Free expert advice: How Skills Development Scotland (SDS) can help get your career on track – for all ages
Free expert advice is available to anyone looking for help to make learning and career decisions with Skills Development Scotland (SDS). Find out more.
Skills Development Scotland (SDS) delivers career information, advice and guidance services in schools, SDS centres and community venues across Scotland through its freephone helpline, and online at My World of Work.
SDS’s career services are free to use, and fully qualified expert advisers help people of all ages and at all stages of their career.
Careers advisers offer confidential advice through face-to-face support or call a freephone helpline on 0800 917 8000.
Help includes support for pupils, school leavers, adults who may be facing redundancy, looking to change career, upskill or reskill, or get into work or learning.
Careers advice in school
There is an SDS careers adviser in every state secondary school in Scotland, offering support to pupils in all years. The links that careers advisers have with other support services, organisations and agencies can prove invaluable for many pupils.
School careers adviser David Hooper has created a partnership with an international company, which has boosted job opportunities for young people in a rural community. Patriot International, based in the remote location of Oldmeldrum in Aberdeenshire, has grown to become a specialist in piping for the energy sector.
In 2023, the company contacted David when he was the SDS Careers Adviser at one of the local schools, looking for young locals to recruit. Since then, the link has led to a pipeline of talent for the firm and provided valuable career opportunities for young people at both Meldrum and Inverurie academies.
Two young people to benefit from the partnership were former Meldrum Academy pupils, Kai Anderson and Keigan Farquhar. David started to work closely with the 18-year-olds in 2023 when they were in S4 and both unsure about their future.
Taking them under his wing, David helped them with career management skills, which includes personal exploration and coaching. He organised for them to be part of the first group to visit Patriot and when the company invited them both to interview for its training programme, David helped them to prepare.
The teenagers were successful and, two years on, they are both flourishing at Patriot, continuing to train as mechanical technicians and having already gained valuable onsite experience in the UK and overseas.
Recently, David put another seven pupils forward for Patriot’s latest recruitment drive, with two from across each local school being successfully recruited. Keigan and Kai have been helping to induct the new starts.
An important part of my job is to give young people in this rural area access to as many opportunities as possible and give them the confidence and skills to succeed in life and work.
Long-term support
In the Scottish Borders, Earlston High School careers adviser Emma Fairley has been supporting young Scot Cloe Maxwell.
The teenager, who has additional support needs, was on the brink of leaving school at 15 without plans for her future before Emma stepped in. Today, 17-year-old Cloe has a new life at college and is set on a path towards her dream career in fashion.
Like many of the young people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Cloe spent time away from school in an isolated environment, so returning to study was difficult for her.
When Emma met and started working with Cloe as a pupil to understand her challenges and ambitions, she also started contacting local partners to put support in place. Emma spoke with the school to get support for Cloe to continue attending, while arrangements were made to prepare the youngster to get employment support from the No-one Left Behind scheme, when term ended.
After school, Emma continued to have regular catch-ups with Cloe and her mum Lisa, to develop a long-term plan for helping her on to learning for her career ambition.
After spending time building Cloe’s confidence, Emma helped her to successfully apply for a taster course at Borders College, where she is gaining more skills and gaining new friends.
Help to understand options
The help and guidance offered by a careers adviser can also help school pupils make decisions on subject choices.
Gracie Forrester, from Perth, was thinking about leaving Bertha Park High School after fifth year with no plans for next steps, until she met with the school’s Careers Adviser, Maxine Scott.
It was through meetings with Maxine that Gracie realised there were options to help her achieve her dream of working in Healthcare.
I had picked subjects I liked, including biology, but I wasn’t enjoying school at all and suffered from anxiety. It was then that I met with Maxine, and she encouraged me to think more about my options. Together, we looked at jobs, college and courses I could take whilst still at school.
Maxine explained the opportunities with the Foundation Apprenticeship in Social Services and Healthcare, which is a school subject that allows pupils to get real industry experience while they are still at school, combining time spent with a learning provider and an employer.
Completion of a Foundation Apprenticeship leads to a qualification at the same level as a Scottish Higher and is recognised by all colleges and universities in Scotland for entry into their further and higher education courses.
As part of her Foundation Apprenticeship with Perth UHI, Gracie spent one day a week working at Blairgowrie Community Hospital in the elderly ward. She also used her school year to help catch up on other subjects, choosing human biology, a National Progression Award in exercise and fitness and a Higher in literature and communication.
With Maxine’s help, Gracie successfully applied for an HNC course in healthcare practice at Perth UHI, which starts in the new term.
To keep up with experience, the caring teenager landed a support staff role at another local care home, offering paid work during the summer months.
She said: “I absolutely loved my experience on my Foundation Apprenticeship and it made me even more confident that I wanted to work in Healthcare.”
Find out more
Visit My World of Work website or call 0800 917 8000 to find out how Skills Development Scotland can help you with free expert advice to help make learning and career decisions.