About

As a young person at school or college, you’ll want to be sure you’re on the right path to achieve your career ambitions.  Or you may still be working out exactly what your ideal career is.  You might have several ideas and want to keep all your options open.  You might be very sure about what you want, but are worried about the competition for places.

Whatever stage you are at, doing some in-depth research and having a careers guidance interview with a qualified careers adviser will give you a good idea if you are on the right track and help you update your plan of action.

Much of the information on this site is nationally relevant (England) though more detailed information is relevant to young people in Sheffield.

What is careers guidance?  A careers guidance interview is an in-depth discussion about your career ideas and plans, including courses and qualifications which might be required.  Information on careers and courses will be accessed during the interview and links for further research will be recorded on the written career action plan which is provided at the end of the interview.  Impartial careers guidance is guidance where the individual’s interests and benefit dictate the direction and scope of the interview.

Who is Carol James?

Carol-Mug-ShotCarol is a professionally qualified careers guidance adviser with over forty years experience in the careers guidance sector.  Born and educated in Sheffield, Carol has lived and worked in London, the home counties, and Lincolnshire for careers services, before returning to Sheffield in 2005.  She is respected in the national careers scene, having served as vice president of the national Association for Careers Education and Guidance to March 2013.  Following a BA Hons in History at the University of Liverpool, Carol trained for the postgraduate Diploma in Careers Guidance in Kent, and extended her professional studies with a MA in Guidance at the University of East London.  She is qualified to administer psychometric tests as part of careers guidance.  Carol is a member of the Career Development Institute and is on the register of guidance professionals.  Carol currently provides careers guidance to young people in several schools in Sheffield and Doncaster, working as an independent careers adviser.  She is an experienced assessor for careers quality awards within the QICS (Quality in Careers Standard) in the Yorkshire and Humberside and East Midlands areas.

Quality Assurance

In providing careers guidance, Carol commits to meet the highest standards set out in the code of ethics of the Career Development Institute which can be downloaded here   Her careers guidance interviews are assessed annually by professionally competent guidance practitioners, and are currently graded ‘good’.

Data Protection

All the data I collect and use is in accordance with the ethical use of data requirements of the GDPR, May 2018.  For a copy of my policy, please use the Contacts page to ask for a copy.