Industry Sectors

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

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

There are no set requirements, but you’ll need a good level of general education. You'll also need a working knowledge of computer software and hardware.

A college course in computing or IT support, and experience in customer service, will help. 

You could get into this job through an apprenticeship.

If you work with young people or vulnerable adults, you’ll need clearance from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

2. Skills required

You'll need:

• excellent customer service skills
• the ability to explain technical issues to non-technical users
• analysis and problem-solving skills
• the ability to prioritise and manage tasks

3. What you'll do

You may work in-house with an organisation’s staff, students or customers. You may also work in a call centre advising the public by phone, email or online chat.

In some roles, you’ll be responsible for telephony and audio-visual equipment as well as IT systems.

Your day-to-day tasks may include:

• communicating with computer users to find and fix problems 
• tracking work in progress and recording issues and solutions 
• updating online knowledge banks
• servicing and fixing equipment, including printers, projectors and networks
• setting up new equipment and upgrading existing systems
• training people on new systems, face-to-face and online

4. Salary

Starter: £16,000 to £22,000

Experienced: £22,000 to £24,000

Highly Experienced: £25,000 to £35,000

These figures are a guide.

5. Working hours, patterns and environment

You'll usually work 35 to 40 hours a week. You may have to work shifts, including evenings and weekends.

You'll work in an office and spend a lot of your time at a computer.

You may have to travel to different sites to help users. A driving licence may be required.

6. Career path and progression

With experience, you could move into a supervisory or management role.

With training, you could move into network engineering, database administration, business or systems analysis, IT security, IT project management, training or technical sales.

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

1. Entry requirements

You may find it useful to have GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C) or equivalent, in subjects like English and maths.

A qualification in administration or secretarial skills may help. Employers also value experience, which you could get by temping or volunteering.

You could get into this job through an apprenticeship.

2. Skills required

You'll need:

• an excellent telephone manner
• skills in IT and administration
• the ability to use your initiative and solve problems
• organisational and time management skills
• 3. What you'll do
• You could work in the public or private sectors or for a charity.
• Your day-to-day tasks could include:
• being the first point of contact for visitors, phone calls and emails
• arranging meetings and taking minutes
• diary management and making travel arrangements 
• producing letters, reports, spreadsheets and invoices
• updating records on IT systems
• photocopying, printing and filing
• handling confidential information

4. Salary

Starter: £14,000 to £16,000

Experienced: £17,000 to £20,000

Highly Experienced: £25,000

These figures are a guide.

5. Working hours, patterns and environment

You'll usually work in an office, 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

You could also work part-time or get temporary work.

6. Career path and progression

With experience, you could become a personal assistant or office manager.

You could also move into human resources work, or train as a legal or medical secretary.

Role Description

1. Entry requirements

There are no set requirements, but experience of working in an office or call centre could help.

For some sales jobs, such as technical or pharmaceutical sales, you may need to have a relevant qualification like a degree.

You could get into this job through an apprenticeship.

2. Skills required

You'll need:

• excellent customer service and communication skills
• the ability to sell and negotiate
• IT and presentation skills

3. What you'll do

You'll specialise in a particular industry, like consumer goods or energy. You may sell directly to consumers, or to other businesses. 

Your day-to-day tasks may include:

• contacting new and existing customers
• making presentations to promote new products
• agreeing sales, prices and delivery
• keeping in contact with customers before and after a sale
• recording orders
• going to conferences to understand industry trends
• meeting sales targets

4. Salary

Starter: £15,000 to £20,000

Experienced: £25,000 to £35,000

Highly Experienced: £40,000 to £50,000 (sales executive or manager)

You'll usually get a basic salary and an extra amount for each sale (commission). You may also get a bonus if you meet targets.

You may get a company car and fuel allowance.

These figures are a guide.

5. Working hours, patterns and environment

You'll usually work 38 to 40 hours, Monday to Friday, but may need to work evenings or weekends. Occasionally you'll stay away overnight, or travel abroad to trade fairs and conferences.

You may drive to visit customers. When not on the road, you'll work from a sales office or call centre. Sometimes you’ll work from home. You’ll usually need a driving licence and may need a passport.

6. Career path and progression

With experience, you could become a sales team leader or an area sales manager.

The Institute of Sales Management (ISM) could help you develop your career.

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

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.