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My child has left education

If your child has finished education and is wondering what to do next, our Careers Advisers can help them.

How Working Wales can help

Working Wales, delivered by Careers Wales and funded by the Welsh Government, are there to support your child with their options. They can do this by:

Offering a careers interview

Your child can book an appointment to talk to a Working Wales Careers Adviser.

They can talk to them over the phone, in-person, on a video call or webchat. Our Careers Advisers can help them:

  • Explore career ideas
  • See what type of work would suit them
  • Refer to other organisations such as supported employment if that is the best option
Practical support for finding and applying for jobs

Our Advisers can help your child to enter the labour market and can support with:

  • Accessing support programmes using Support Finder
  • Searching and applying for jobs
  • Looking for work and signing up for our job bulletin
  • Writing a CV
  • Practising interview questions

How can I support my child?

If your child isn't sure what to do now they've left education, encourage them to talk about their career ideas and options and the benefits of talking to a Careers Adviser. Get them to Book an appointment to speak to us. If they are nervous about coming to meet a Career Adviser ask them to look at What is a careers interview and watch the video on the page

  • Make sure your knowledge is up to date. Use Future Jobs Wales to find out about the job market, skills employers are looking for and employment trends
  • Encourage your child to think about all the options available. Look at Find out about your options with your child
  • Make sure they make full use of the help available to them. Look at Who can help me with your child
  • Show them the My Future YouTube Channel(external website) to watch videos about different careers and options
  • Encourage them to develop their skills through education, hobbies, work experience and part-time jobs

Our tools can help you both to start thinking about career ideas and search for suitable support programmes. Look at:

Options after leaving education

We can support your child with their next steps. Options available include:

Jobs Growth Wales+

If your child is between 16 years and 19 years old, interested in working but not yet ready then they could do the Jobs Growth Wales Plus programme.

This offers young people the chance to gain work-based skills and qualifications in a training centre or with a local employer. They also gain valuable work experience and maybe even a paid job in some cases.

Young people who have additional learning needs can access support to enable them to complete their training. A Careers Adviser can discuss these needs with your child and, with their consent, share these with the provider. If your child has an Individual Development Plan (IDP) they can share this with the provider.

Talk to your child about being a trainee on Jobs Growth Wales+ Be a trainee.

Employment and supported employment

Employment

At 16 years old your child can look for work if they are ready. They can apply for jobs that are:

  • Full time (about 37 hours per week)
  • Part time (work for part of a day or part of a week)

The employer can make changes to help them if needed, like getting equipment to help them do the job or getting funding to pay for transport to work.

Your child could apply for funding to support them into work. Find out more about Access to Work on gov.uk.

To discuss starting work with your child show them the Start work page.

Supported employment

Find out how Working Wales can offer specialist support.

Supported employment agencies in Wales are:

Watch a video by Engage To Change on YouTube to find out more about Supported Employment and Supported Internships. There are several supported employment agencies across Wales. They help young people with additional learning needs to find and maintain employment.

Apprenticeships

Apprenticeships are a way of getting experience of work, getting paid and gaining qualifications. There are different levels of apprenticeship from a Foundation Apprenticeship where people work towards a level 2 qualification through to degree level apprenticeships. Find out more on Apprenticeships. Explore this option with your child by looking at Be an apprentice.

Find apprenticeships on Apprenticeship Search.

Volunteering

If a young person wants to work but isn’t yet ready for paid employment, they could volunteer. This can help to develop skills and confidence as well as providing useful work experience.

Volunteers get involved in all sorts of projects and activities. The amount of time a person spends volunteering can range from a one-off involvement to a regular commitment of time each week.

You can find out more about volunteering on Volunteering, Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA) and Volunteering Matters.

Talk to your child about volunteering and show them our Volunteer page.

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