As a Career Development Professional, you could work with people of any age to empower them to make informed decisions about their education or employment. You might also support the development of employability skills and support people to be able to articulate their skills and qualities effectively in application, interviews and assessment centres.
There are opportunities to work in education, in schools, college or universities, in large corporations supporting staff in managing their early career, or within other organisations such as local authorities, prisons, charities. There are also opportunities for freelance work too. Some career development professionals specialise in analysing data or engaging with employers to create opportunities for their client group.
Currently, there is a shortage of qualified career development practitioners within the UK with many organisations struggling to recruit qualified practitioners.
Contents
- Career Development Professionals
- What do Career Development Professionals do?
- Making an impact as a career development professional
- Career Development Professionals progression routes
- Qualifications and Training
- Work Experience
- Career Development Professionals Salary
- Key Skills for Career Development Professionals
- Pros and Cons of being a Career Development Professional
- Where to find Career Development Professional roles
What do Career Development Professionals do?
Careers work is so much more than talking about jobs.
Career Development Professionals support people of all ages to make decisions about the direction of their life, learning and work.
Career Development Professionals can help individuals navigate career and educational decisions at key transition points, such as leaving school/ college/ university, changing jobs or industries, or returning to the workforce after a break. They work with individuals, or with groups or a mixture of both and have the knowledge, skills, and experience to guide people through the career development process which can involve supporting people to:
- Identify their skills, strengths, interests, and ambitions to develop clear career and life goals that align with their personal values.
- Explore and evaluate different career options, learn about the job market, and gather information about specific industries and companies.
- Understand the bigger picture of the job market and wider world developments and how that might impact career decisions.
- Develop skills to thrive in a complex and rapidly changing world.
- Develop effective job search strategies, including creating effective CVs and cover letters, preparing for interviews, and building a network.
- Make informed decisions about their careers, which can lead to greater job satisfaction, career success, and personal fulfilment.
The role of a Career Development Professional can be very varied. They can be employed in education settings such as schools, colleges, and universities. They can also be employed in prisons, charitable organisations, large corporate organisations, or as self-employed freelance professionals. Alongside providing individuals one to one support to manage their careers, other roles include:
- Employer Engagement practitioners in schools, colleges and universities liaise with employers to provide opportunities for the students to learn more about prospects within different organisations, increasing their awareness of the range of options available to them in the future.
- Careers Consultants use their expertise and knowledge to help organisations develop a strategy to support people within their organisation to progress in their careers. Careers consultants might work in corporate environments or within education where they will help create a suitable programme of careers activity for a department or faculty.
- Labour Market Analyst roles focus on researching and analysing data to provide useful insights e.g., analysing labour market information to understand trends in different employment sectors e.g. increasing or decreasing opportunities, salary changes, or to better understand the career development needs of people within their organisations or different groups in society.
There are many job role titles used to describe Career Development Professionals and it can be useful to use a wide range of key words in any online job search
e.g. Careers consultant, Careers Adviser, Careers Coach, Careers counsellor, Early careers manager, Employer engagement, Labour Market Analyst, Job coach, Careers officer, Employability Coach, Employability and Enterprise Officer, Work Experience Specialist, Placement & Careers Manager.
Making an impact as a Career Development Professional
Alongside having an impact at an individual level, Career Development Professionals also play a role in promoting social and economic progress by
- Supporting lifelong learning and personal development tocreate a more skilled, adaptable, and capable workforce and drive economic growth and societal progress.
- Enhancing workforce development to ensure individuals are in roles that utilise their strengths, increasing their motivation, productivity and enthusiasm for professional development.
- Reducing unemployment and poverty by enabling individuals to understand the job market, identify job opportunities, develop job search strategies, and prepare for job interviews.
- Promoting diversity, inclusion, and social justice byhelping organisations build more diverse and inclusive workplaces, addressing barriers for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds or marginalised communities to access education and training opportunities.
Career Development Professionals progression routes
Qualifications and Training
As a graduate there are 2 main ways to become qualified as a career development professional.
- Undertake a specialist postgraduate (level 7) qualification in Career Development and Employability
- On the job- vocational training
Level 7 level qualification. (Postgraduate Diploma or Masters)
A degree in any subject and a genuine interest in the sector is generally all that is required. It often doesn't matter if you don’t have any experience in working in the careers sector as yet and many course provide opportunities to gain experience through placements. If you haven’t got a degree but have extensive relevant experience, you may still be accepted on to a course.
Some courses are accredited by the Career Development Institute Qualification in Career Development (QCD) which provides additional recognition that your skills and knowledge are at a high level of professional competence through .
A Postgraduate Diploma plus QCD is the minimum qualification to work in Scottish schools. This qualification level is often preferred for roles in Higher Education and for more senior roles.
Find out more about level 7 qualifications you can undertake on the University of Huddersfield's website here!
- Vocational training route/ Apprenticeship:
Whilst you don’t necessarily need a degree to complete training at this level you will need to be employed in a careers related role. It is a work based learning route, working full time and undertaking some study on a part time basis. Some employers offer opportunities to undertake an apprenticeship usually meaning 1 day per week is spent on your training. This is the minimum qualification expected to work within a School or College in England and Wales.
Work Experience
Useful work experience would include anything that has enabled you to develop your interpersonal and communication skills, particularly your listening skills.
Ideally you will be able to demonstrate an interest in supporting people, making work experience with uniformed organisations, such as Scouts, St John Ambulance, student societies, relevant and useful.
Career Development Professionals Salary
Salaries vary across the sector and are often dependant on the type of employer you work for, experience and qualification level.
If you are freelance, you will be able to set your own fees.
Some typical ranges are:
- Careers information assistant: £22,000-£26,000
- School or college career adviser £26 - £35,000 (pay may be pro rata if term time only)
- University careers consultant: £33,000-£50,000
- Head of careers in university £40 ,000-£65,000
- Director of Careers & Employability in Universities or corporate organisations £75,000 +
Key Skills for Career Development Professionals
- Active listening skills- to understand a client's needs, desires, and challenges is important in helping them identify and achieve their career goals.
- Communication skills: to build trust with clients, explain complex concepts, and provide feedback in a clear and concise manner.
- Empathy: to understand and share the feelings of their clients to be able to provide non-judgmental support and guidance.
- Interpersonal skills: to build rapport with clients and to develop a professional network to make valuable connections for their clients.
- Flexibility: to adapt to the huge variety within the role of career development and employability professional. Often no 2 days are the same and clients' needs will differ considerably. Flexibility is needed to switch between working with individuals, working with groups and to tasks related to planning and developing the service.
- Organisational Skills: to manage client information, schedule appointments, and maintain accurate records. Also, for leading on projects and new initiatives.
- Innovative and creative: to identify different ways to support clients explore possible options, increase their self-awareness and understanding of their motivations etc and develop a career strategy. To ensure practice is engaging for others to participate in. Innovate thinking is useful to increase impact of service within the constraints of a small budget or limited resources.
- Continuous learner: being committed to continuous learning and professional development, staying up to date on industry trends, new technologies, and emerging career paths.
- Analytical skills: to make sense of data and information to support the development of an evidence-based data driven service that meets the needs of clients, to identify trends and develop effective career strategies.
- Interest in the job market: to identify industry trends, in-demand skills, and emerging fields. Also, to understand and address inequality of access to opportunity within industry sectors or for disadvantaged or marginalised groups in society.
Pros and Cons of being a Career Development Professional
Pros
- Job satisfaction. Your role as a career development professional is very important to the future of society! Your support at pivotal moments in people’s lives can make a significant difference to their future life satisfaction.
- Variety: Career Development professionals often have a huge amount of variety in their day-to-day work. Aside from the fact that no 2 careers conversations will be the same, there are often many facets to the role as you are likely to engage with employers, organise events and activities and create exciting opportunities to inspire those you work with to discover and explore new career options.
- Autonomy. As a career development professional, you will often have a lot of autonomy over your working day and how you choose to engage with the people you work with
Cons
- Not a clear progression route. Dependant on the organisation you work within, opportunities to progress might be limited. You may need to look to move to larger organisations where you can take on managerial roles, or a role that has a more strategic element to it.
- Work stress. In some organisations/ roles you might be working with a limited budget, and a high workload to meet the targets of the organisation.
- Isolation: In smaller organisations (including some schools) you may be the only career development professional. This makes it important to build networks with other staff members in your organisation and with career professionals outside of your place of work.
Where to find Career Development Professional roles
- AGCAS- Jobs Within the Higher Education and Employability Sector
- CDI - Career Jobs across various sectors
- Jobs.ac.uk
- Times Educational Supplement Jobs
- Times Higher Education (THE)
Developing your professional network can also help identify opportunities that may be available e.g. via LinkedIn.
Signing up for job alerts with individual organisations is a great way to be aware of opportunities, particularly with university career services.
If you are interested in working in a school or college, it is useful to understand how the services are delivered in the local area and identify any careers companies that contract their service to schools.
Take a look at The University of Huddersfield's Master's and PgDip courses here to get your career in career development started!