Welcome to Careers

Preparation for employment is an integral part of everything we do at Halesowen College. Whether you want to go to university or straight into employment, our friendly, award-winning careers staff are committed to helping students get on the right career path. We hold the Quality in Careers Standard, Quality Award CEIAG, and Matrix Accreditation, so students are assured of a warm welcome and expert advice. Our careers lead is Helen Stockdale, Director of Learner Services.

We aim to prepare our students to go on to further or higher education or skilled employment and enable them to make a significant contribution to society. While qualifications remain very important, with few exceptions, they are no longer the only consideration. We recognise that employability or work-readiness is becoming more and more important when potential employers’ look for people to fill vacancies. We do everything we can to ensure Halesowen students develop these skills and attributes so that they get ahead in the workplace. We support students by:

holding careers seminars
giving students individual careers advice
working with business mentors
encourage A Level students to organise work experiences relevant to their higher education and career aspirations
hosting an annual careers fair
giving individual careers guidance
helping students to write effective curriculum vitae and personal statements
arranging interview training and mock interviews
providing guidance regarding different career pathways, including information on apprenticeships

as well as ensuring that students understand how they will be able to apply the skills and knowledge they have gained in school when they go out to work.

For more information email: careers@halesowen.ac.uk – Tel: 0121 602 7777

Careers Appointments

How we can help

Our Advisers are here to support you at every stage of your career planning. But what actually happens in an appointment? Will your career path magically open up before you during it? Will everything become clear as a result?

We would love the answer to those questions to be ‘Yes’! But in all honesty an appointment is part of a process where you begin to figure these things out for yourself. We aim to help you clarify the issues most important to you, answer your questions and enable you to make progress, no matter what stage you come to us at.

At peak times, appointments are in very high demand and you may not be able to have multiple sessions. To make sure you get the most out of your appointment, make sure you know what to expect and how to prepare by reading our guidance below.

In our Careers Appointments, Advisers will help you with any career questions you may have.

We talk to students about many issues. The following list is not exhaustive. But to give you an idea, some of the questions we hear include:

I don’t know what I want to do. How do I decide?
How can I work out which jobs are right for me?
I want to change/leave my course. Will this be the right move in terms of my career plans?
I do/don’t want to use my subject when I graduate. What are my options?
I have a practical question about approaching an employer/interview/job offer. Can I talk this through with someone?
I’m interested in further study, but will it be worthwhile?

What to expect

This is your appointment. You set the agenda, the pace, and are totally in control. You will also be doing most of the talking. Careers Advisers are here to facilitate your career choice and development, rather than lead it.

A Careers Adviser may challenge your statements, will try to make the picture clearer for you and help you to plan your next steps. You may not leave with all the answers – but you should be closer to finding them.

A Careers Adviser may try to:

Help draw out your priorities, values and expectations.
Gently challenge your motivations.
Encourage you to reflect on what you have done already.
Help you to develop your understanding of your chosen paths.
Help you to weigh up your options.
Make suggestions about potential resources, strategies, sectors or pathways.
Provide answers to some straight-forward questions.

A Careers Adviser cannot:

Make a decision for you about which option/path to choose from.
Tell you which jobs you will be suited to or what you will enjoy doing.
Tell you which employers are recruiting.
Tell you everything you will need to know about your chosen career.
Tell you what to do!

If you aren’t sure if we can help you, please contact Careers before booking. Our Team will be able to advise you on appointments and resources.

Careers Workshops

The Careers Team deliver many careers workshops throughout the year on topics such as apprenticeships, next steps, mock interview sessions and employability skills. In addition, we work closely with universities both locally and nationally to deliver sessions on considering higher education, university choices, ucas practical sessions, student finance and personal statement writing. We are keen that all our students receive information to make informed choices about their career progression.

For more information email: careers@halesowen.ac.uk – Tel: 0121 602 7777

Help with Higher Education

We have copies of every higher education and university prospectus in the UK and qualified advisers are on-hand to help you complete application forms and your CV. We also organise an annual Higher Education Fair so, if you are considering university, this is an ideal opportunity to discuss courses with visiting university representatives. Over 900 Halesowen College students progress to university each year and the number is growing. We have progression agreements with a number of local universities, which help learners by providing guarantees of routes, interviews, places and sometimes bursaries. Our careers staff will give support and help in completing the university application process.

For more information email: careers@halesowen.ac.uk – Tel: 0121 602 7777

This website page is reviewed periodically and updated each April.