Careers Advisor

Release day goes better with a plan. You help them write it.

Someone in custody is starting to think about life after release. Encouragement alone will not get them far. They need a realistic goal, an honest CV and a first step they can actually take.

That is the work of a Careers Advisor in our careers information, advice and guidance (CIAG) service, delivered inside a prison. If you have coached, advised or trained people towards work, you will recognise much of this job. The setting is what makes it different.

You will own a caseload of prison-based participants, helping each person set realistic employment or training goals through one-to-one sessions and workshops. Success is someone leaving custody with clear goals, an achievable action plan and the confidence to take up work or training, which supports sentence progression and helps reduce reoffending.

Every working day starts at the prison gate, and your mobile phone stays outside. You will work on site during core operational hours, with strict start and finish times, and follow prison routines, instructions and security procedures without exception. Some participants will be hard to reach and some conversations will be challenging. You will hold clear boundaries while offering encouragement, honest challenge and realistic advice, and keep going when progress takes time.

Your work is measured against outcomes and against Ministry of Justice, prison and contract standards. If you work well within structure and get real satisfaction from seeing someone leaving with a credible plan, this setting will suit you.

• Running one-to-one careers guidance sessions and agreeing realistic goals and action plans.
• Delivering structured workshops on CVs, interview preparation and job search.
• Managing your caseload so every session has a purpose and outcomes keep moving.
• Working with prison staff and partners on sentence planning and routes into work or training.
• Keeping accurate, timely records and following safeguarding, data-security and Ministry of Justice requirements.

Essential (you need all of these):

• Experience delivering one-to-one guidance or group-based employability support, for example in careers advice, employability, coaching or training.
• Experience supporting people who face barriers to employment.
• Experience handling challenging or sensitive conversations calmly while keeping professional boundaries.
• A track record of delivering against your own targets, with results to show.
• Evidence of reliable working: keeping to start times, appointments and procedures consistently.
• Confidence using IT systems to record activity and outcomes accurately and on time.
• Willingness to work on site in a prison during core operational hours, following all security rules, including having no mobile phone on site.
• A Level 3 or above qualification in Careers Information, Advice and Guidance, or a willingness to work towards one.
• The ability to complete enhanced vetting, including prison security clearance (see Safer recruitment below).
• An application that shows you have read this advert and understand what Get Set UK does: a clear, accurate CV setting out what you were personally responsible for delivering, and how your experience would help someone in custody prepare for work or training on release.

Desirable (welcome, not required): employability or careers coaching experience. From recruitment, employer engagement, or retail or hospitality management? Show us where you have coached or trained people.

These describe how we work here. They are not extra requirements.

• Deliver results: you review progress across your caseload, own it when something slips and use feedback and data to improve.
• People and Communication: you coach people to make their own decisions about work and keep every conversation clear, respectful and professional.
• Get it right: you follow procedures consistently, act with honesty and fairness, ask for another view when unsure and bounce back from setbacks.
• Strategic direction: you build steady, respectful working relationships with prison staff and partners so each person's plan joins up.

Get Set UK is a UK people services business working across employment, education, skills, careers, wellbeing, employer partnerships and justice services. We help people into learning and work, and this role sits at a critical point on that journey: the move from custody back into the community.

Get Set UK is part of…