Choosing a job

You can help your young person with SEND, choose an area of work that will interest them. 

Step 1: Know them - ask them what do they like? 

What does your young person enjoy? What are their interests and hobbies?

For example, do they like meeting people, cinema, gardening, making things, art and design, cooking, baking, helping people, sports, photography, drama, singing, looking up information online or reading?

Then consider what is your young person good at? What are their skills? Most of us find it hard to know what we are good at. Encourage your young person to ask friends and family to help them identify their skills. 

Top tip: The things your young person enjoys, are also often things they are good at!

Once you have worked out what they enjoy and are good at, you can both think about jobs that would allow them to do these things.

Step 2: Explore job options

There are hundreds of different jobs. Your young person may need help to think about jobs that could be a good match with their interests and skills. 

A good place to start is to think about different work sectors. For example, customer service, health and caring, retail and sales, or catering and hospitality. You can then help them think of some jobs in that sector, to match their skills and interests.

• Visit the UCAS website explore jobs section, for job ideas with skills matching
• Use the Icanbea... website careers wizard, to find job roles based upon your young person's interests and skills
• Ask people that know your young person for ideas. They may see a different side of them. You can use these ideas to build up a list of possible jobs
• Explore careers with the National Careers Service
• Try a 10 minute Job Match quiz, to help identify job groups that match your interests

You could also consider jobs that are related to a 'dream job'. For example, many young people want to be a professional footballer, but only a few manage to achieve this. However there are lots of different jobs at football clubs, for example, helping to keep the pitch in top condition, catering or ticket and merchandise sales.

Step 3: Other things to think about

When your young person has an idea about the sector they want to work in, the type of employer and job they may want to do, it's time to take a closer look. There are lots of ways to find out more about jobs. Read about them, talk to someone in the job or work experience.

Things to find out which may be important to your young person:

• What they would be asked to do at work?
• What hours they would be expected to work?  
• How much they would be paid per hour?
• What they would be expected to wear? For example, is there a uniform? If you have to wear your own clothes, is it a smart or casual dress?
• Are there any benefits? For example, staff discounts, health insurance or a pension scheme
• What type of businesses offer these jobs? For example, restaurants or hotels
• Where are businesses located and will they be able to get there?

Talk through the questions and answers with your young person. This will help them to find out if they would like to do the job. You can then help your young person to make a short list of jobs that might suit them.

Step 4: Make a decision

When deciding which jobs to apply for, there are several factors that also need to be considered:

• Are there jobs close to where your young person lives? 
• Could they get to and from work? Is there a regular bus or train service, or could they walk or drive?
• How much will it cost to travel to and from work each week?
• How long will the journey to and from work take?

Step 5: Take action

It is not always easy to get a job. Especially if your young person hasn't got any previous work experience. 

Encourage and help your young person to get work experience or volunteer in their chosen job, before they apply for a paid position.

This will give them the chance to:

• Try out the job to see if they like it
• Get relevant experience. This will help when filling in application forms, creating a CV or when they speak at interview. Easy read guide on filling in application forms and writing CVs
• Show people what they can do
• Find someone who will write them a reference, recommending them to others

When they feel ready to apply for jobs, make sure you use any help available to find a job.