My child is in school

Your child will need to make decisions about their learning and next steps. Our Careers Advisers are there to help them.

Careers Wales has Careers Advisers linked to every maintained mainstream and special school. We are also linked to places attended by young people who are educated elsewhere. Careers Advisers will also attend any school events such as parents evenings and open evenings.

How Careers Wales can help

Our Careers Advisers are there to support you and your child. They can do this by:

Offering a careers interview

Your child will be offered a careers interview. They do not have to attend, but should be encouraged.

Advisers can support young people with additional needs to make applications and, where needed, can identify ongoing support needs and advocate on behalf of your child.

They will talk to your child about:

Their skills and strengths
The options available to them
Their career ideas
How they can help them plan their next steps after school

A careers interview will also help your child with:

Motivation - helping your child prepare for change and address any potential barriers
Decision-making - supporting your child to make well-informed decisions
Self-awareness - developing your child's awareness of their interests, needs and abilities
Opportunity awareness - developing your child's knowledge of the labour market
Application - helping your child to take action
Resilience - support with managing setbacks and dealing with transitions

Look at meeting a Careers Adviser with your child to help them better prepare for an interview.

Attending transition planning meetings

Careers Advisers can attend transition planning meetings around your child's Individual Development Plan (IDP) or a Statement of Special Educational Needs. They can outline options and support your child with their future plans. Find out more about the IDP and how you can prepare for the review on IDP review page.

How can I support my child?

Attend review meetings and parents evenings

Take a look at some useful questions you could ask in an Individual Development Plan review meeting.

Attending these meetings means you will be:

Up to date with the support and provision your child is currently receiving
Aware of how your child is progressing in school and if there are any concerns
Able to fully support your child with their next steps

Exploring careers and options

Our top tips:

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 to watch videos about different careers and options
Encourage them to develop their skills through education, hobbies, work experience and part-time jobs
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

Our tools can help you both to start thinking about career ideas. Look at: