Statement of Service

The Careers Advice Service provides information, advice and guidance to support adults in making appropriate decisions on a full range of learning and work opportunities.

We want you to be able to choose how to access our advice, so we offer a telephone Advice Line and a website.

Careers Advice Helpline

The helpline is:

• free to all adults in England, Wales and Northern Ireland
• confidential
• impartial
• delivered by competent and qualified advisers who conform to equal opportunities practices
• accessible via minicom (08000 568 865) as well as by phone on 0800 100 900
• delivered in accordance with the National IAG Board Principles
• available from 8am to 10pm, seven days a week.

Three levels of adviser deal with your calls:

• Information Advisers can search for courses for you
• Learning Advisers can offer you careers information, such as which qualifications you need to get into a certain job, and can advise you on course funding and childcare
• Careers Coaches offer personalised careers advice and guidance to help you choose the best job for you, and can also advise you on CVs and searching for jobs.

Advice in other languages

The Careers Advice Service also has a team of bi-lingual advisers who can provide information and advice in a caller's own language. Advisers can be contacted on the following numbers:

English - 0800 100 900 : 8am - 10 pm every day
Farsi - 0800 093 1116 :   9am - 5pm Mon - Fri
French - 0800 093 1115 : 9am - 5pm Mon - Fri
Gujarati - 0800 093 1119 : 9am - 5pm Mon - Fri
Polish - 0800 093 1114 : 9am - 5pm Mon - Fri
Punjabi - 0800 093 1333 : 9am - 8pm Mon - Fri 
Somali - 0800 093 1555 : 9am - 5pm Mon - Fri
Sylheti - 0800 093 1444 : 9am - 5pm Mon - Fri
Urdu - 0800 093 1118 : 9am - 8pm Mon - Fri
Welsh - 0800 100 900 : 8am - 10 pm every day

Accessibility

If you have a hearing impairment you can access the service on the following numbers:

Typetalk - 18001 0800 100 900:  8am - 10pm every day
Minicom - 08000 568 865:  8am - 10pm every day

The Careers Advice Service website

Our website offers you:

• email advice on learning and careers
• a searchable Learning Directory, containing over 900,000 UK courses
• over 750 job profiles, each describing what a job is like and how to get into it
• a skills and interests assessment and career values tool to help you decide on the best job for you
• a CV builder
• a free e-newsletter
• help and advice on learning and work issues, such as paying for your learning
• audio advice on topics such as preparing for interviews
• news and features on topics such as volunteering
• discussion forums where you can chat to other site users and get advice from Careers Coaches.

The Careers Advice Service website is mainly aimed at people living in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Further advice for Welsh and Scottish people is available at Careers Wales and learndirect Scotland.

If you have any suggestions or comments about our website you can send them to us via our get in touch form.

Face-to-face advice

Careers advice for adults - nextstep

If you would rather talk through your career options in person, nextstep might be able to help you. You can talk with them about all topics related to learning and work, such as deciding which career would suit you best, searching the local job market and brushing up your interview skills.
 
nextstep face-to-face services are free to all adults aged 20 or over who have fewer than five GCSEs or have not yet achieved an NVQ level 2 qualification. In some areas, nextstep is able to provide extra services to other people not in this group.

You can find out more about nextstep on the Directgov website.

Careers advice for young people - Connexions

Connexions offers face-to-face advice to young people aged 13-19 living in England on a wide range of topics including learning, work, housing and money. It also provides support up to the age of 25 for young people who have learning difficulties or disabilities (or both).

There are 47 local Connexions services throughout the country. You can find your local Connexions office and get online advice on the Connexions Direct website.