Industry Sectors

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

Skills required

You'll need:

• excellent communication skills
• the ability to work with children and their families in a sensitive and positive way
• creativity and imagination for game playing 
• planning and organisational skills
• IT skills

What you'll do

Your day-to-day tasks will include:

• planning and supervising activities like arts and crafts, music and cooking
• helping children to learn numeracy and language skills through games
• taking children on outings
• feeding and changing babies
• observing children and making notes to write reports
• making sure children are safe and well
• With experience, you could become a key worker for one or more children. You'll monitor their progress and share information about their development with parents or carers.

Role Training

• The Department for Education (DfE) has information on all approved childcare qualifications.
• If you don’t have a level 2 qualification, you can start out by working as a nursery assistant where you’ll be supervised by more experienced staff. This could be a paid job or through volunteering. You could then train while you work.
• You may also find it useful to have a level 2 qualification in English and maths which includes functional skills.
• You could get into this career through an apprenticeship.
• You'll also need an enhanced background check which your employer will arrange for you.
• You'll find information on careers and courses in childcare from:
• Pre-school Learning Alliance
• Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years (PACEY)
• National Day Nurseries Association
• Foundation Years has information about early years education and childcare.

As an experienced nursery worker you could specialise in working with children with learning difficulties, physical difficulties or mental health problems. 

You could also take a level 3 early years educator qualification to progress to room leader, senior nursery worker or centre manager.

You could also study towards a higher education qualification in early years or child development. You could then move into management or early years teaching.

Role Description

1. Entry requirements

There are no set requirements, but you'll need a good level of general education. GCSEs in English, maths and ICT may be useful.

Experience or a qualification in customer service or contact centre operations could also help.

You could get into this job through an apprenticeship.

2. Skills required

You'll need:

excellent customer service skills

the ability to handle and resolve difficult situations

IT and administration skills

accuracy and attention to detail

3. What you'll do

You could work in a variety of organisations like retail, finance, travel or manufacturing, or for a local authority or the government.

Your day-to-day activities may include:

answering customers' questions by phone, email, webchat or face-to-face

giving quotations and checking product availability

selling and taking payment

handling complaints or passing them to a manager

entering customer information onto a computer database

tracking orders and giving refunds

4. Salary

Starter: £12,500

Experienced: up to £18,000

Highly Experienced: £20,000 to £30,000 (team leaders)

You may get a bonus or commission.

These figures are a guide.

5. Working hours, patterns and environment

You'll usually work 37 to 40 hours a week, which may include evening and weekend shifts.

You could work in an office or on a customer service desk. You'll spend a lot of your time on the phone and using a computer.

You may need to wear a uniform.

6. Career path and progression

With experience, you could progress to team leader or customer services manager.

You could also move into sales or account handling.

Role Description

Skills required

You’ll need:

• excellent communication and listening skills 
• empathy and the ability to deal with people in distress 
• honesty and integrity 
• the ability to remain calm in stressful situations 
• problem-solving and decision-making skills

What you'll do

You’ll see people who have psychological difficulties like anxiety, depression, phobias or eating disorders.

Your day-to-day tasks may include:

• assessing clients’ needs through interviews, tests and observations
• deciding on the most appropriate form of treatment, like therapy, counselling or advice
• planning treatment programmes
• working with clients in groups or individually
• writing reports and going to case conferences
• carrying out research
• You’ll work closely with other professionals, like doctors and probation officers.

Role Training

• a British Psychological Society (BPS) accredited degree in psychology, or completion of an approved conversion course 
• Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) of the BPS 
• a doctorate in clinical psychology 
• work experience (often a minimum of 12 months) as a psychology assistant or research assistant, or in a relevant caring role 
• registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) 
• clearance from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)

Role Description

You may work for a local education authority, social services, or a voluntary organisation. You'll accompany passengers on journeys, usually in a mini-bus.

• Your day-to-day tasks may include:
• checking timetables for pick-ups
• talking to carers and families
• helping people to and from the vehicle
• securing passengers, wheelchairs and baggage
• dealing with emergencies
• supervising passengers at all times
• keeping the mini-bus tidy
• filling in paperwork
• You'll need patience and an understanding of disability needs.

Role Training

There are no set entry requirements. Experience in social care or customer service may help you get a job. You could start by volunteering for a charity like a hospice.

With experience, you could move into administration or management.

You could also become a driver, which would open up more full-time opportunities.

Role Description

Skills required

You’ll need:

• the ability to concentrate for long periods
• a good level of accuracy and attention to detail 
• an enquiring mind and good problem-solving skills 
• the ability to lead a research and development team 
• strong spoken and written communication skills 
• empathy and understanding when working directly with patients

What you'll do

You’ll usually work in a laboratory, testing and analysing biological samples. 

You’ll specialise in one of these areas:

• infection sciences 
• blood sciences 
• cellular sciences
• Depending on your chosen area, your duties could include:
• testing for diseases like Legionnaires’ disease and food poisoning 
• screening and testing for infectious diseases like rubella or hepatitis 
• analysing blood for disease and monitoring organ function 
• supporting the blood transfusion and transplant service through blood grouping and matching 
• screening for blood abnormalities and diseases, like anaemia and leukaemia 
• processing and analysing tissue samples from operations and autopsies 
• using specialist procedures like cell culture to detect cancer 
• routine testing of fluid and tissue samples like cervical smear tests 
• updating paperwork or computerised systems with data and test results
• You’ll also be involved in carrying out new research, and will support junior staff and technicians.

Role Training

You’ll need:

1. an Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS) accredited BSc (Hons) degree 
2. at least one year’s experience at an approved laboratory - during this time you’ll work towards completion of the Registration Training Portfolio for the Certificate of Competence awarded by IBMS 
3. registration as a biomedical scientist with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
4. You may be able to get into biomedical science as a trainee. You'll usually need at least 2 A levels in science or a related subject. Places are sponsored by employers like the NHS and are advertised as trainee biomedical scientist positions. You'd work and study towards an accredited degree. 

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

There are no set requirements but competition is strong so you’ll usually need a foundation degree or a degree.

If you want to go into quantitative work (analysis based on numbers), these degrees may be useful:

• maths
• statistics
• business/management
• economics
• For qualitative work (analysis based on language), useful degrees include:
• psychology
• sociology
• geography
• social sciences
• anthropology

English or marketing degrees are also useful, as well as sciences or engineering for some specialist industrial jobs. 

You’ll also find it useful to have previous experience in marketing, sales or advertising, or as a market research interviewer. 

You could get a paid internship or join a graduate training scheme. You could also start as a research assistant in an agency and then take further qualifications.

The Market Research Society (MRS) has more information about careers in market research.

2. Skills required

You’ll need:

excellent number and IT skills

the ability to analyse and interpret statistics

written communication skills for report writing and designing questionnaires

creative problem-solving skills

accuracy and attention to detail

organisational and time-management skills

initiative and teamwork skills

3. What you'll do

As a market research executive, you’ll specialise in one type of research – consumer or industrial, social or political. You’ll carry out research using one of 2 main methods:

quantitative – analysis based on numbers, from surveys of large samples of people

qualitative – analysis based on language, from focus groups and in-depth questionnaires

Depending on the type of research, in your work you’ll usually:

meet clients to discuss research projects

come up with a plan or proposal and present it to the client

manage a budget

design questionnaires and organise surveys

brief interviewers and researchers

monitor progress of surveys

analyse data and present results to the client

advise the client how they can best use the research

Most jobs involve a lot of computer work, for background research and to analyse information and produce reports.

4. Salary

Starter: £20,000 to £25,000

Experienced: £25,000 to £35,000

Highly Experienced: £60,000 (senior market research executive)

These figures are a guide.

5. Working hours, patterns and environment

If you work as a quantitative researcher in-house for a company, you’ll usually work in an office with standard hours, Monday to Friday, with occasional overtime to meet project deadlines.

If you work as a qualitative researcher, you’ll often work evenings and weekends to travel to visit clients and focus groups. You may need a driving licence and a car.

6. Career path and progression

With experience, you could progress into management, or become a self-employed market research consultant. 

You could also move into the promotional side of advertising or marketing.