The College is committed to helping students plan for the future so that they can take their next best step beyond QMC into higher education, apprenticeships or employment. Our student support staff provide a wide range of advisory and support services to students to help them meet their full potential. The main function of the post is to advise students on their career path and how to make best use of the extensive resources available, including detailed UCAS support. In addition, the administrator organises, updates and develops all aspects of the service, and organises regular training for staff, careers trips, fairs and other events. The administrator also assists in the administration of the College’s Oxbridge programme. The person appointed will be part of the student support services team and will be based in the Progression Hub, working closely with the Careers Lead, Work Placement Coordinator and our external careers advisor.

Purpose of the Job:

To assist the Careers, lead in the planning, provision, evaluation and development of an effective, impactful Careers service to support and enable our students to make well-informed and aspirational decisions about their future destinations.

Main Responsibilities:

To provide high quality advice and guidance to students and update/develop the College’s careers and HE provision. The main responsibility of the role is assisting the team with advising students (and their parents/guardians where required) on all aspects of careers and progression, including Higher Education applications, student finance, careers and employment options such as apprenticeships and technical pathways (including at Open Evenings, HE Evenings, enrolment and examination/qualification Results Days).

Duties will include:

An important part of the role involves the responsibility of being the College’s Southern Universities Network (SUN) scheme Progression Mentor. This post will see the successful candidate working under the overall direction of the College, with regular liaison with SUN Further Education Project Leaders within the SUN Central team at the University of Southampton to meet the aims of:

• reducing the gap in higher education participation between the most and least represented groups by acting as the point of contact for targeted students, working with them on a 1-2-1/small-group basis, to enable them to participate in education and employment initiatives offered by SUN, partner HEIs, further education colleges, training providers, charities and employers to realise their aspirations and support their social and academic progress through to level 4 study and employment.
• supporting young people to make well-informed decisions about their future education
• supporting effective and impactful local collaboration by higher education providers working together with schools, colleges, employers and other partners
• maintaining relationships with key members of staff within College in order to raise the profile of the SUN programme and the opportunities available.
• To provide support for colleagues to develop and submit project proposals that align with NCOP aims and objectives, monitor the project’s key outcomes using the SUN evaluation framework, and provide operational support where necessary to enable projects to complete successfully.
• To support the Lead in producing regular reports on the productivity and standard of events, activities and projects to ensure high quality and effectiveness.
• To monitor and evaluate projects and NCOP activity undertaken at the College.
• Maintain accurate records of events, students and activity costs, and work closely with the SUN Monitoring and Evaluation team and College finance teams to ensure that these are appropriately collated.
• To shadow and assist the Lead in representing College at external meetings as appropriate.
• Attend meetings with SUN FE Project Leaders and staff in similar roles within Further Education Colleges across the region. Share best practice with the group, identify opportunities for collaborative activity and contribute to the SUN post-16 engagement strategy.