Meet Your Future: National Careers Week 2023

Careers in the Public Sector

Your Career Journey with Transport for Greater Manchester

The Meet Your Future series is all about introducing you to potential careers in Greater Manchester that you might not have seen before. What better way to do that than with Transport for Greater Manchester? They’re the organisation responsible for keeping transport flowing across GM, whether that’s buses, trams, or traffic.

For National Careers Week, we focused on careers in the public sector. Have a look back some of our previous blogs to discover careers in the legal sector, the police, politics and fire and rescue.

In this Meet Your Future: National Careers Week article, we spoke to Jessica Skillington, a Resourcing Partner at TfGM. She’s going to cover some of the career opportunities at TfGM and how you could get started. Plus, hear from a current apprentice at TfGM who offers her tips on applications.

Watch the video below to see the full interview or read the article below for all the info you’ll need.

What do Transport for Greater Manchester do?

In the video, Jessica introduces TfGM and what they do within Greater Manchester. She explains that the organisation is responsible for ensuring the buses and trams in GM are properly staffed, run on time and are useful for residents. TfGM also cover road traffic in Greater Manchester. They look after permanent traffic lights as well as having strategic oversight over key roads in the city region.

The organisation is responsible for the creation and design of cycling and walking lanes, as well as bus stations and bus stops. TfGM are also looking at the reduction of air pollution caused by transport in the city region – so they’re also trying to ensure GM’s air is as clean as possible.

You might have also seen the Bee Network in the news recently – this is a Mayoral initiative to bring public transport in Greater Manchester back into public control. Transport for Greater Manchester are powering this change. TfGM also operate the iGo and Our Pass cards – both schemes help young people travel around GM for free or offer reduced fares.

In short, the work of Transport for Greater Manchester is all about making sure that people can get to where they need to be at the right time.

What opportunities are available at Transport for Greater Manchester?

As Jessica explains in the video, there are lots of different opportunities at TfGM as they are such a big organisation. She outlines just a few of them:

• • The finance team, looking at business accounts
  • The customer service team, supporting members of the public with their queries
  • The road safety team, who ensure roads in GM are safe to use
  • The human resources team, who recruit members of staff and run training and development
  • The IT team, who help with computer support and ensure IT equipment including station wifi is working
  • The services team, who ensure timetables are scheduled correctly
  • The business administration team, who make sure everything else runs smoothly

What about apprenticeship opportunities?

TfGM offer a number of apprenticeship opportunities, so if you’re thinking about an apprenticeship, they’re a great employer to have a look at. They offer apprenticeships in business administration, accountancy, procurement, customer service, and HR – amongst others!

Their apprenticeships can range from Level 2, equivalent to GCSEs, all the way up to Level 7, equivalent to a Master’s degree. So whatever level you’re at, TfGM could have an opportunity for you. Jessica also explains that due to the nature of their work, the organisation often have apprenticeships in civil engineering, offering a brilliant route into that career for anyone who’s interested.

Careers tip: Check out the TfGM careers page for up to date information about which apprenticeship schemes are currently open for applications. You can even register for job alerts so TfGM will email you when a vacancy opens that meets your requirements!

Hear from a current apprentice at TfGM

At the end of the interview, Jessica introduces Melissa Clark, a resource assistant at TfGM who’s undertaking a Level 3 Foundation Diploma in Human Resource Practice. Melissa says that her apprenticeship has allowed her to combine on the job training with off the job learning – and that she’s been able to apply what she’s learned to her role. She goes on to say that she thinks her apprenticeship is a great way to enter a career in HR!

In the video, Melissa reveals her seven key hints and tips of the recruitment process – we’ve summarised them below.

1. Research the role and the organisation you’re applying to. If you can demonstrate that you understand the role you’re applying for and what the organisation are looking for, it’ll really show your motivation.
2. Keep your CV brief. Melissa recommends keeping a CV to under two pages, to keep it simple and clear, and to tailor the CV to the most important requirements of the role you’re applying for.
3. Include skills and achievements from your personal life. Remember that things from your personal life are relevant to work – so this could be being in a club, a hobby, or even winning a prize – it could all be relevant to your job application.
4. Check spelling and grammar carefully. Double check your application and if possible ask someone else to give it a quick check as well.
5. Demonstrate transferable skills. Any form of experience helps demonstrate your transferable skills. Whether you’ve had a paper round, done some work experience, or been in a school sports team – it’s all useful to show off your skills.
6. Practice for interviews. Melissa recommends practicing for interviews with family or friends to help you think of responses to common questions.
7. Use resources online to help. There are lots of online resources that could help you prepare for applications and interviews, so check them out and have a look at what’s out there.

Find out more about careers with Transport for Greater Manchester by watching the full video above or by heading to their careers website. And, don’t forget to check out the GMACS blog for more videos and blogs from our Meet Your Future National Careers Week video series.

Meet Your Future: National Careers Week 2023

Careers in the Public Sector

Career Pathways with Greater Manchester Police

National Careers Week in 2023 was all about careers in the public sector. In these Meet Your Future sessions, we met people working in the public sector to ask them all about what it’s like working in their organisations. These conversations give you insights into whether these roles may be right for you. Have a read of the article or watch the video below to learn more!

In this session, we spoke to Amanda Mosley, a member of the Apprenticeship Coordination Team at Greater Manchester Police (GMP). She’s an expert in all things to do with becoming a police officer or working for GMP.

In this article, Amanda reveals the many different kinds of roles on offer at GMP. She also introduces the apprenticeship pathways you could use to join the organisation and become a police officer.

Read to get all the info and discover how you could start your career with GMP.

Introduction to Greater Manchester Police

Greater Manchester Police is the third largest police force in the country. It covers about 500 square miles across Greater Manchester and serves a population of about 2.7 million people. GMP cover all 10 districts as well as Manchester airport, so there’s a massive area to cover.

Such a large and varied force means there are a lot of different career opportunities and pathways on offer for people looking to join the police. GMP have support functions like their own force headquarters and training school. And, there are lots of roles in HR, finance, IT and many other areas.

The different careers and jobs on offer with GMP

As Amanda explains in the video, there are a huge range of options for careers within GMP. The obvious major role is to be a police officer. This is the biggest role at GMP, with just less than 8000 police officers serving the communities across GM.

However, there are lots more roles at the GMP. There are just under 5000 police staff who work within GM, and they cover a huge range of different areas. This includes HR, IT, fleets and equipment, training, call handling, detention officers, police community support officers, and investigators – so there are tons of options!

As well as these staff roles, there are also volunteer roles at GMP that you could do if you think a career in the police might be for you and want to give it a try. Police support volunteer roles are available in a wide range of roles including scam busters, volunteering at museums, and lots more.

There are also volunteer special constables at GMP. These are warranted officers, so they receive full training but are working on a voluntary basis. You need to be 18 to pursue this as you become a full police officer. As Amanda says, it’s a great way to try out being a police officer to see if it’s something you enjoy.

Careers tip: GMP have a cadet programme which is open to anybody between the ages of 13 and 18. These cadets are based in lots of areas across GM and are a great way to get started with a career in policing. Find out more on the GMP website.

Apprenticeship pathways with GMP

After outlining the huge range of opportunities available at GMP, Amanda moves on to talk about the apprenticeship pathways that are on offer. These are great ways to join the police and get paid while you qualify.

There are two routes. One is a Level 3 Business Administration apprenticeship, and the other is the Police Constable degree apprenticeship.

Level 3 business administration

Your option to join GMP when you leave school is a business administration level 3 apprenticeship. Anyone in year 11 can apply for this course. As part of the apprenticeship, you’ll get on the job training from Monday to Friday. You don’t attend college as GMP do all the training in house. At the end of the 15 month programme, you’ll achieve a level 3 apprenticeship in business administration.

There’s a competitive salary of just under £14,000 per year, and this increases to just over £20,000 when you reach the 12 month point of the apprenticeship. And, at the end of your apprenticeship, there’s the opportunity to apply for internal vacancies and to progress into a police staff or police officer role. Amanda says that lots of apprentices move into roles like call handlers, radio operators, customs or detention officers, police community support officers, as well as admin roles across GMP.

In the video, Amanda talks about which key skills are important if you’re thinking about applying for this apprenticeship. She says that GMP are mostly looking for potential, but if you’re able to demonstrate some of these skills that will be a big plus:

• A professional telephone manner
• Good standard of written work and accuracy
• Able to use IT systems like Microsoft Outlook, Word and Excel
• Ability to work as part of a team
• Effective communication and interpersonal skills
• Good customer service skills
• Organisation and prioritisation
• Working to deadlines

The apprenticeship is a development scheme, so don’t worry if you think you don’t have these skills. Throughout the course, you’ll be working on gaining and developing them.

Careers tip: In the video above, Amanda talks about the recruitment process. She reminds you to think about you can demonstrate your skills through school but also to remember that you can include examples from outside of school as well. If you’ve done voluntary work or played as part of a football team you can demonstrate your teamwork skills, for example.

Watch the full video above for more details on the recruitment process for the level 3 Business Administration apprenticeship with GMP.

Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship

GMP also offer a Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship. You could do this after college or sixth form, or even after the level 3 Business Administration apprenticeship. You need to be at least 17 to apply for this apprenticeship so you can’t do it straight from school. The apprenticeship is a three year programme in partnership with Salford University, and at the end of the three years you’ll achieve a degree – without having to pay tuition fees! You’ll also be employed as a police officer throughout so you’re earning a salary while you get a qualification. And, you’ll get a job at the end as a police officer.

To join the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship, you’ll need English and Maths at grade 4 or higher.

Careers tip: In the video, Amanda talks about what work experience is a good idea if you’re thinking about joining the police in the future. She says that any work experience where you’re dealing with members of the public is really important and will be great experience.

Find out more about careers with Greater Manchester Police by watching the full video above or by heading to their careers website. And, don’t forget to check out the GMACS blog for more videos and blogs from our Meet Your Future National Careers Week video series.

Meet Your Future: National Careers Week 2023

Careers in the Public Sector

Pathways Into Law

Welcome back to the Meet Your Future series of articles, all about careers in the public sector. So far, we’ve covered off politics and the fire and rescue service.

Our third National Careers Week article is all about careers in law. In this session, we heard from Judge Guirguis, who is a District Judge, and Tracey Etienne MBE, who is a Senior Legal Manager. In the video, they talk about both of their different pathways into their legal jobs.

Watch the whole interview below, or read on to find out our highlights, including some top tips on how to start your career in law.

Judge Guirguis’ pathway into law

In the video, Judge Guirguis describes how she got started in the legal sector. She said that she originally wanted to be a stock broker, but changed her mind during an employer visit when she was doing her A Level in Law. This is a real testament to the power of getting out there and seeing workplaces while you’re studying. Judge Guirguis described going to Nottingham Crown Court to see the law in action.

She said that when she saw barristers and judges walking around, doing lots of important things, she immediately thought: “hold on a second – this is what I want to do!”. Following this realisation, she changed her plans from wanting to enter finance to studying law at university and then going through the stages to qualify as a barrister. There’s more info on this process below. For more on Judge Guirguis’ pathway into law, including details about some of the early cases she worked on, check out the video!

Tracy Etienne MBA’s pathway into law

Tracy Etienne had a very different pathway into the legal sector. She left school before sixth form and started her career at TSB Bank as a cashier – hardly the typical academic route into the law profession! She described how she quickly did her qualifications with the bank. During this process her strong communication skills shone through. She actually ended up becoming one of the youngest bank managers in the country, at just 22 years old.

However, after becoming a bank manager, she decided she wanted to change her career. She moved on to a degree in Business with her local college, which was linked with Salford University. After this, Tracy did some work experience at a solicitor’s office, which she loved – again demonstrating the importance of experiencing what it’s like in different workplaces.

Tracy described how she found it difficult to become a barrister, as there were challenges because her degree wasn’t from Oxford or Cambridge. Also, she said that some people didn’t think she would make it because she didn’t look like the other people who worked as barristers. However, ultimately she did a law conversion course and got her career in law started.

Top advice for entering the legal sector

Both Judge Guirguis and Tracy emphasised the importance of extra-curricular activities and life skills to help if you’re applying for legal jobs and courses. Judge Guirguis said there are always lots of applications from people with very strong academic records. This means it’s often the things that you do outside of the academic that can make you stand out.

Tracy agreed with this, saying that when hiring for legal advisers, she often looks for skills like communication and problem solving. It’s vital that you do know and understand the law for these jobs, but in many cases success will be about life skills and confidence rather than academic achievement – despite how academic these jobs and courses can be!

Careers Tip: Judge Guirguis also highlighted the Bar Placement Scheme as a great option. If you’re a student interested in becoming a barrister, you can spend up to four days shadowing a barrister on this scheme. Find out more on the Bar Placement Scheme webpage.

Find out more about careers in law by watching the full video with Judge Guiguis and Tracy Etienne MBA above. Or, check out the GMACS blog for more videos and blogs from our Meet Your Future National Careers Week video series.

Meet Your Future: National Careers Week 2023

Careers in the Public Sector

Routes into the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service

For National Careers Week this year, we wanted to highlight careers in the public sector, whether that be politics, fire, police, law, travel, or health. We’ve heard from young people in GM that they’re interested in careers in these areas of the economy but perhaps don’t quite know where to start or just don’t know enough about what some of these jobs are like.

To help, we sat down with people working in each of these public sector areas and asked them to tell us a bit about how they got started in their career and what routes are available for young people to start off.

We’ll be releasing a write up for each of these 6 public sector areas, so keep an eye on the GMACS blog to see each one as they come out!

Our second session for National Careers Week was with Jane Jeffrey, a Watch Manager and the Firefighter Attraction Lead for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS). She spoke about what it’s like to be a firefighter and how you could get started in the sector if it’s something you think you might be interested in.

What is the Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service?

The Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service, or GMFRS, is the service responsible for putting out fires, responding to a range of other incidents, as well as fire prevention and community engagement work. It works across all 10 boroughs of Greater Manchester, so it’s got a huge area to cover. GMFRS is one of the biggest fire and rescue services in the UK.

Because of the area that GMFRS has to cover, there’s a huge amount of variety in the work that firefighters undertake. Jane explained that the different geographical areas in Greater Manchester have different needs. The range of waterways, industrial land, and moorland across the city region mean that GMFRS has a lot of different specialist vehicles.

All of this means that there’s plenty to get your teeth stuck into with a career in GMFRS, whether that’s as a firefighter, mechanic or other support staff.

What is a day in the life of a firefighter like?

You might think that being a firefighter is just about putting out fires, but as Jane explains in the session, there’s lots of other things in each and every day. It can be hard to give a sense of all this variety, but here’s what a typical day could be like as a firefighter.

First of all, if you’re starting on a day shift (firefighters do day and night shifts), you’ll start at half 8 in the morning with the change of watch (each shift is referred to as a watch). This is a short parade-style event followed by an appliance check, where you look over and check every piece of equipment that might be needed. This means spending an hour testing everything, making sure it’s clean, including equipment in lockers, toolkits and anything else. This is a vital part of the day as everything needs to be ready to go if an incident happens that the team needs to respond to.

After this process, which happens at the start of every single watch, it’s on to some training time. This might be short drills or some physical training, with a morning break in this time as well. Then, it’s on to lunch, with afternoons more about community work or “operational intelligence visits.” These are all about making sure that firefighter teams have a great understanding of the local area and any specific risks in the community.

Of course, the other side of this is that a typical day for a firefighter also involves responding to any incidents that occur! Whenever this happens, the watch team will stop whatever they’re doing and immediately respond to the incident – something known as “turning out.”

How do you become a firefighter?

Becoming a firefighter is a long process, and it can take up to 6 months. There are a lot of separate stages that you’ll need to go through – you can read more on the GMFRS website. The routes in are an initial recruits course, followed by a Firefighter apprenticeship course. This is a level 3 apprenticeship which takes 2 years.

Careers tip: In the video, Jane gives her 2 top tips to anyone thinking about becoming a firefighter. The first is around physical fitness. You’ll need to pass a running “bleep test” to become a firefighter, as well as being physically fit with good upper body strength. Jane says it’s never too early to start working on this.

 

Jane’s other top tip is on English and Maths. Part of the apprenticeship is getting a level 2 qualification in English and Maths, so you’ll need a level 1 to start this. She also says that if you get level 2 qualifications in English and Maths before starting then you won’t need to achieve them again on the apprenticeship, so it can be a helpful head start!

To find out more about careers in the fire service, you can watch the full video with Jane Jeffrey above. Or click the button below to see the GMFRS recruitment pages. Remember you can follow GMACS on Twitter or Instagram to keep up to date with all our blogs in the future!

Find out more about careers in GMFRS

Meet Your Future: National Careers Week 2023

Careers in the Public Sector

Politics at a Glance With the Director of GMCA Mayor’s Office

National Careers Week is all about helping you to meet future careers and jobs you might be interested in. This might mean hearing from prospective employers, learning more about your education options, or even hearing from your peers who have recently made their own choices. To celebrate National Careers Week this year, we ran a series of Meet Your Future sessions focused on careers in the public sector.

We asked people working in a range of public sectors (politics, fire, police, law, travel, and health) to deliver talks to young people in GM about how they got started in their careers and what kind of pathways are available. All those talks are now available on our YouTube channel, but we’ve also spent some time summarising the key points from each talk to help you with your careers research.

We’ll be releasing an article from each MYF video in NCW over the coming weeks, so keep an eye on the GMACS blog to see each one as they come out.

We kicked off National Careers Week with this session with Kevin Lee, the director of GMCA Mayor’s Office and political adviser to the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham. This session is a rare opportunity to hear from a behind the scenes political adviser. As Kevin notes, people with these roles usually try to keep away from the press and media attention, unlike elected politicians who are generally much more comfortable in front of the camera. This might open your eyes to the idea that there are plenty of jobs in politics where you don’t need to constantly be in the public eye.

Kevin’s background

During the session, Kevin talked about his background and the route he took to get the role he has today. He said that he joined a political party aged 15 as a volunteer and party member, but didn’t immediately pursue a career in politics, instead joining the Civil Service where he worked in Customs and Excise for around 10 years. He was still involved in political campaigns and elections as a volunteer, and this is how he ultimately got the opportunity to transition into a political career.

Kevin described how, in 1994, an opportunity came up to work for the Labour party on a particular election campaign. The Civil Service allowed him to take a 6-month career break to go and work on this campaign. Kevin noted how lucky he was to be offered a permanent position in politics after this but also talked about how it was definitely a risk to change careers after 10 years, taking a pay cut and losing the stability of a permanent position at the Civil Service.

Following this, Kevin described working in various roles in the Labour party, including becoming the Regional Director for the North West. This was where he first started working with Andy Burnham. Kevin then moved on to doing some consultancy work for a range of organisations, including Lancashire County Cricket Club, again where he had a link with Andy. After this, he was approached to become campaign manager for Andy Burnham’s Labour leadership campaign, then moved on to becoming the Head of Office in Westminster to support Andy’s time as a Member of Parliament.

When Andy was then elected Mayor of Greater Manchester in 2017, Kevin took up his current role as Director of the Mayor’s Office and political adviser to the Mayor. Throughout all of this, you can see how a career in politics is often based around specific campaigns and elections, as well as sometimes forming relationships with specific politicians.

Kevin’s current role

Kevin described his current role as “basically, my job is to help the Mayor”. He does this by offering political advice and helping on policy and strategy. Kevin described some different campaigns that he has worked extensively on during his time with the Mayor. One of these was “A Bed Every Night”, which is a campaign based around homelessness. While working on this campaign, Kevin decided to go out on walkabouts at 4 in the morning with outreach teams to actually get a sense of what the issues were. Sometimes, he noted, taking a focused and personal approach to a political issue is what will help you develop policies that truly help.

Kevin talked about how he, throughout his career, followed his heart with what he thought he was good at. He said he “never quite expected to be here, it wasn’t a career plan,” and said he “didn’t know where my career would take me, but I’m very lucky that it’s brought me to this position.”

Opportunities in politics and Kevin’s advice

Throughout his talk, Kevin talked about how there are “plenty of opportunities in politics that aren’t just about holding the elected office.” He mentioned lots of people behind the scenes supporting what elected politicians are doing. This includes things like political advisory roles, communications and engagement roles writing press releases and other forms of communication, and casework roles working on local people’s issues.

Careers Tip: Kevin was asked “how do you get started with a career in politics?”. His answer was to consider joining a political party if you’ve got a party view on politics, as this is a great way to get involved and get experience working and volunteering in politics. Or, if you’re more interested in research or strategy jobs, look for roles in party political offices, combined authorities or local councils, or research thinktanks which may look at research into specific issues.

To find out more about careers in local government, and to see some of Kevin’s answers to some of your questions, including whether he enjoys his job, watch the video above. Stay tuned here on the GMACS blog or follow us on Twitter or Instagram for the rest of the Meet Your Future National Careers Week articles!

Welcome to National Apprenticeship Week 2023. We hope you’ve enjoyed all the events going on so far! As always, it’s been a really vibrant and exciting week celebrating all things to do with apprenticeships and early careers pathways.

As part of the Meet Your Future series, we’ve had a fantastic time this week talking to over 50,000 young people. We’ve been running live talks every single day this week, where you can meet employers in Greater Manchester from a range of sectors including hospitality, finance, and many more! Check out the events section for more details of the events on offer and what’s coming soon.

See all the events on GMACS

We record all these talks, too and upload them to our YouTube channel, so you can catch up with any you missed whenever you like and watch them back again to help with your research into your education choices. Click below to head over to our channel where you can find archives of all the Meet Your Future talks we’ve done!

Head over to our YouTube channel

What is National Apprenticeships Week?

National Apprenticeships Week is a national event celebrating apprenticeships and everything they can offer. This year’s theme is “Skills for Life.” This is all about talking how apprenticeships can set you up with the skills you need to succeed throughout your career.

Find out more about National Apprenticeships Week

Because there’s so much going on to celebrate, National Apprenticeships Week is a great time to introduce yourself to the pathways and options that are available to you when you leave school or college. Don’t forget, though, that apprenticeships are an option for life. So, even if you’re planning on starting your career or going away to uni, they might still be a good option for you later in your career! It’s always worth researching and getting the knowledge you need to take your next best steps in your career or education.

To help you with your research, we’ve collated some resources and information that you can use to research apprenticeships and understand the wide range of options that are available to you in Greater Manchester. There’s info on GMACS, as well as some videos and other resources that you can check out – so there’s something for everyone here for National Apprenticeships Week. And, we’ve added Careers Tasks to each resource, so you can structure your research and thinking.

Search for apprenticeships on GMACS

The GMACS apprenticeship search is the perfect place to get started with your research into apprenticeships. Using this tool, you can see apprenticeships across Greater Manchester. These are live vacancies, so it’s a great way to look into what companies are hiring apprentices in your area. You can filter the results by specific sectors, so you can look just at the kind of jobs that interests you. Plus, there’s a postcode lookup feature, so you can see what apprenticeships are available in your area, or in the area that you think you might like to work.

You can click through to each apprenticeship to find out a bit more about what’s on offer, and it’s easy to click through to apply, if you’d like to!

Find apprenticeships on GMACS

Careers Task: Choose a sector, and a postcode area. This could be where you live, or in another area of Greater Manchester. Look at the kinds of apprenticeship on offer. Are these what you expected to see? Are any of them a surprise to you?

Find out more about apprenticeships on GMACS

GMACS is packed full of information about apprenticeships, as well as the other pathways you could choose to start your career – or get extra skills later in life. The apprenticeships page has all the information you need to start thinking about whether an apprenticeship is right for you. It includes info on why to choose an apprenticeship and what to expect, plus lots of your most asked questions.

Read about apprenticeships on GMACS

Careers Task: Choose one of the FAQs on the apprenticeships page that you don’t know the answer to. Read the information and see if it sets your mind at ease. Then, consider whether it’s changed your opinion on apprenticeships – does it make them more attractive as an option for you, or less so?

Learn about the apprenticeship journey with these videos

If you’re thinking about an apprenticeship as an option for you, it’s helpful to hear from people who have already made that decision. They can tell you what doing an apprenticeship is really like – hear it right from them in these videos!

Each of these videos will tell you about a different part of the apprenticeship journey. In the first video, apprentices from William Hare and Barclays talk about their experiences with applying for and starting an apprenticeship. In the second, they talk about what the learning experience is like, and how the balance between training and working was. In the last video, they talk about assessments and finishing an apprenticeship – as well as where you can go after!

Click the buttons below to access each video:

The Start of the Apprenticeship Journey

The Middle of the Apprenticeship Journey

The End of the Apprenticeship Journey

Careers Task: Choose the video that interests you most. Watch it, while thinking about how it relates to the apprenticeship journey. Does what the apprentices are telling you match your expectations of an apprenticeship? What’s different?

Learn about higher and degree level apprenticeships

There are lots of different kinds of apprenticeships – not all of them are designed for entry level or early careers skills. Some of them are designed to help you advance to higher levels of qualifications or to take the next step in a career you’ve been in for a while. Higher and degree level apprenticeships give you the chance to earn Level 4 and above qualifications or degrees.

Find out more about higher and degree level apprenticeships in this video.

Careers Task: Watch the video and consider whether you think a higher or degree level apprenticeship could help you get the job you think you’d like. This might not be straight away, but further down the line. Why not have a look on the GMACS apprenticeship search to see if any degree level apprenticeships are available in your chosen sector?

Find out about apprenticeships in specific sectors

If you’re interested in a specific sector, it’s worth researching how apprenticeships work in that area. There can be some differences from sector to sector, with apprenticeships being the norm in some jobs and for some careers, with other jobs mostly using different routes. However, don’t think apprenticeships are only limited to specific sectors. Apprenticeships teach you lots of transferable skills, so you might find they open doors into a wider range of jobs than you think!

Click the button below to check out our National Apprenticeship Week 2022 playlist, with videos covering apprenticeships in a range of sectors, like engineering, manufacturing, health and social care, and even the RAF!

Check out the playlist

Careers Task: Watch the video with info on the sector that closest matches the kind of work you think you’d like to do in the future. What did the video tell you that you didn’t know before? Does this affect what education choices you think you might make?

Read these apprenticeship guides

On top of all the video resources above, we’ve also collated a few pdfs and other resources for you to enjoy. Check them out below.

Stockport Jobs Match

Stockport Jobs Match have produced their guide to NAW2023, with details on local college providers, employers offering apprenticeships, and a huge range of other info.

Check out their digital prospectus by clicking the button below.

Read Stockport Jobs Match’s NAW23 Digital Prospectus

The Hut Group

The Hut Group are based in Greater Manchester and offer over 30 apprenticeship programmes! They’ve produced this pdf with a range of posters with tips and info on apprenticeships, just for you to check out. Check it out below.

Read Stockport Jobs Match’s NAW23 Digital Prospectus

Welcome back to another Meet Your Future article here on GMACS. Each of these articles is all about helping you to get to grips with a career or sector you might not have considered before. We’ll include resources, tips, and careers tasks that you can think about. It’s all been designed to give you the best introduction to a part of the economy that you might be interested in!

In this article, we’re covering Talk Money Week and all things to do with the finance, business, and accounting sectors. This is a really varied set of careers and jobs, so there’s lots of different things for you to explore and think about. Check out some of the resources below, and make sure to give a couple of the careers tasks a try!

Cost of living support

Talk Money Week is also about making sure that we all have a good sense of how to talk about money and how to manage our own finances. Money management and financial planning are important career skills for some – but a vital life skill for all.

This is especially true at the moment, with the economy in trouble and the cost of living crisis never far from the front pages. You might be struggling financially at the moment, or you might just be worried about what impact the crisis could have on you.

Remember that you’re not alone – everyone is going through this together. For resources, advice and help, check out the GMACS blog on the cost of living crisis. It’s got lots of things specifically aimed at young people that could help you.

Read the blog

Check out some data on the finance and business sector

To help you get a sense of what the accounting, finance and law sector is all about, we’ve created an infographic with all the headline stats you need. For example, did you know that 23% of the workforce in Greater Manchester are working in this part of the economy? Or that there are over 9,000 employers in GM in the sector?

Check out the infographic for details on some of the biggest companies you could work for, as well as some of the careers that are in demand right now. This could help you plan for your future – if you start thinking now about the kinds of jobs that companies need, it’ll set you up for a great career.

Check out the infographic

Careers Task: Look at the qualifications and types of entry level roles on the infographic. Are any of these in your plans at the moment? If not – have a think about whether you might enjoy that kind of role or training. Also, read about the future trends in the sector. Do these sound like things you could be a part of?

Explore the GMACS sector page

As well as the infographic, you can explore the sector page for the business, financial and professional services sector on GMACS. On this page, we’ve got some general info about the sector as well as some examples of the popular jobs in the sector that you might want to go into. This includes roles like management accountant, finance officer, and insurance broker.

Read the GMACS business, finance and professional services sector page

Careers Task: Read about the popular jobs in the business and finance sector. Do any of them match up with careers you’ve thought about in the past? Why do you think you might enjoy them? What parts of the job might you enjoy less? Thinking about things like this can help you figure out what you might want to do in the future – so it’s valuable time spent now.

Watch some video interviews with real people working in the sector

We’ve produced some videos with Digital Advantage where we interview real people working in the financial and business sectors. Watch them below – and don’t forget to check out the video careers tasks they set for you. These can really give you a sense of what it might be like to work with them and what their jobs are all about.

First, meet Avril, an accounts director at Deloitte. In this video, she talks about her typical day at work, some of the challenges of working in the sector, and what she enjoys most about work.

Careers Task: Click here for Avril’s video careers task for you. In the video, she talks about what goes in to preparing a due diligence report – and asks for your help! Are you up to the challenge?

Now, meet Enam Islam, who works in insurance risk management – he’s here to tell you about how every day is different, what tools he uses in his day-job and the biggest challenges.

Careers Task: Click here to watch Enam’s careers task – it’s all about how you can persuade your parents to choose an alternative holiday destination. Give it a try and work on your business skills by thinking about the benefits of choosing specific kinds of holidays.

Look at apprenticeships near you

As well as the resources above, you can also use the apprenticeships search feature on GMACS to see all the apprenticeships on offer across Greater Manchester. Why not have a look at what’s available under the “legal, finance and accounting” filter?

Search apprenticeships

Careers Task: Look at the apprenticeships in this sector that are within 5 miles of your postcode. Do any of them look like something you’d be interested in? Have you heard of any of the employers near you?

In this Meet Your Future article, we’re going to be talking all things green careers. This is all part of our celebration of Green Careers Week – which is happening this week from the 7^th to 11^th of November.

Green Careers Week is all about the skills, knowledge and jobs that make up the workforce of the future. We know that environmental and green jobs are going to become massively more important as we try to meet our climate action goals as a society. In this article, we’ll introduce you to some of these careers. Did you know they are huge growth areas of the economy?

One thing you may not know is that a lot of other jobs that we don’t currently think of as being green are likely to actually become green careers. For example, as getting solar panels and insulation installed becomes more and more important, some existing jobs will become a vital part of the response to climate change. Lots of jobs in the electrical or construction sector are already fast becoming vital green careers.

So, read on to find out more about what’s going on for Green Careers Week across Greater Manchester, and get some important info about the green skills and jobs that could be a crucial part of your future career. For more info and to stay up-to-date with GMACS, follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

Learn more about the green economy

The green economy is a relatively new sector for the country’s labour market. So you may not be aware that it’s growing rapidly – and you might not know what kinds of jobs it includes.

To help, we’ve created an infographic with all the information you need, including up-to-date Labour Market Information (LMI). This includes things like the average salary, top employers in Greater Manchester, and the kinds of jobs that are part of the new green economy.

Did you know that nearly 60,000 people are already employed in the green sector in GM? That’s around 4.6% of the workforce. Click below for even more facts and insight.

Access the infographic here

Careers Task: Look over the infographic. Does any of the information surprise you? Think about the job roles that are listed as in demand – do any of them sound like something you might be interested in? What about the qualifications and routes to entry – are you considering any of these courses? Finally, look at the section about the future. Nobody can predict the future, but think about what kinds of changes to the economy and careers some of these future trends might involve. What kinds of new jobs might be needed?

For more information on the green sector in Greater Manchester, look over the sector page on GMACS. We’ve created this page with lots of general information about the green sector, as well as some info on the kinds of jobs that are part of this area. Check it out below and find out a bit more about the green sector.

Read the GMACS green sector page

Careers Task: Look at the popular jobs section of the sector page. Do any of the jobs match something you might be interested in? Think about the kinds of skills involved for each one. Do you have any of these skills already, or are you learning to get them?

Find out more about climate change

Of course, coupled with info on the green sector itself, it’s also important to understand the wider picture of climate change and how we’re taking action. Climate change is a massive issue facing everybody, and there are lots of resources you can find online about climate action in general. If you don’t know, here are a few things you could look up online to find out about:

• “Net zero” emissions targets
• Decarbonisation
• Climate justice
• Climate migration
• UN Climate Change Conference (COP27)
• Green technology

Careers Task: Research any of these topics that you don’t know about or that you find interesting. What kind of careers skills will be important to jobs in these areas? For example, when it comes to climate justice, we might need lawyers or economists to assess the harm caused by climate change and figure out if anyone could have done more to help.

How is Greater Manchester working on green careers?

In Greater Manchester, we have set our own targets for becoming a net zero economy by 2038 – this is significantly ahead of national targets for zero emissions. There are lots of ways that this is being worked on and lots of plans in place for how to achieve this. You can find out more about this on some different places online.

GM Green City

The GM Green City website is a great place to find out about Greater Manchester’s climate strategy, with info on all of the individual, community, educational and industrial work that’s taking place.

Find out more

GMCA environment page

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority website has an environment page that contains all the details about the environmental strategy for GM. There’s lots of info here, and some of it is quite technical, but it’s a good place to start for researching the GM green strategy.

Find out more

Careers Task: Research the Greater Manchester strategy for dealing with climate change. Is there more you could be doing individually to help? What about with your career – do you have any skills already that you think could help the GM region meet this strategy?

Watch videos from Green Industry Skills Fairs

Over the past 2 years, the Meet Your Future series has run events and webinars for the Green Industry Skills Fair. Watch these videos to meet employers in the green industry and find out more about how their sector is changing and developing.

There are 2 playlists, one for the events that happened in 2021 and one for the events earlier this year. In these videos, you can watch an interview with Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, meet employers in the construction, sustainability, energy and social action sectors, and hear lots about what the future might look like.

Watch the 2022 playlist

Watch the 2021 playlist

Careers Task: Find a video about a sector that you’re interested in. Watch the interview with the employer and think about what they’re saying about their industry. Have they always been considered a green job, or have they transitioned to the green sector? What do they say about future trends?

Meet real people working in GM

We asked some real people working in a range of sectors across Greater Manchester questions about what they do and what advice they’d give young people. Check out two of these videos below to meet people working in green careers.

These videos were produced in partnership with Digital Advantage.

Meet Andy Atwood, a Sales Director for a logistics company. Watch this video to find out a bit more about how his company has had to adapt to meet the needs of new technology.

Careers Task: Click here to watch the video careers task from Andy. In the video, he talks about how to research new companies to make his business grow – think about how best to do this sustainably. Should you avoid certain industries? How do we make sure logistics businesses grow in a green and eco-friendly way?

Meet Owen Davies, a Design Engineer who works for a company who make motorbikes. In the video, Owen talks about the changing technology in the transport industry and how his company will have to adapt to it.

Careers Task: Watch this video to see Owen’s career task for you. He asks you to do some research into electric scooters – have a look and research what’s on the market for this sustainable new form of transport?

Green Careers Week in your local area

As well as all of the GM-wide activities going on for Green Careers Week, there are also lots of things happening in your local area. We’ve linked to a few of these below, but for more info check out the website and social media pages for your local council.

Manchester

Check out the Manchester City Council’s Work and Skills Twitter page for details of everything they’ve got on for Green Careers Week.

Check out MCC Work and Skills on Twitter

See their green skills webpage

Careers Task: Research green jobs in your local area. Look at your council’s website to see what plans are in place already for climate action. How could you get involved, both now and in the future?

Meet Your Future is all about giving you a taste of careers that you could go into. This blog post features resources to read and watch, tasks you could do to gain insight and experience, and some things you could think about. It’s a great way to hear from people who work in the sector, learn about job roles and what they might be like, and get thinking about your future.

In the past, Meet Your Future has included work shadowing opportunities, online webinar events, and in person visits from businesses and employers across Greater Manchester. This year, we’re going to be hosting Meet Your Future articles on GMACS, as well as live events and a huge range of other opportunities to experience the varied world of work in GM. So, follow GMACS on Twitter and Instagram, as well as keeping an eye right here on the GMACS website, for more details of these events as they come out.

In this Meet Your Future article, we’re celebrating Digitober, a festival of digital technology happening across Greater Manchester. Digitober is all about the exciting things happening in the digital sector in GM. This includes things like the digital inclusion strategy so everyone can get online, improving digital infrastructure, as well as celebrating the successes of businesses across the digital and technology industries.

If you’re interested in the digital sector, these resources, tasks, and discussion points are the perfect way to meet your future…

Greater Manchester’s Digitober events

Digitober 2022 was kicked off by the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham. Watch his short introductory video below.

Careers Task: Think about what the Mayor is saying in this video. What does he say about how important the digital sector is to Greater Manchester? Have you noticed any changes to digital technology near you, like your school or college getting new computers or software, or a visit from a tech company? Does this sound like an exciting thing you’d like to be a part of?

Digitober is packed full of other events and opportunities you could be a part of. They’ve also got some blogs and case studies about digital inclusion for you to read.

Find out more about Digitober

Watch some previous Meet Your Future recordings

We’ve been running Meet Your Future events for a number of years now – so we have a bank of recordings from live events that you can watch later. We’ve included a couple of these resources below that you can watch to get a sense of what a career in digital could be like.

Watch this recording of a Meet Your Future session from last year with Parul Singh, a Senior Javascript Recruiter. In this video, she tells us all about getting into the tech and digital sector. There’s lots of great information in the video, including debunking stereotypes and common misconceptions as well as why tech is a great place to work. There’s also some information about companies that you might not realise are based in Greater Manchester. And, Parul also tells us about her own slightly unusual pathway into working in tech.

Careers Task: Think about the education pathways you’re considering at the moment – would they be a traditional way into tech, as Parul explains, or a non-traditional one? Does the tech workplace sound like something you’d like? Have you heard of any of the companies she mentions that are based in GM? Have you ever bought anything from them?

In this Meet Your Future session, meet Kieran Wilkinson, a Technical Analyst from Koder.ly. He gives a talk about careers in the digital sector, including some info about industries that use digital technology that you may not have thought about. He also tells us about his pathway into digital through a degree apprenticeship and how he moved from being a software engineer onto a more project management role.

Careers Task: Click here to access the session card for this event, featuring some tasks you could do get a better sense of what a career in digital could be like. Did any of the industries he mentioned surprise you? Think about Kieran’s journey into software engineering with a degree apprenticeship pathway. Does this sound like something you’d be interested in?

Check out some interviews with real people working in the digital sector

Together with Digital Advantage, we’ve produced some short videos with information about working in a range of careers. These interview shorts are packed full of insights from real people working in each sector. We’ve asked them all about what each day is like and how they got into their current roles, so you’ll get a real sense of what it might be like to do their job.

Watch each of these videos and think about whether this is a job role in the digital sector that you’d be interested in. Then, watch the task video for each one and try to complete the task. You might need to ask a teacher or parent/guardian for help or sit down with a group of friends to do it together!

Meet Temitope Faro, a software engineer who works as a technical lead.

Careers Task: Watch this video to see Temitope’s careers task. In the video, he asks you to embark on an exciting web design task! Why not have a go?

Meet Siân O’Connell, a digital studio manager for a marketing agency in Greater Manchester.

Careers Task: Watch this video to see Siân’s careers task for you – to come up with a plan for a website build. Research what roles you’ll need to build a website, then schedule in their time.

Meet Georgina Nicklin, a graphic designer for Peel L&P.

Careers Task: See this video for Georgina’s careers task for you – it’s all about audience personas, a handy way to target your design work.

Find out more about the digital sector on the sector page on GMACS. This page has information on some key employers across Greater Manchester, as well as some popular job roles that you could go into.

Check out the digital sector page

Discussion topics

A big part of thinking about your future is thinking about the kinds of problems people in certain sectors are trying to solve. By doing this, you’ll get an understanding of whether you might like to also work on these problems. So, have a think about some of these topics – you could even write down your answers so you’ve got a record. Then, reflect on whether you enjoyed the process of thinking about these things. Did it excite you? Were you interested?

Digital inclusion

Digital inclusion is all about how people access the internet and how easy it is to access the services they need. So, think about how you currently get online. Are there any challenges or barriers that you face? How could you fix them? Think about any recent improvements or changes in how you get online. Have they made things better?

If you’re worried about digital inclusion, read this blog post to see how to get online in GM.

Digital infrastructure

Digital infrastructure underpins so much of what we do online. It’s about what phone you use, how it connects to the internet, what other devices you have. What recent developments have you noticed? Are you using any new devices or technology? This could mean things like getting faster internet or 5G, or a smart TV.

Digital skills check

As well as how we get online, it’s also important to understand why we use the internet. Think about your digital skills and the main things you do on the internet. Do you feel like you’re able to do the things you want to online? Are you good at using the internet? Do you find it easy to research things? Do you know what sites are trustworthy? Do you know how to keep yourself safe online?

For more info on digital skills, check out the GMACS blog on how to play it safe on the internet.

That’s all for this Meet Your Future on Digitober – don’t forget to let us know on Twitter or Instagram how you found it.