Community, Advice and Guidance

Have a look at Prospects and targetjobs to find out what roles in this sector involve and how to get into them. These are some of the job profiles available:

• Advice worker
• British Sign Language Interpreter
• Communication Support Worker
• Community arts worker
• Community development worker
• Community education officer
• Drug and alcohol worker
• Family mediator
• Family support worker
• Housing manager/officer
• Housing policy officer
• Mediator
• Money adviser/debt counsellor
• Playworker
• Substance misuse outreach worker
• Welfare rights officer
• Youth offending team officer
• Youth and Community worker

Educational and careers advice and guidance

• Adult guidance worker
• Careers adviser
• Student support adviser
• Higher education careers adviser

• excellent interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to relate to people from diverse backgrounds
• empathy, diplomacy, sensitivity and a non-judgmental manner as well as a respect for confidentiality
• flexibility, with the ability to work on your own initiative as well as part of a team
• resourcefulness, problem-solving skills and attention to detail
• the capacity to cope with pressure
• the ability to liaise with other professionals and organisations

Starting salaries for graduate jobs in this sector can vary depending on the position.

To get an idea of typical starting salaries use the following resources:

• our Discover your Earning Potential Pathway offers access to The Pay Index. This shows you how salaries vary across different roles, industries and locations
• job profiles, such as those listed on Prospects or targetjobs
• vacancy sites such as Glassdoor and LinkedIn

For information about how to negotiate a salary, visit Handling job offers.

• browse our Work Experience and Graduate Employment directories. See where our students and graduates have had work experience, or been employed
• use LinkedIn’s Alumni tool to find out what Newcastle graduates are doing now. You could ask to connect with them, to gain advice and insights into their career. See Newcastle Alumni on LinkedIn to help you get started or watch our quick tutorial on Getting inspiration from others [3:13]
• attend alumni events, such as Newcastle Develop, to hear directly from our graduates
• sign up for mentoring support with Graduate Mentor and The 1 Hour Project. These aim to match students with industry professionals who can provide invaluable insights. Register to be connected for a one-hour meeting
• attend recruitment events and employer and sector insights. Hear about graduate jobs, placement schemes, build your network and ask questions

Searching for reviews online can be a useful way to get an idea of what to expect from certain roles or employers. Reviews are written by employees with different opinions about what makes a good employer.

Use the following review sites for inspiration and insight into the recruitment process:

• RateMyPlacement - placement year reviews written by students.
• The Job Crowd – graduate job reviews
• Glassdoor – company reviews from employees

Read career guides for this sector, such as:

• Prospects: Social care
• TARGETjobs: Public Service, charity and social work
• National Youth Agency: Careers in youth work
• Children's Workforce Guide to Qualifications and Training 2023/24 | CYP Now
• How do you become a mediator? – The Family Mediators Association (thefma.co.uk)
• A day in the life of a social worker: Child protection - Children’s social care (blog.gov.uk)

Use online magazines and journals to follow news from your industry. Reading about trends and developments is important for applications and interviews.

Examples include:

• Children and Young People Now
• DiversityLink.co.uk
• Civil Society
• Inside Housing lists housing news.
• Drink and Drugs News and DrugWise

Attend events to hear directly from professionals in the industry.

See also our recruitment events and employer & sector insights.

Join specific student societies such as the 93% club Newcastle and the British Sign Language Society.

You could also join the committee of any society you are passionate about as the Welfare Officer, to gain experience with welfare issues.

Use social media to find industry insights

Join sector-specific groups on LinkedIn to keep up to date. Posts often include news, events and opportunities. You can also find useful insights on careers on X and TikTok. Treat these with caution, as not all content may be accurate.

Find out more about how to use social media for your career.

Consider joining a relevant professional body/industry network

Professional bodies often:

• run networking events
• have specialist groups you could join
• post vacancies on behalf of their members
• have member directories, useful for speculative applications

Key organisations include:

Government bodies

• Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
• Department for Education

Youth

• National Youth Agency
• Youth Justice Board

Community and welfare professional bodies

• National Association for Voluntary and Community Action
• National Housing Federation
• Addiction Professionals
• Equality and Human Rights Commission

Relationships and Mediation

• College of Mediators
• Family Mediators Association
• National Family Mediation
• Relationships Scotland

Educational and careers guidance

The following external websites provide information about careers and educational guidance:

• Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS)
• National Careers Service
• Careers Service Northern Ireland
• Careers Wales
• Career Development Institute
• Inspiring the Future

Finding professional bodies worldwide

GoinGlobal’s country guides include details of professional bodies. Find them under ‘Professional and Personal Networking’ on each individual country guide.

Use our resources to get started:

• MyCareer - search for internships and placements in the North East, UK and overseas. Register/log in to access vacancies and sign up for personalised email alerts
• Internships, placements & shadowing - links to vacancy sites
• Global work experience - for internships or placements abroad
• For volunteering opportunities see Volunteering section of the Careers Service website for resources

The Careers Service runs flexible term-time and summer internships with local employers and on campus. NCL internships are aimed at all students, from any stage and often include work advising or supporting students.

• Search for these under Vacancies on MyCareer. Type in ‘NCL internship’ into the text search box.
• You can find these advertised throughout the academic year. Full-time summer opportunities are advertised from around March.

Access GoinGlobal for internships in over 120 global locations, updated daily. Search for opportunities in the local language, as well as in English. You can also use their country guides to find:

• additional vacancy websites
• CV, application and interview advice
• Advice on living and working in different countries and cities around the world.

If you’re looking for inspiration, try searching our NU Work Experience Directory. You can see where our students have had internships and placements in the last five years. To see all results in a search category, keep the search field blank.

The resources in this section advertise both graduate jobs and graduate schemes. See our graduate jobs page to understand the difference between them.

For graduate schemes, apply as early as possible.

UK applications typically open early in the academic year from September or October. Some close as early as November-December. Many employers close applications as soon as their places are filled.

Graduate schemes are less common in this sector. Instead graduate jobs are more common, and then working your way up in the industry to your desired role.

Examples of graduate schemes in this sector include:

• CharityWorks offer a one-year, full-time graduate programme in a non-profit organisation. Positions include operations, business development, fundraising, campaigns, research, or a combination of these.
• IntoUniversity recruits graduate trainee education workers.

Graduate jobs tend to be immediate start positions which can be available all year round. You are more likely to apply for these towards the end of your studies.

Use our resources to get started:

• MyCareer - search for graduate schemes and graduate jobs in the North East, UK and overseas. Register/log in to access vacancies and sign up for personalised email alerts
• Graduate Jobs – lists graduate vacancy sites

Search the external sites below for more opportunities:

• CharityJob.co.uk
• Jobstoday.co.uk
• Charities Jobs, vacancies | Charity Sector | Guardian Jobs (theguardian.com)
• LG Jobs
• Community Care: Jobs
• Jobs – AdviceJobs
• Citizens Advice Bureau – jobs and voluntary opportunities
• Drink and Drugs News: Jobs section
• Inside Housing: jobs

Educational and Careers Guidance

• Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS)
• jobs.ac.uk
• LG Jobs
• Times Educational Supplement (TES)
• Portico - Institute of Career Guidance job site

Area specific

• Sector1.net (North East and Yorkshire)
• The Herald (Scotland)
• Goodmoves – recruitment for the civil society, charity and voluntary sector (Scotland)

See International jobs for details of overseas vacancy sites.

Access GoinGlobal for job adverts in over 120 global locations, updated daily. Search for opportunities in the local language, as well as in English. You can also use their country guides to find:

• additional vacancy websites
• CV, application and interview advice
• advice on living and working in different countries and cities around the world

Start by identifying organisations you are interested in. Our guide to finding organisations below can help. Then use the following steps to approach them speculatively about possible opportunities:

1. Identify a contact name to address your cover letter to. Call or email to find out who handles recruitment within the organisation. Or, find a key contact in the department you want to work in.
2. Send them a tailored CV and cover letter. Express your enthusiasm for the sector. Show that you have researched the company.
3. Follow up your speculative application with a phone call, or email, around a week later. This shows you are serious and motivated.
4. If your application was unsuccessful, ask for feedback or advice, and keep trying!

You can use this approach at any point in the year. We recommend that you:

• start your research as early as possible to gather relevant contacts
• contact organisations around three months before you want the opportunity to begin

• find organisations on MyCareer. Select ‘search' then 'organisations’
• use the business directories and databases on our Researching employers page
• search for companies on LinkedIn. The Find Alumni tool shows you where Newcastle graduates are currently working
• browse our Work Experience and Graduate Employment directories. See where our students and graduates have had work experience, or been employed

• Citizen's Advice Bureau
• Ofsted registered nurseries
• Probation services
• family refuge centres eg those run by groups like Refuge and Women's Aid
• Your local council website can be useful for finding youth groups or community centres you could volunteer or work at
• Professional body websites sometimes include member directories, which are helpful for finding employers.
• ReThink for links to mental health organisations

Search GoinGlobal's employer directory for company information in 196 countries. Their country guides list professional bodies around the world.