would rather do something practical.

At the end of his research which involved talking to people in those professional areas, his teachers, careers coach and doing some online research on University websites/UCAS which connects people to University, post Uni studies including teacher training, apprenticeships & internships.

He settles on finance and accountancy because:

a) he will earn whilst learning and also pursue a vocational qualification in Accountancy

b) he got good grades in Maths but is not doing a business studies or finance A Level. He wants to learn the basics first through an apprenticeship

c) his research indicated the world of possibilities after qualifying as an accountant – investment banking, stock exchange, his own practice, banking, treasury and more

Let’s do an exercise

Looking at the above case study, identify some of the things Daniel did and considered which will be useful in any research you do?

For example:

Where can you do your research?

School, college or training provider’s brochure – can contain useful information about different career routes after further education.

Attend careers fairs

Attend University open days (on and offline) Online – see our resources section for links to useful sites which give young people a lot of information about subject and career options.

https://careerpilot.org.uk/qualifications
Subject Choices tool | My World of Work
https://www.ucas.com/
https://www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship
Look at newspapers and online job adverts for the skills, experiences required for the careers which interest you.

For example, if you want to be a Vet you might need a degree (BSc) in Veterinary Medicine. You can start by looking at UCAS pages – https://www.ucas.com/ for this degree, to see what A-Levels, Highers or equivalent are needed for a place on the course. This gives you a good indication of the subjects you can choose early on to help you.

Doing your research means you can also decide if practical based subjects suit you better than exams or theory-based subjects.

Talk to other young people in years 12 and 13 who are doing the subjects you like.

Some of the questions you can ask your peers:

Why did you choose the subjects you are currently studying in detail?
What research have you carried out to inform your career options?
Where did you do your research?
Who or what has helped with your options or career choices?
What are your plans after A Levels or College
How did you arrive at those plans?
How have those plans been informed by the subjects you are taking now?
What motivates you most? And how has that informed your career choices?

Can you think of other questions you would like to ask your peers? Write them down here….

Speak to your teachers, they will have very helpful advice to guide the decisions you make about your future careers.

You can ask them

About the careers or educational paths past students took after their A Levels, vocational studies or other?
Grades required to go into the professions you are interested in
Where to do further research about the careers you are interested in?
Who is around in the school or outside to help you?
Careers fairs/activities in the school
Whether you can have a careers coach?
Whether the school can invite past students to come and talk to them?
To organise careers days – to include CV writing, completing application forms, interview practice and more

Can you think of other questions or ideas to present to your teachers? Write them down here….

Speak to family and friends. There may be people amongst them who have studied those subjects in school or whose careers have been informed by the subjects they studied in school.

What type of questions will you ask? Check out the bank of questions above, you may be able to use some of them when speaking to family and friends

Questions you can ask family and friends:

What motivated you to go into this particular profession or career?
How did the subjects you did in school help you with your chosen career?
Did you do something completely different to the subjects you studied in school or continued with them into higher, further education, apprenticeships etc
What research did you do when making your subject or career choices?

Can you think of other questions you would like to ask your peers? Write them down here….

These early investments help build the foundations for a successful future.

A few important things to remember

Universities, colleges and employers start recruiting earlier than you think, increasingly before Christmas but many from January onwards.
If you plan to go to University, look into grants, scholarships, government and university schemes to help students from poorer families
How to access the grants and when the deadlines are
UCAS – if you plan to go to University then visit the UCAS portal to find out about your options: https://www.ucas.com/
Find out what is happening in the job market. About the range of employers out there and what they offer. How they recruit and what their expectations are.
Start networking – employers, recruitment agencies, learning providers, family and friends.
Be prepared to go where the opportunities are – eg going away to University in another region/area or town; moving to areas where you can find the job you want.
Get a CV ready, in case you decide to do an apprenticeship, internship, work for an employer or set up your own project/business. See below for some helpful tips around CV development.

Some useful tips when building your CV

Use a simple business font such as Arial, Calibri, or Verdana
Ensure you have used the same font and letter size throughout
Use bold or italics to emphasise text, such as job roles, rather than underlining
Use bullet points, numbering and dashes to format content
Ensure new paragraphs, bullet points and headings are all in line with each other and of a consistent style
Aim for two pages in length; less is okay, more and you risk losing the reader’s interest
Split your CV into sections and ensure those sections are obvious (e.g. Profile, Work Experience, Education)
When listing experiences within these sections keep to a reverse chronological order, with your most recent experience/education at the top
If a hard copy is needed use high quality A4 paper

CV Sections

The following are key sections to include in your CV. Make sure you build relevant content under each section.

Personal details/header: These are standard and required by all employers, but note that you should not include your date of birth, marital status or gender. The essentials to include are your name, address, email address and contact number

Personal profile: This is an optional section of a graduate CV template which can be used to show the employer you are focused and determined to pursue a career in their field. It should appear at the beginning of your CV, be no longer than 2-4 sentences and give an overview of your current situation e.g. “I am looking for work experience in …”

Your education: Write in reverse chronological order, so start with your university degree. This should be a snapshot of you as an academic e.g. your qualifications

Work experience: Include voluntary work and summer placements, extra-curricular activities…

Interests and activities: Write about you as a person, outside of work, hobbies, sports teams, societies/clubs, travel interests

References: Two references usually one academic and the other you’re your school, work experience or priest…

Benefits of starting early

But what do you do if?

Some of you may find yourself in the following situations.
You are not sure what to do after your A Levels, college or Training?
Feel pressured by peers, parents/carers, teachers to take a career path which does not interest you?
You are struggling to motivate yourself about your studies?
You feel overwhelmed about next steps and the future

Not everyone is as well organised and confident as Daniel.

At an early age, we are not expecting all young people in Years 12 and 13 to know exactly what they want to do when they are older! You may find yourself in a position where you have to change careers several times before settling on the one thing which excites and motivates

you, or rewards your financially.

The key thing you need to do is to

Speak to someone – parents/carers, teachers, career mentors, careers advise team in your school, your peers.
Don’t allow yourself to be pressured by anyone. You are the person who will be working in a specific field/professional area in the long run. You therefore have to make the decision for yourself, a decision based on what you like, feel confident and capable in and which will allow you to develop, grow and achieve your ambitions for the now and the future.