Careers and Employability

We understand that deciding what course to do, or what career path to follow, can seem a bit daunting. Our Careers programme and Information, Advice and Guidance services are accredited by Matrix Standard and we have a range of staff across the college who are on hand to provide free information, advice and guidance to students. They can help you make the right decisions on your future career path before you come to college, whilst you are on your programme and when you are ready to leave us. Whether it’s dreams of progressing into work, or higher education, Hereford College of Arts are fully qualified to provide support for individuals from a range of backgrounds into successful future opportunities.

Hereford College of Arts is committed to supporting the progression of our students into a wide range of successful destinations after they complete their programme of study; this includes employment, further or higher education, or training.

We are dedicated to achieving the 8 Gatsby Benchmarks as outlined by the Department for Education and we are working in collaboration with the Careers Enterprise Company to ensure a high quality careers education programme for our students.

The careers programme below shows what careers related education a student at Hereford College of Arts can expect to access as part of their programme. Study Programmes also include maths and English if the student has not yet achieved a Grade 4/C at GCSE level, and this is an essential element of the programme – employers continue to report that young employees are lacking skills in these key areas and adults who do not hold these qualifications find seeking work more difficult.

Careers and Employability programme

Ways in which we work on careers at HCA

These are the ways in which we prepare students for their next steps and give them valuable work-related opportunities whilst on their course.

  • Internal live brief (in-college)
  • Talks from employers/ creatives in the industry
  • External live brief- (off-site)
  • Workshops from an external creative
  • Use of industry standard equipment/ resources/ software

The College employs a professionally qualified Careers Adviser who offers Careers Education, Information, Advice & Guidance (CEIAG) to any student who requests it throughout their course of study with us. The CEIAG Policy and Careers programme is designed to meet the needs of students and to propel the College to achieving all of the Gatsby Benchmarks.

Contact Careers Advisor Gail Kilminster: g.kilminster@hca.ac.uk or  gail@fcs2c.com

Key messages for parents about their role in their child’s career decision making:

  • Many of us can feel out of our depth talking to our children about jobs and how to get started in their career. But, talking to your child really matters and can make a real difference to their future.
  • Think about what motivates your child, what they’re good at and the skills which employers will find valuable.
  • There are lots of careers out there that you may not know much about but you don’t need to.
  • It’s okay not to have all the answers, and to learn about new options with your child.

As part of the Talking Futures programme, The Gatsby Foundation has created a series of films that provide top tips for parents from parents about how to support children/young adults with their career decisions. Hear from a few famous faces about the importance of having conversations with teenagers about their future working lives.

Apprenticeships and Training:

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A frequently asked questions style resource for apprenticeships has been launched, full of answers to the most commonly asked questions by teachers, students and parents.

View the Apprenticeship FAQ Resource here

There are lots of resources, especially websites, which can help you to understand the options available to your son or daughter.

Yourspaceonline allows you to explore information about a range of course and career options. It also offers links to industry specific careers information and websites where you can find job and apprenticeship vacancies.

If your son or daughter are unsure about university then check out this website. It has information on School Leaver Schemes, Apprenticeships and Sponsored Degrees.

If your son or daughter is thinking about higher education then check out UCAS. All students have to apply online via the website which contains information about all the courses and universities available.

Apprenticeship.org contains helpful information about apprenticeships. All vacancies are advertised on this website and you apply online through the site. Register to receive vacancy updates.

The National Careers Service helps you to choose or change career, complete skills tests, run course and job searches, and provides personalised help from careers advisers. Free phone 0800 100 900 to speak to an adviser.

icould is an easy to use website which lets you explore careers based on the subjects you enjoy. You can watch video clips of people talking about their jobs and get information about education and training.

There also many volunteering opportunities available, read more here.

Here’s more great career websites sharing jobs and opportunities:

http://www.artshub.co.uk

https://discovercreative.careers/

https://creativeaccess.org.uk/

https://www.artsjobs.org.uk/

https://www.careeralchemy.co.uk/inspired-teenager.html

https://amazingapprenticeships.com/RESOURCES/?PARENTS=1

https://careermap.co.uk/CAREERMAG-PARENTS/

https://anchor.fm/THEPARENTPERSPECTIVE

https://apprenticeshipguide.co.uk/

The following information is taken from the National Careers Service. The Marches area covers Shropshire, Herefordshire and Telford & Wrekin.

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Impact

The Careers programme at HCA is assessed for its quality and positive impact on students through a number of methods:

1. The destinations of students after leaving their courses. The College tracks the destinations of students and reports this to Ofsted via the college’s yearly Self-Assessment Report.

2. The numbers of students accessing the services on offer

3. Student feedback after 1:1 and tutorial sessions

4. Curriculum planning and self-evaluation reports monitored by the Teaching, Learning and Quality Improvement Lead.

4. Matrix Quality Standard re-evaluation and accreditation.

The careers information on this page has been written using this guidance:

Careers Guidance for Further Education & Sixth Form Colleges

Provider Access