A week in my shoes: Kate Graham
The reason I am still a careers adviser after 25 years is the fact that, in this job, no two days are the same. Even if I spend a whole day in a school interviewing pupils, each pupil is an individual. In one day I can be talking to young people with a very clear focus, and those with no idea what they want to do – future nurses, engineering apprentices, Oxford biochemistry graduates, chefs, or pupils with additional support needs.
However, there has always been a lot more to being a careers adviser than school work, and this has been even more the case since Careers Scotland has had a remit to offer an all-age guidance service.
Monday
Working in Aberdeen Grammar School, an area comprehensive, despite its name. The day is made up of a mixture of individual interviews and group work, as well as a meeting with the educational psychologist, principal teacher pupil support (formerly known as guidance teacher), head of house and parent to discuss next steps for a pupil. Pupil has opted not to attend – I have interviewed him prior to this and have prepared a report from that interview.
This academic year all school leavers have been guaranteed a one-to-one meeting with a careers adviser and one of my tasks at the moment is to ensure that all the S4 and S5 leavers have been seen. This is not an exact science as obviously some pupils may not decide until the summer holidays that they are not going to return to school.
Group work today is early intervention work with a small group of S3 pupils who are likely to require additional help next year to move into a positive destination. They will come to visit the Careers Scotland Centre later in the term.
The day includes drop-in sessions at lunchtime and after school – I am fairly busy today as it is subject choice time and decisions have to be made.
Tuesday
In the Careers Centre. Morning spent catching up with emails, inputting the work done in school yesterday to our database. Also, I am currently practice tutor for a trainee careers adviser and we have our monthly review meeting to see how she is progressing and to plan activities for next month.
Afternoon I spend running a CV workshop with a colleague. This free weekly workshop is proving popular with clients and the feedback has been very positive.
We have five clients today, all at slightly different stages of CV preparation. We do a presentation first of all and then the clients work on their CVs using our public access computers. Colleague and I offer one-to-one help as appropriate.
Wednesday
Morning in Aberdeen Grammar. Two sessions today with S5 classes focusing on how to start researching FE and HE courses. The emphasis is on the fact that before they even open a prospectus they must spend time thinking about themselves, what they want from a course of study and what they have to offer in terms of abilities, preferred learning style, commitment, motivation etc.
Then they can start looking at the demands of the courses they are considering. I try to ensure that when they start applying next year they will really look closely at what courses involve, rather than picking a course because the name sounds right!
I have a trainee with me today and she helps with the group work and also carries out two interviews, one of which I formally assess.
Afternoon – Would usually be in school all day but today we have a team meeting.
We have four teams based in the Aberdeen Centre and we meet monthly. Today we are looking at the Operating Plan for 2008-9 and discussing how we can deliver our service over the next year.
Thursday
In the Careers Centre. This morning I see Robert, an adult client whom I first met when he came into the Centre a couple of weeks ago. He is currently working but feels that he is not going to be able to progress any further up the ladder and that the job he is doing is not making use of his skills and abilities.
When I saw him previously we had about a 20-minute discussion to diagnose the level of help he needed. Many of our clients who drop in to the Centre are looking for information about a career, funding or training or help with job hunting, CV etc.
A brief discussion is often enough to identify what it is they are looking for and they can be shown where to find what they need in our resource centre or online, booked into the CV workshop or whatever is appropriate.
However, it was clear that Robert would benefit from one-to-one guidance. I had outlined to him how he could prepare for our interview by starting to think about the skills he has which could be transferred to a different job role, the aspects of his current job which he does like, what his priorities are and so on and to write these down and bring them with him.
He has done his 'homework' well and we make good progress today. He feels he can now go away and do more research on the ideas which have emerged from our interview.
Write up the assessment of the trainee’s interview and discuss development points with her.
I am our team's representative on the Grampian Information Group – we meet three times a year and today I type up the minutes of the last meeting and email them to colleagues. Thursday evening: back to Aberdeen Grammar for an S5 parents’ information evening. Presentation and Q&A.
Friday
I don’t normally work on a Friday but today I am in Dundee for a careers event run by Skillset – the Sector Skills Council for Creative Media.
Very useful opportunity to speak to industry experts from film, TV, theatre, design, games design and others.
- Posted on 16 June 2008 under careers education, issue 21, a week in my shoes.
- Tagged as careers scotland, cvs.
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