Careers Advice

Careers Advice Milton Keynes College Careers Programme

Our professionally qualified Careers & Futures Team is here to support both current and prospective students with expert careers advice and guidance. We are committed to delivering a high-quality, inclusive careers programme that empowers every student to make informed decisions about their future.

The College’s Careers Programme is fully aligned with the Gatsby Benchmarks, ensuring that all students benefit from:

• Personalised guidance from trained careers professionals
• Meaningful encounters with employers and workplaces
• Access to up-to-date labour market information
• Support for making informed choices about education, training, and employment

Our goal is to help every student build the confidence, skills, and knowledge they need to succeed in their chosen pathway.

Contact the Careers & Futures Team by emailing careersteam@mkcollege.ac.uk or by calling 01908 684456.

Careers Advice and Guidance for Students

As well as 1:1 advice and guidance appointments, our careers advisers are available to talk to you about a range of topics, including:

• Assisting in selecting the right college or university courses.
• Offering advice on finding and applying for apprenticeships.
• Providing support with crafting effective job applications and CVs.
• Guiding you on UCAS applications and refining personal statements.
• Running workshops to enhance your LinkedIn profile.
• Helping you to narrow down your skills and interests.
• Providing support in the initial weeks to ensure a smooth transition into the course.

We encourage learners to do their own research into the right path for them. If you need help logging into your Unifrog account, please speak with your tutor, Progress Mentor, or the Careers & Futures Team.

Careers Information for Parents and Carers

Parents and carers play a vital role in shaping young people’s decisions about their future, and that’s why we want to work with you to support your young person. Our careers programme is designed to ensure that learners have high aspirations for their future and the skills they need to access the widest possible range of options when they leave college.

Unifrog is an online platform designed to support young people to make informed decisions about their futures. We have invested in this system as it’s a great way to help learners explore their interests and find their best next step through online tools and resources.

We regularly seek feedback from a range of stakeholders on our careers provision and would welcome your input. Please take a few moments to answer our survey about the service here, or if you have any comments or suggestions, please contact our Careers Lead, Joanna Brown B.A. M.Sc, on joanna.brown@mkcollege.ac.uk or 01908 684143.

Explore our dedicated resources for parents and carers and sign up for our newsletter below:

How Can Parents & Carers Help?

Here are some suggestions on how you can help in terms of providing information and support:

• Looking at career information with your son or daughter and familiarising yourself with the options early on in their college life. This will help them with future planning and thinking about their goals and aspirations for the future as well as their employability skills.
• Talk to them about the world of work in general terms – what you like and dislike about your own role, the jobs of people they know and meet, some of the challenges and realities of the working world – as this helps them to build up a picture of what they want from work.
• Encourage them to be independent in their research.
• If your son/daughter has a careers appointment, they will agree on actions with the careers adviser. These will be typed onto the student’s college record within 48 hours of the appointment, as well as emailed to them. Encourage them to discuss the report with you.
• Help them to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of different routes and how these may suit them as individuals.
• Encourage them to start planning early – for example, we encourage students to start thinking about their plans at least a year in advance.
• If your son or daughter is happy for you to attend their career appointment, you are very welcome.

All learners have access to Unifrog, an online platform where they can explore their skills and interests in order to make informed decisions about their futures.

We regularly seek feedback on the value of our careers provision. If you have any comments or suggestions, please contact our Careers Lead, Joanna Brown, B.A. M.Sc, on joanna.brown@mkcollege.ac.uk or 01908 684143.

Meeting the Needs of Learners With SEND

We are committed to helping all learners achieve their goals in a supportive and inclusive environment. To find out more about our provision for learners with additional needs, please follow this link.

A guide on post-16 options aimed at parents, carers, and families of young people with SEND has been produced by the South Midlands Careers Hub.

Our Learning Support team can be contacted by email ineedsupport@mkcollege.ac.uk or phone 01908 684155.

Careers Information for Employers

We believe that meaningful employer engagement is key to preparing our learners for successful futures. We actively seek partnerships with employers to enrich our curriculum and provide learners with valuable insights into the world of work and the skills needed to succeed.

We would welcome your support with:

• Delivering talks or workshops about your industry
• Participating in mock interviews
• Attending careers fairs
• Offering work experience, job shadowing, or workplace visits
• Sharing job vacancies suitable for our learners
• Informing us about current skills gaps in your sector
• Inviting our staff to your workplace so that they can connect their teaching with the skills, roles, and opportunities your industry offers

If you would like to discuss any of the above or to provide suggestions or feedback, please contact our Careers Lead, Joanna Brown, B.A. M.Sc, on joanna.brown@mkcollege.ac.uk or 01908 684143.

Did You Study at Milton Keynes College?

If you are a former student of Milton Keynes College and would like to share your journey with our current learners, we would love to hear from you!

Explaining the path you took after college helps to bring to life the options and opportunities available, both to our students and tutors.

If you would like to find out more about how you could support with talking to learners, attending careers fairs, participating in mock interviews and a range of other employability activities. Please explore our Alumni hub.

Careers in the Curriculum

Our Study Programme courses incorporate learning about careers and employability skills throughout our Skills for Success curricula. Students are encouraged to take advantage of every opportunity to participate in various experiences and enrichment activities.

We run career events for each curriculum area where students at all levels can meet and talk to employers, apprentices, and universities all in one place, helping them realise the broad range of options open to them.

Meeting the Needs of the Local Economy

We are committed to delivering a curriculum that is challenging, innovative, and inclusive as well as reflecting the local, regional, and national skills priorities. Significant opportunities exist to deliver on local priorities relating to digital skills, carbon reduction, and pathways into employment.

To achieve these aims, we work collaboratively with the South Midlands Careers Hub, employers, Milton Keynes City Council, DfE, DWP, local schools, colleges, alternative provision settings, and higher education institutions.

As the largest provider of post-16 education in Milton Keynes, we recognise that collaboration is essential to support the city’s rapid growth and increasingly diverse population. Together we are shaping a skills agenda that meets the evolving needs of our local economy.

Impact of Our Careers Programme

Milton Keynes College Group is annually accredited under the Matrix Standard for the provision of Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) and was rated ‘Good’ by Ofsted at our most recent inspection. Our programme is mapped to and assessed using the Gatsby Benchmarks.

The success of the programme is measured and evidenced by:

• Student progression and destination outcomes
• Students’ engagement with Careers & Futures events and activities
• Student, parent/carer, and employer feedback
• Quality assurance processes, including Curriculum Performance Reviews
• Maintaining quality standards through ongoing Compass Benchmarking, as well as matrix re-evaluation and accreditation

We review our Careers Programme annually. Students, staff, parents or carers, and employers are welcome to add their comments and suggestions by contacting our Careers Lead, Joanna Brown B.A. M.Sc, joanna.brown@mkcollege.ac.uk or 01908 684143

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