Sector Skills Council Make Move to Help Sector’s Career Advancement

“

A fully active, indeed a fully interactive website has been added to their careers information service by SkillsActive this month.

The original provision was launched in July, and this new addition seems set to further revolutionise the opportunities for those in the sector. SkillsActive is the Sector Skills Council (SSC) for Sport and Recreation, Health and Fitness, Playwork, The Outdoors and the Caravan industries, with the mission statement telling all and sundry that they will “ensure best quality, best business and best value within the Sector to achieve its economic and social potential.”

The original careers advice service, SkillsActiveCareers, was welcomed, and SkillsActive’s entry to the workforce manager, Steve Mitchell said: “SkillsActiveCareers offers comprehensive advice on how to enter the sector, what courses to take, qualifications to aim for, and how to progress through the sector, highlighting career pathways and offering advice on transferable skills.”

Developing for the Long Haul

He went on to stress the longer term, strategic thinking behind their decisions, saying: “SkillsActiveCareers is not something we”ve decided to develop out of the blue, employers from our sector identified this as an area that, as a Sector Skills Council, we needed to be working in and have backed this up by investing in the project through time, guidance and financial support.”

One of the new features of the site is an interactive character, SkillsActive’s virtual careers advisor, Ask Dougie, who is available to answer any questions that site browsers might have about working in the active leisure industries. Mitchell was delighted by this feature in particular and believes it can help with encouraging more people to ask questions that they need to ask.

“Ask Dougie is brilliant!” he enthused. “As a sports science graduate from Loughborough University, I knew I wanted to work in the active leisure sector, but had no idea what jobs were available apart from the obvious ““ professional footballer, coach etc. ““ with SkillsActiveCareers we have tried to create a one-stop-shop service for all those wanting to work in the sector, offering them job profiles, case studies, and advice on what qualifications you need and courses to take.”

He concluded by stating that Ask Dougie will prove to be “the icing on the cake”. As all SSCs are employer-led organisations that aim to tackle the skills and productivity needs of their sector throughout Britain, this service should prove very useful to those faced with choices but not enough information.

Jethro Marsh

Have you asked Dougie yet? If so, tell us how it was for you in the FE Blog

“