Careers

There are thousands of different careers choices available, sometimes it can be hard knowing where to start in choosing a career. Hopefully the resources below will help you make a start!

SACU Careers Quiz
This is a fantastic quiz where you click through a series of pictures to help decide what floats your boat!

National Careers Service
Assess your skills, search job profiles, look for courses and get careers advice.

icould
Inspirational videos from real-life people including average salaries, qualifications, skills, & past & future employment levels.

Barclays Bank Wheel of Strengths
Discover which jobs could suit you by picking your current skills, interests and personality traits.

Apprenticeships offer an alternative to college or university courses, you will have a job and study at the same time. This means you can earn while you learn and still gain a nationally recognised qualification!

Apprenticeships have equivalent educational levels, this is shown in the table below:

In this section please see useful links & information about apprenticeships.

Greater Manchester Apprenticeship Hub
This is a great website with an interactive regional map to show the apprenticeship providers in your area. There’s also loads of information about different types of apprenticeships, apprentice case studies, FAQs, information for parents and you can browse and apply for apprenticeships in Greater Manchester.

Gov.uk – Find an apprenticeship
This is the go-to website to apply for an apprenticeship. You can filter by area and apprenticeship type. After creating an account you can apply for apprenticeships and they will email or text you about new apprenticeships and your applications.

A parent’s guide to apprenticeships
This handy guide informs parents about what apprenticeships are, the benefits of being an apprentice, expected salaries and entry requirements.

Notgoingtouni
This is a great website if you’re considering an alternative career pathway to college or university. You can search and apply for lots of different roles such as apprenticeships, traineeships, jobs, work experience as well as alternative college and degree courses. Also included:

‘Be inspired’ section – includes case studies and profiles for a range of people on different courses or careers
‘Advice centre’ – you can communicate with like-minded people to get information, tips, ideas, inspiration and more to help you on your journey

Traineeships are great for people that are not yet ready for an apprenticeship or a job. They provide you with the opportunity to develop work experience skills and prepare you for work by:

• Work experience - to give the young person meaningful work experience and to develop workplace skills
• Work preparation training - to prepare learners with the Skills for Work in a particular sector as well as Employability Skills covering areas like CV writing, interview preparation, job search and inter-personal skills
• English and maths - these are seen as crucial employability skills and will be developed during the traineeship

You won’t be paid, but you may be given expenses for things like travel and meals.

You can apply if you’re:

• Eligible to work in England
• Unemployed and have little or no work experience
• Aged 16 to 24 and qualified up to and including Level 3 (equivalent to A Level)

Study Programmes

Study programmes are courses designed to meet your individual learning needs and prepare you for higher learning, training, or employment. Some study programmes offer industry specific learning e.g. construction or childcare, alternatively you can enrol onto an ‘Employability Skills’ programme.

NLTG – North Lancs Training Group

North Lancs Training Group is a provider that offers study programmes and apprenticeships with centers based in Accrington, Bury and Oldham.

The Growth Company

The Growth company is a provider that offers study programmes and apprenticeships with 9 centres based across Greater Manchester and St. Helens.

There is a breadth of college and university courses to choose from. To help you choose which course(s) might be right for you, take the SACU careers quiz. Don’t forget to check the Labour Market Information on our website to see which industry sectors are growing.

College

Generally, students apply for college courses during year 11 and will study their courses for 2 years (some courses are longer or shorter). They include courses such as A levels, BTEC, vocational equivalents and some GCSEs you may not have passed at high school.

The 16-19 Bursary Fund

Even though you won’t have to pay for your study if you attend a college and are 16-19 years old, there is a bursary available (up to £1,200 a year) if you’re in care, been in care or receive certain benefits. This can help with costs like:

• Lunch
• Transport to and from college
• Equipment for your course

Greater Manchester Colleges

Below is a list linking to some of the colleges in Greater Manchester:

• Bolton College
• The Sixth Form Bolton
• Bury College
• Holy Cross College
• Hopwood Hall College
• Loreto Sixth Form College
• Myerscough College
• Rochdale Sixth Form College
• Salford City College
• Stockport College
• Tameside College
• The Manchester College
• Trafford College
• Xaverian Sixth Form College

If you’re considering going to university to continue your studies, the following websites could help make your course choice, apply for student finance and more.

UCAS

You can browse University courses on the UCAS website, get advice on writing a personal statement and apply for courses. They also have a section about funding available for students.

Gov.uk – Student Finance England

The easiest way to apply for student finance is online. On the gov.uk website you can apply for:

• Tuition fee loans
• Maintenance loans

Opendays

The Opendays website lists the open days for colleges and universities across the country. It allows you to search by institution name or location. There’s also an ‘advice’ section giving ideas on what you might like to ask at an open day or what to look out for in the area local to your prospective university.

Discover Uni - Formerly Unistats

Discover Uni allows you to compare courses across different universities to help you make an informed choice on the university for you. The site compares:

• Student satisfaction
• Employability and average salaries of postgraduates
• Drop-out rates and degree results

A CV is a short document which summarises your unique skills, character, experience and achievements. CV is short for Curriculum Vitae, a Latin phrase which means ‘the course of my life’. Another word for a CV is a "resume" (pronounced "res-you-may").

A well-made CV is essential when you apply for jobs, apprenticeships and courses. First impressions count, so your CV should be neat, short in length and containing everything a new employer or college would like to know about you before offering you an interview.

Please click the link in this section to find Novoresume, a website that will guide you through the process of creating a professional CV.

Labour Market Information (LMI) has become an increasingly important tool in careers education. It provides us with information about which industry sectors are growing and which are in decline as well as skills gaps. Young people can use this information to make course or training choices to lead them to a career in which jobs are plentiful as are the progression opportunities.

Greater Manchester Combined Authority has created an information pack including labour market information and skills intelligence from various sources. This is available to download as a PDF in this section.

Cloughside College is happy to help you in your search for a job, apprenticeship or course. If you would like to request a reference from Cloughside College, please contact us with the details below. We will then contact you to discuss your request.

Please include the following details in your request:

• First name
• Last name
• The date you left Cloughside College
• Your contact details (email/phone number/address etc.)