Industry Sectors

Role Description

You'll be helping people in their own homes or in day centres, residential or nursing homes.

Your day-to-day duties may include:

• getting to know clients and their interests and needs
• helping with personal care like washing, using the toilet and dressing
• food preparation, feeding and giving out medication
• carrying out general tasks like housework, laundry and shopping
• helping clients manage their budget, pay bills and write letters
• supporting families to get used to new caring responsibilities
• giving emotional and practical support to children and young people
• working with other health and social care professionals to provide individual care and development plans
• helping to organise leisure activities
• going with clients to and from a residential home

Role Training

There are no set requirements, but you'll find it useful to have some experience in a caring role. This could be personal experience of caring for someone you know, or voluntary work with an organisation that supports vulnerable people.

You'll be working with children or vulnerable adults, so you'll need Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) clearance.

You could get into this job through an apprenticeship.

If you're new to adult social care in England, you'll need to gain the Care Certificate as part of a 12-week induction programme provided by your employer.

Find out more at Skills for Care.

Within 6 months of starting in children's residential care, you'll need to have or get the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare or equivalent.

Find out more about the Children's homes regulations.

Role Description

1. Entry requirements

There are no set entry requirements.

Previous experience in sales, marketing or customer services, or the right skills and attitude, could help you get into this type of work. 

Some new recruitment consultants are graduates. You can enter recruitment with any degree, although some employers may prefer one more closely related to the industry they find staff for, like human resources, marketing or public relations.

You could get into this role through an apprenticeship.

The Institute of Recruitment Professionals has more information about becoming a recruitment consultant.

2. Skills required

You’ll need:

• excellent communication and customer service skills 
• good sales and negotiation skills 
• the ability to work under pressure and meet targets 
• good organisational and administrative skills

3. What you'll do

Your day-to-day duties might include:

• ‘cold calling’ companies to generate new business 
• interviewing and testing job seekers, to create a pool of people ready to fill vacancies 
• matching candidates to suitable jobs 
• screening and shortlisting candidates before employers interview them 
• meeting targets for the number of vacancies taken or the number of people placed into jobs 
• keeping records of clients, employers and vacancies 
• negotiating your agency’s fees 
• ‘headhunting' – finding and approaching candidates for executive or specialist jobs

4. Salary

Starter: £16,000 to £20,000 (trainee)

Experienced: £38,000 

Highly Experienced: £60,000 (manager) 

Most recruitment consultants earn a basic salary plus commission.

These figures are a guide.

5. Working hours, patterns and environment

You’ll usually work standard office hours. In some jobs you may need to work outside office hours, contacting clients or interviewing candidates.

The work is mainly office-based, but you’ll also spend some of your time visiting your client companies.

6. Career path and progression

With experience you could move into business development or management, or set up your own agency.

Role Description

1. Entry requirements

Events managers often have a variety of backgrounds. You can do a college or university course in events management but it isn’t essential.

Whatever your qualifications or background, you should have practical experience gained from public relations, travel and tourism, or helping to organise events like live entertainment.

You could gain experience of organising events and activities in your social life. Paid or unpaid work as a crew member at large events or exhibitions can also be a good way of building contacts within the industry.

The Business Visits and Events Partnership has more information about working in events management.

2. Skills required

You’ll need:

• excellent organisation skills 
• the ability to carry out a number of tasks at the same time 
• good communication and people skills 
• a creative approach to problem-solving 
• a high level of attention to detail 
• the ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines 
• good negotiation, sales and marketing skills 
• budget awareness 

3. What you'll do

You’ll oversee the whole project, from planning at the start to running the event on the day.

Your day-to-day duties might include:

• discussing what the client wants 
• coming up with original ideas for events 
• agreeing budgets and timescales with the client
• researching venues, contacts and suppliers
• negotiating prices with suppliers and contractors
• booking venues, entertainment, equipment and supplies
• hiring and supervising contractors such as caterers and security 
• publicising the event 
• making sure that everything runs smoothly on the day 
• ensuring that health, safety and insurance regulations are followed 
• managing a team

4. Salary

Starter: £17,000 to £21,000

Experienced: £25,000 to £40,000

Highly Experienced: £50,000 to £80,000 

Your salary may include bonuses and commission, particularly if the job involves sales and marketing.

These figures are a guide.

5. Working hours, patterns and environment

You’ll generally work standard office hours, although you may work long and unsocial hours in the run up to events. 

If you manage outdoor events, you’ll have to work in all weather conditions. You may also go to events in the evenings and at the weekend. 

Depending on where you run the events, you may need to spend time travelling and staying overnight.

6. Career path and progression

With experience and a good track record, you could run events that have larger budgets and eventually progress to management.

You could work freelance or set up your own events management business.

Role Description

You'll need:

• excellent analytical skills
• the ability to work with people at all levels
• the ability to lead and motivate a team
• the ability to prioritise tasks and meet deadlines
• the ability to anticipate issues and respond to unforeseen changes

You’ll work with senior managers and other professionals to support changes to the way an organisation works, like:

• improving decision-making processes
• supporting the introduction of a new IT system
• developing a marketing and sales strategy
• Your day-to-day duties might include:
• speaking to managers to find out what they want to achieve
• carrying out fact finding tasks into business processes to see what they do and how they do it
• analysing findings and using data modelling methods to help recommend changes and improvements
• explaining the benefits of your recommendations and looking at the potential impact and risks
• agreeing the best way to put recommended changes into place with management
• overseeing testing and quality checks of recommendations
• supporting staff making changes and reporting any issues
• In some cases, you may be responsible for managing a project through to completion.

Role Training

Entry requirements

There are no set requirements, but previous project management experience and a working knowledge of project development methods like Waterfall or Agile will be helpful. A technical background, like in software development or programming, can also help.

It may be useful to have a first or higher degree in subjects like:

• business information systems
• business management
• computing and systems development
• computer science
• Employers may look for recognised certification of your skills from a professional body, like The International Institute of Business Analysis UK (IIBA) or The Chartered Institute for IT (BCS).

You could get into this career through a degree apprenticeship.

Role Description

1. Entry requirements

You'll usually need a foundation degree, HND or degree in a subject like marketing, advertising or business.

Experience as a marketing assistant, or working in sales or public relations, could help you get into this job without a degree.

You could also get into marketing through an apprenticeship.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) has more information about qualifications and training.

2. Skills required

You'll need:

excellent organisational, planning and IT skills

strong communication and negotiating ability

creativity and writing skills

3. What you'll do

You could work for sales or marketing agencies, or in marketing departments of organisations like financial services or manufacturing.

You could also work for fund-raising charities, heritage organisations or the education sector.

Your day-to-day tasks may involve:

doing research on customer and market trends

identifying target markets and possible sponsors

creating and planning marketing campaigns

using automated systems for email campaigns and customer management

writing and editing for print and multiple online uses

organising promotions and events to meet clients, suppliers and the media

managing campaign websites and social media

managing budgets and monitoring the effectiveness of campaigns

4. Salary

Starter: £18,000 to £22,000

Experienced: £22,000 to £30,000

Highly Experienced: £30,000 to £35,000 (senior)

These figures are a guide.

5. Working hours, patterns and environment

You'll usually work 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. You may occasionally work evenings and weekends.

You'll be based in an office but may travel to meet clients and attend events.

You may need a full driving licence.

6. Career path and progression

With experience, you could become a marketing manager.

You could also become a freelance marketing consultant, or move into areas like advertising, sales or public relations.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) has details of professional development.

Role Description

Skills required

You'll need:

• the ability to understand the development process 
• some programming knowledge
• the ability to work under pressure and to deadlines
• maths skills

What you'll do

You could work in a wide range of businesses and industries, public services, utilities, defence and research. 

You'll work closely with project managers, business analysts and graphic designers, to find out what the client wants and the best way to achieve it. 

Usually, you’ll work in a team.

You could work on a wide variety of projects, from financial databases to robotics to apps for phones and tablets. You may use a number of programming languages or project management tools.

Your day-to-day tasks may include:

• talking through requirements with the client and the development team
• taking part in technical design and progress meetings
• writing or amending computer code
• testing software and fixing problems
• keeping accurate records of the development process, changes and results
• carrying out trials and quality checks before release
• maintaining and supporting systems once they're up and running
• As an experienced developer, you may supervise a programming team and provide feedback on coding work.

Role Training

You may be able to get into this job through an apprenticeship if you've developed some programming skills and can show a strong interest in the subject.

The TECH Partnership has details of digital apprenticeships at all levels.

It also has details of the Software Development for Business degree available at some universities.

Other suitable qualifications are a foundation degree, HND or degree in computing or a related subject, like:

• computer science
• information technology
• software development
• software engineering
• mathematics
• business information systems

Some companies will accept you onto their graduate training scheme without an IT-related degree if you understand programming languages and frameworks, project management and development methods.

You could also study for a postgraduate IT conversion qualification.

The Chartered Institute for IT (BCS) has information about training and qualifications.

Role Description

1. Entry requirements

Employers will usually expect you to have:

• GCSEs in English and maths, or equivalent
• computer skills
• experience of office work

You may also find it useful to have qualifications in business administration. Some employers may expect you to have a qualification from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

The CIPD has more information about working in HR.

2. Skills required

You’ll need:

• the ability to pay close attention to detail
• good written and spoken communication skills
• IT skills
• a well organised approach to work
• teamworking skills
• the ability to work flexibly
• 3. What you'll do
• Your day-to-day tasks may include:
• answering enquiries
• maintaining staff details on computer systems
• writing documents like letters and reports
• updating employee holiday and sickness records
• recording discussions during disciplinary procedures
• producing staff handbooks and newsletters
• organising meetings and taking ‘minutes’
• setting up recruitment and training events

4. Salary

Starter: £15,000 to £18,000

Experienced: £19,000 

Highly Experienced: £22,000

These figures are a guide.

5. Working hours, patterns and environment

You’ll work 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Flexible hours, part-time and temporary work are widely available.

You’ll spend most of your time working in an office using a computer.

6. Career path and progression

With experience, you could become an HR officer or team leader.

Role Description

Skills required

You'll need:

1. a high level of accuracy and attention to detail
2. excellent communication skills

What you'll do

Your role and tasks will vary by industry.

In the pharmaceutical, food or brewing industries, your work will include:

• developing new products
• monitoring production
• quality control
• checking the safety of existing products

In a hospital, public health laboratory or research institute, your work will include:

• carrying out tests on blood
• researching the causes of disease
• exploring new methods of treatment

In agriculture and the environment, your work will include:

• genetically engineering plants to create pest-resistant crops
• improving the quantity of crops
• developing and extending the shelf life of produce
• monitoring the effects of pollution on the environment

As a biochemist in education, you could work in universities, colleges and schools, or medical, veterinary or dental schools.

Role Training

You'll usually need a science degree. For jobs in industry or research, you may also need a postgraduate qualification (MSc or PhD).

Relevant first or higher degree subjects include:

• biochemistry
• biotechnology
• biopharmaceuticals
• cell and molecular biology
• chemical and molecular biology
• microbiology genetics
• molecular biology

In the NHS, you can train by following the NHS Scientist Training Programme (STP).