Careers

The Careers Department at Harrogate Ladies’ College has its base in the Careers Resource Centre, in the hub of main school on the first floor. All girls are welcome to browse there whenever the school is open. They will find information on:

• universities and colleges including departmental information on particular courses
• careers
• GAP year opportunities
• employment and sponsorship opportunities
• writing good CVs, personal statements and job applications 

They will be tempted by magazines, videos, DVDs and CDRoms together with books - and careers software covering all manner of careers and courses, and attracted by the ever-changing posters on the notice boards covering everything from National Health careers to life at Oxbridge. 

The area is dynamic, constantly updated by a specially appointed and trained team of L5 Careers Librarians, who can point girls to the right information if they cannot find it. There is also a small team of L6 Senior Careers Librarians undertaking special duties in the sixth form, where they display information on University and College Open Days, Careers Information Courses or Taster sessions, and yet more GAP year information and sponsorship opportunities. 

Careers activities are organised throughout the school year. Although younger girls are encouraged to visit the Careers Room and familiarise themselves with the many exciting sources of information there, and form tutors regularly bring their girls into the Careers Room for familiarisation sessions, the Careers Education and Guidance programme really comes into its own in U4. Help is provided to all girls, individually and in groups, to lend support at all “choice” stages of their school career – GCSE choices, A-level choices, university/college choices, career choice.

Year 11 starts with the opportunity to enrol with the Cambridge Occupational Analysts (COA), who conduct psychometric tests each September to provide girls with an individual profile of their aptitudes and interests, and an early indication of the potential careers which match their profile and which they may like to start to explore. Individual interviews with a qualified Careers Adviser from COA then enable girls to produce a careers action plan which is both practical and stimulating. Of course, this can form the basis for future choices of A-levels, university courses and/or careers; it can also provide a starting point for discussions with teachers about the direction girls wish to take at school. 

Alll year 11 girls undertake a two-week placement immediately after their GCSE examinations in the summer.