Here are resources and information to help you find out about different jobs and career opportunities. Plus, and some great tips to help you apply for a job and prepare for interview.
Finding your dream job
See which jobs you could do by the subjects you are studying now. Visit featured jobs to help you find an apprenticeship or an early career job vacancies.
Applying for jobs and interviews
Now you have found the job that you want to apply for its time to prepare your application and get ready for interview. Here are some resources to help you.
Early career job profiles
Here are some job profiles for popular roles. These will help you find out about the job tasks and the type of skills you will need to apply for that type of job.
Typical roles and responsibilities
- provide personal care i.e., wash and dress patients
- serve meals and help to feed patients
- help patients to move around
- make beds
- make patients feel comfortable
- monitor patients' conditions by taking temperatures, pulse, respirations and weight
- identify and raise concerns about changes in patients’ conditions
- take and follow instructions from the Nursing Team
Required Skills
- caring and kind
- cheerful and friendly
- communication skills, written and verbal
- basic computer skills
- observational skills
- able to work in a team
- able to use own initiative
- able to work to protocols and guidelines
Values and behaviours
- You want to work with people in a healthcare setting
- you intend to give care with compassion, commitment and competence
- you are able to understand patient’s needs
- a patients’ dignity matters to you
- you understand why confidentiality matters in a healthcare setting
- you are an effective communicator with good interpersonal skills
Typical education and qualifications needed for the role
- English and Maths GCSE grade 4 or above or the equivalent
- Completion of the care certificate or commitment to complete
- Experience of working with people
Typical roles and responsibilities
- provide general clerical and administrative support
- use office equipment safely e.g., photocopier, scanner
- answer the telephone, record and report messages accurately
- manage electronic diaries and arrange meetings
- support team members with preparing for meetings and events
- input data onto different IT systems
- assist with preparing spaces, organising equipment and materials for meetings and training
- update MS Office applications i.e. EXCEL
- take part in face to face and virtual meetings
- provide reception duties
- resolve routine queries
- provide support with filing, document control and storage
Required Skills
- calm and friendly
- great organisational skills
- good communication skills
- able to follow procedures and instructions
- can work independently and as part of a team
- good writing, reading and listening skills
- good IT skills
- good attention to detail
Values and behaviours
- have a desire to work with people
- understand the requirements of confidentiality in a healthcare setting
- be a good team player
- understand the importance of effective communication and interpersonal skills
Typical education and qualifications needed for the role
- English and Maths GCSE grade 4 or above or equivalent
- Some experience of working with people or customer care
- support and maintain all desktop, laptop, mobile devices, MCAs and peripherals devices including printers, scanners and barcode readers
- complete and install moves and changes in line with asset management
- fix application issues, either on site or remotely, and refer to next line support if needed
- take ownership of incidents, service requests, follow procedures and update relevant staff members
- diagnose and resolve hardware and software issues across the desktop environment
- support desktop services through System Administration e.g. Anti- Virus
- troubleshoot connectivity issues
- assist in the decommissioning and scrapping of equipment
- provide support for hardware and software i.e. maintenance and re-building of computer equipment
- be able to liaise with 3rd party suppliers regarding hardware and software faults
- deploy new systems and technologies
- provide status reports
- develop and maintain user guides
Required Skills
- IT, computer, and keyboard skills
- able to plan and prioritise
- knowledge of service desk tools and technologies
- knowledge of operating systems
- organisational skills
- good communication skills
- analytical with good attention to detail
- able to follow procedures and instructions
Values and behaviours
- understand the requirements of confidentiality in a healthcare setting
- calm and personable
- interested in solving issues
- understand the importance of effective communication and interpersonal skills
Typical education and qualifications needed for the role
- English and Maths GCSE grade 4 or above or equivalent
- relevant Technical qualification or equivalent
- experience of working in a team
- experience of communicating technical information to non-technical users
Typical roles and responsibilities
- setting up of equipment
- show patients how to use mobility aids or equipment
- safe use of gym type equipment
- demonstrate exercises to patients
- work on exercises with patients
- support patients to understand and follow your instructions so they can complete exercises effectively
- be hands on with patients
- check and support patient progress over time
- help patients prepare for treatment (including helping with dressing and undressing)
- write reports and update patients’ records
- motivate patients to engage with their exercise programme
- work as part of a team or independently
- work with individual patients and/or in groups
Required Skills
- caring and kind
- cheerful and friendly
- motivational
- physically fit
- observational skills
- organisational skills
- good speaking, listening and writing skills
- computer skills
Values and behaviours
- have a desire to work in a healthcare setting
- compassion, commitment and competence
- able to understand patient’s needs
- able deliver therapies maintaining patients’ dignity
- understand requirements of confidentiality in a healthcare setting
- understand the importance of effective communication and interpersonal skills
Typical education and qualifications needed for the role
- English and Maths GCSE grade 4 or above or equivalent
- experience of working with people
Transferable Skills
Being able to talk about your transferable skills and match them to the job you are applying for will really help you to succeed. The interviewer will be able to see why you are a good match for the job and will be confident that you understand what the job will demand from you. Many of us struggle to recognise our own transferable skills.
The following resources will help you to work through, identify and be able to describe your transferable skills to an interview panel. (Word documents)
Transferable skills. The physiotherapist
Finding evidence of transferrable skills from every day experiences can be much easier than you think. This example should help you to understand and identify your own transferrable skills.
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Physiotherapist’s Skills
According to NHS Careers to be a physiotherapist Asa will need to be a good communicator who can be hands-on and explain conditions and treatments easily to clients Information on being a physiotherapist - Degrees and Courses - NHS Careers (healthcareers.nhs.uk). Having a caring and calm nature is equally important. Physiotherapy can be physically and mentally strenuous so you should also be physically fit with strong organisational and planning skills.
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Now we can match the required skills to Asa’s own life experiences
Asa’s most relevant example here is his coaching. He will have to use his listening and speaking skills to help players improve. Just like a physiotherapist.
Asa is hands on in many ways. He plays cricket, does homework tasks with his brothers and is a sports coach
Asa regularly keeps his brothers safe and cared for. He also looked after John, getting him back into the house, into warmer clothes and staying with him until help arrived
Asa didn’t get flustered when he needed to stay with John. He prioritised that over the paper deliveries, but went back to delivering the papers as soon as he was able
Asa trains and plays cricket regularly with his school team
Asa manages his own time and priorities. He completes his own college work, collects his brothers from school on time, helps them with their homework and manages a morning paper round. |
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Picking out the required skills:
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Now you have worked through Asa’s example, have a go at identifying your own transferrable skills
You can look on https:/
Transferable skills. Example 3: The mental health nurse
Finding evidence of transferrable skills from every day experiences can be much easier than you think. This example should help you to understand and identify your own transferrable skills.
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Mental Health Nurse’s Skills
According to NHS Careers to be a mental health nurse academic qualifications are required, but they aren’t everything Mental health nurse | Health Careers. Communication and interpersonal skills are crucial, as well as strong judgement, and being able to teach, advise and manage people.
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Now we can match the required skills to Ethan’s own life experiences
Ethan will use learning and evidences from his NVQ. He chooses an example from his job as a crowd safety steward to show how he has used his communication skills in a real world setting and how he has helped to diffuse or improve a situation. (This would be an example of how Ethan has applied theory from the course into his practice as a steward).
Ethan chooses to use an example from his bar work. He tells of a night where one customer was fairly drunk and she was getting aggressive with other guests whilst waiting at the bar. Ethan noticed this. He took her order and then told her to have a seat and he would bring it over. Once he had served the next couple of customers, he took a large glass of water over to her, along with a sandwich from the buffet. She was already a little calmer and he was very kind to her when he offered her the sandwich and water, saying he thought this might make her feel better. Ethan feels that removing her from the situation and being kind really was the best course of action.
Ethan teaches goalkeeping and fitness skills to young people.
He advises and coaches young people in the summer schools. In each case he has to assess the abilities and skills of each child and advise a suitable plan to help that child develop those skills to the next level.
Ethan’s crowd management skills, knowledge and experience are all highly relevant here. He will also find examples from managing groups in the summer school so that every child is engaged, included and feels able to take part. |
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Picking out the required skills:
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Now you have worked through Ethan’s example, have a go at identifying your own transferrable skills.
You can look on https:/