Description

Defence Children Services (DCS) 

Careers Advisor

Location: Trenchard Lines, Upavon, Wiltshire (3 days in the office per week)

Job Type: Flexible working, full-time, Job share, Part-time

Job Duration: Permanent

Salary: £37,720 per annum

Min Education: Level 6 Advanced Diploma in Career Guidance and Development or a willingness to attain, beginning study within 3 months of appointment to the role.

Application End Date: 27th February

Travel: 0 – 10%

Job summary

Are you an experienced careers advisor looking to make a difference and help shape a military child’s future by providing quality, impartial, professional career guidance in a unique Defence organisation?  If so, this maybe the role for you?

Defence Children Services (DCS) are looking for a Careers Advisor who will be based at Trenchard Lines in Upavon, Wiltshire. We are looking to appoint an enthusiastic, motivated, inspirational Careers Advisor to help our students achieve or exceed their full potential, to enable them to better understand themselves, to know what opportunities and career pathways are available to them, so that they can make clear plans for what they will move onto when they leave a DCS school. This is an exciting role and involves supporting students at our DCS schools located around the world. The post offers hybrid working from the DCS Headquarters in Upavon and continuous professional development opportunities.

Job Description

The post holder’s key responsibilities and main duties of the Careers Advisor are:

• Act as subject matter expert by conducting and delivering high quality 1:1 or group careers education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG) sessions, that are client-focused, impartial, which challenge and support young people to make informed, realistic and adaptable career decisions
• Manage a complex caseload of young people with various and diverse needs including, but not limited to, special educational needs development (SEND), generating and maintaining client records electronically in support of personal guidance interviews, including generating and tracking of individual careers guidance action plans to ensure progression
• Provide policy advice on post-16, post-18 and 19+ pathways available for young people, taking into consideration challenges related to parental deployment, move locations, regional differences, in addition to national post-16 qualification reforms
• Develop a strategy that enables the provision of professional advice and guidance to school teams to develop an age-appropriate careers programme (from Early Years to Y13) across the DCS schools and settings network
• Support Careers Leads and schools’ monitoring, evaluation and reporting on the effectiveness of the career guidance programme in achieving the Gatsby Benchmarks and the Quality in Careers Standard
• Organising and delivering small and large group sessions/activities on a range of topics for example:

Option choice at each key transition stage

• Employability workshops
• Labour market information
• Person specification

Knowledge and Skills

The ideal candidate needs to demonstrate the following essential Knowledge and skills; 

• Have previous experience of a careers guidance role in the UK
• Have in-depth and current knowledge of post-16, post-18 and 19+ pathways available for young people in education, employment and training in the UK
• Have in-depth knowledge of the statutory guidance for careers guidance and access for education and training providers
• Have in-depth knowledge and understanding of the Gatsby Benchmarks
• Strong analytical skills when delivering 1:1 personal/group careers guidance sessions to assess practical problems and apply different methods to identify and present a range of career options available
• Experience of working with young people with SEND and/or from a service background
• Experience of researching and analysing employment, industry sector, salary, labour market and qualification information
• Experience of providing advice and support to wider teams on the interpretation of educational. and examination policy and practice for overseas young people, including those looking to return from overseas back to the UK
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Experience of working with young people with SEND and/or from a service background
• Have a good knowledge of office-based IT software, including Microsoft Office 365 packages (Word, Excel, SharePoint and Outlook)
• Registered with the Career Development Institute (CDI) maintaining and meeting the annual continuous professional development requirements of the CDI
• Demonstrate a thorough understanding of, and commitment to, good practice in safeguarding, equal opportunities, diversity and inclusion
   

Qualifications

Level 6 Advanced Diploma in Career Guidance and Development or a willingness to attain, beginning study within 3 months of appointment to the role

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

Candidates will be required to provide CV details to include job history; qualification details and previous skills and experience.  

Candidates will also be required to provide a statement of suitability. (1000 Word count) Your statement should demonstrate the relevant skills and experience that details how you meet the Person Specification, including Qualifications, Knowledge and Skills, and Desirable, if applicable.

At sift you will be assessed against your CV, statement of suitability and the following Behaviours:

Communicating and Influencing (Lead Behaviour)
Managing A Quality Service
At interview, you will be assessed against the following Behaviours: 

Communicating and Influencing (Lead Behaviour)
Managing a Quality Service
Leadership
Delivering at Pace
 

To apply please visit Civil Service Jobs: Army- Defence Children Services (DCS) Careers Advisor - Civil Service Jobs - GOV.UK to submit your completed application before the deadline of Friday 27th February 2026. 

Defence Children Services is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Successful applicants will be subject to an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.