Description

School Careers Lead and Advisor

37 hours a week (Mon-Thurs: 8:30am – 4:30pm; Friday: 8:30am – 4:00pm), term time plus two weeks (these two weeks would have to be the Exam Results fortnight, currently the last two weeks in August, to support the university and sixth form enrolment processes).

GRADE: H7/H8 on the Hertfordshire support staff pay range (FTE: £32,061-£37,280) (pro-rata: £29,079 - £33,664)

Are you seeking an opportunity to lead careers in a dynamic school? If so, St Mary’s CE High School is looking for you to join us as a Careers Lead and Advisor.

A fantastic opportunity has arisen for a Qualified Careers Adviser (who has achieved the Level 6 accreditation) to join our school, to provide careers advice, guidance and support to individuals and groups of young people from Year 7 through to Year 13.

You will produce tailored careers information, advice, and guidance to meet the needs of our young people, as well as conducting personal advice interviews in Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5. You will lead programmes and activities across all ages in the school, that open the students’ minds to the world of further and higher education, as well as apprenticeships and employability. You will support the planning of the areas of our PSHE programme that relate to careers and employability, as well as planning and delivering Work Experience in Year 10 and Year 12.

In return we will support you with your ongoing professional development and membership of a professional body such as the Career Development Institute.

The school takes induction for those new to the school, and their continuing professional development very seriously. Please read what the Head Teacher has to say about this here: Induction and Development.

Applicants do not need to be practising Christians, but would be expected to uphold our Christian principles of trust, forgiveness, compassion, thankfulness, friendship and love, as well as our vision where, ‘Through God’s love, we are the rich soil where seeds flourish and roots grow’.

Please complete the St Mary’s application form which is downloadable from the website.

Please note that safeguarding students of the School is a priority.  All appointments to posts in the School are made through stringent adherence to the requirements of ‘Keeping Children safe in Education’. As there is a high degree of contact with children an enhanced disclosure will be sought for this post through the Criminal Records Bureau as part of pre-employment checks. Two references will be sought for every candidate that is called for interview. St Mary’s is an Equal Opportunities Employer.

Application Deadline: 9am on 15th February 2026

Interviews: TBC

Start date: TBC

Requirements

Careers Lead and Advisor

WORKING CONDITIONS: 37 hours a week (Mon-Thurs: 8:30am – 4:30pm; Friday: 8:30am – 4:00pm), term time plus two weeks (these two weeks would have to be the Exam Results fortnight, currently the last two weeks in August, to support the university and sixth form enrolment processes).

GRADE: H7/H8 on the Hertfordshire support staff pay range (FTE: £32,061 - £37,280) (pro-rata including fringe: £29,079-£33,664)

RESPONSIBLE TO: Deputy Head Teacher

JOB PURPOSE

To develop and enhance the school’s careers programmes in all year groups, mindful of the ability profile of individual students and ensuring that their experience of careers advice and guidance successfully leads them on to their chosen ‘next step’ when they leave St Mary’s. To support staff and parents/carers understanding the careers programme through training and communication.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Personal and Professional Standards:

The school is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. 

All staff are to:

• support the aims and ethos of the school
• have regard to the Church of England character of the school and not to do anything in any way contrary to the interest of its foundation
• set a good example in professional dress and appearance, punctuality and attendance
• take responsibility for personal development and training as a consequence of the performance review cycle
• attend team and staff meetings as appropriate, contributing actively whenever possible
• provide a courteous, prompt and polite service to all members of the school community, including parents/carers, students, all staff, contractors and suppliers and other visitors
• actively contribute to the school’s mission statement by forming positive relationships within the school’s community and working collaboratively and in good humour with other colleagues as appropriate or when directed
• be aware and comply with all relevant policies and procedures within the school, particularly those relating to child protection, equality, health and safety and confidentiality. It is the duty of all colleagues to report breaches of school policies or procedures to the Headteacher

Main scope of responsibility: 

• To provide an inspiring and best practice careers service throughout the school that complies with or exceeds each of the Gatsby benchmarks
• To map provision in school to the Career Development Institute (CDI) framework and ensure we meet its requirements
• To provide engaging and interactive careers advice, guidance and support on subject options and post-school choices, including Higher Education planning and work related learning
• To develop, implement and review a strategic plan which guides the policies, plans, targets and practices of the Careers Service in school.

Principal duties and responsibilities:

The role may encompass all the following duties.  The exact duties and responsibilities and balance of workload will be determined in discussion with the post holder’s line manager.

For all students:

• Lead and manage Careers Education in Years 7-13
• Lead and manage university, higher/degree apprenticeships awareness in Years 7-13
• Advise students on work experience opportunities and assist students in work experience placements and administer the required paperwork
• Contribute to the tutorial programme in consultation with the relevant Year Lead
• Attend parent/carer events and actively promote careers in school acts of worship and at information events and open mornings
• Maintain and coordinate careers sessions for Years 10 and 11
• Manage careers profiling software for students
• Manage the school’s use of Unifrog
• Interview each Y10 and Y11 student (a ‘careers advice’ or ‘personal advisor interview’) before Post 16 choices are required
• Innovative and dynamic contributions to the PSHE programme throughout the school
• Organize annual careers events such as the Careers Fair, University Fairs, Careers Week, University Day, UCAS application day and apprenticeship talks, appropriate to the year group
• Monitoring, recording and communicating leave destination information to relevant members of the school community

At KS5: 

• Producing careers information through hard copy literature, e-communications and displays
• Providing options guidance, preparation and support for university/course selection, apprenticeships and other pathways (eg., online interviews, video applications)
• Providing guidance, preparation and support to students on completing application forms, interview technique and presentation skills
• Arrange that all students have access to careers testing and ensure each has an individual careers interview
• Support the university applications process (including UCAS, Oxbridge and medical applications)

Beyond St Mary’s:

• Suggesting, developing and maintaining effective partnerships with local, national and international businesses
• Developing a network of specialist partners to provide guidance on specific careers
• Attendance at national and international level professional development opportunities, including conferences organized by universities, UCAS, International ACAC and/or CIS
• Liaison with external careers services.
• To assist students with university placement if difficulties arise upon presentation of public examination results
• Working closely with the former students (Alumni) community, to include career lunches and briefings, networking opportunities at university and in the workplace, video conferencing and podcasting, and support with work experience placements
• Keeping abreast of developments and best practice in careers through research, attendance at training events and conferences, and establishing relationships with peers from other institutions
• Maintain annual membership (through the school) of the CDI

Parents/Carers:

• Provide collective and individual guidance to parents/carers at key transition points in St Mary’s as appropriate
• Organized and present information to parents/carers on the careers and university programme UCAS applications and Student Finance

Management:

• Manage the those involved in the delivery of any careers advice, the budget and Learning Resource Centre resources
• Any other duty which may be reasonably requested by the line manager