Coordinated by Skills Development Scotland, Scottish Careers Week returns in November with the inspiring theme ‘Shape the Future’, offering life-changing support opportunities to Scots across the country


A NATIONAL campaign shining a light on the life-changing support offered by Scotland’s career services will return with the launch of Scottish Careers Week from 11 to 15 November.

Delivered through the theme ‘Shape the Future’, the campaign highlights that great career support helps people find their passion and thrive.  

Co-ordinated by Skills Development Scotland (SDS), the campaign is now in its fourth year and continues to grow. In 2023, hundreds of events took place across the country in schools, career centres, communities and many other venues.

Set against a backdrop of the ever-changing world of work, new technology and the need to develop the right skills, Scottish Careers Week showcases partnerships helping people of all ages make positive education and career choices to shape their future.  

Schools, employers, career practitioners and supporters can get involved this year to celebrate the power of career support, showcase exciting industries and opportunities, including green careers, and help shape a brighter future for everyone. 

Launching the 2024 campaign, Higher and Further Education Minister Graeme Dey said: “Scottish Careers Week presents a focused opportunity for everyone involved in supporting people to shape their futures, to come together and highlight the wide range of help, services and opportunities that are available.

“Whilst promoting Scotland’s careers offering is an all year-round job, Careers Week is our annual showcase and I would encourage wholesale participation in it.”

For those who want to back the campaign, SDS has created an online hub on the My World of Work website featuring ideas on how to get involved, with free resources.
Employers can use the week as a platform to attract the talent of tomorrow and shape the future of their industry.

With jobs in demand across many sectors, Scottish Careers Week is a great opportunity to provide career inspiration and encourage people to explore exciting roles and pathways into an industry. 

Businesses can connect with schools using Marketplace on My World of Work, which acts as an online noticeboard for employers to offer their time in various ways, such as a class talk or challenge, workplace visit, career and apprenticeship event, skills session or mock interview. 

Employers can also organise their own events, attend local career fairs or promote their industry skills by profiling different employees on social media.
For schools, Scottish Careers Week is a way to spark career inspiration, make connections with local employers, and explore exciting opportunities for pupils.  

With an SDS Careers Adviser and Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) Coordinator in every state secondary school in Scotland, school careers teams are ready to help shape impactful events, tailored for students.  

There’s also a whole range of online resources already available on My World of Work that can be used in the classroom during the week, including lesson plans for Classroom Clash, which is a series of nine fun, digital games aimed at P6 to S3 pupils.

In addition to Marketplace, schools can also request speakers and support for events through services such as Founders4Schools, whilst online talks from people working in Scotland’s growing industries will be available through the DYW Live platform.

SDS will also be organising a range of national and local activities through its career service offer and with partners such as the British Deaf Association, parents and carers organisation Connect and Scottish Chambers of Commerce.

Head of Career Information Advice and Guidance Operations at SDS, Dave McCallum said: “As the national skills body delivering Scotland’s careers service in schools, in the community and online, we want people to know that career support is available year-round, across all communities and ages. 

“During Scottish Careers Week, we hope to bring together as many partners and organisations as possible to raise the profile of those services, so that people know there is help and support to make the right career choices.”

Visit myworldofwork.co.uk/scottish-careers-week to find out how to get involved, download the resources and register your events and activities

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A good steer is the driver of success for automotive firm 

A DUNFERMLINE-BASED company has seen big benefits to their businesses after getting support through Skills for Growth.

United Industrial Supplies distribute workshop consumables to the automotive market across the UK and have 35 employees.

Fiona Lovell (left in picture), Director of Finance and Operations, and Roslyn Eckford (right in picture), Director of Sales and Marketing

Fiona Lovell, Director of Finance and Operations, and Roslyn Eckford, Director of Sales and Marketing, have run the firm since company director Chris Howe sadly passed away in 2020. His wife, Marta is the Chief Operating Officer and remains involved in everyday operations.

Roslyn said: “It has been a period of change for us and the business. Despite the changes the team has shown great loyalty and resilience.”

Fiona added: “The business was stable, but to enable us to grow we knew we needed help with changing the culture of the business and like many other businesses, we needed to adapt our plan for the future.

Roslyn continued: “As a company with a number of long serving employees, we knew we needed to identify skill gaps, focus on staff training and get support with succession planning so we contacted Fife College, and they put us in touch with Skills Development Scotland.”

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) Employer Engagement Executive Kathryn Hill explained the Skills for Growth process to Fiona and Roslyn.

Skills for Growth is a fully-funded service for companies with between five and 250 employees and helps employers identify and understand their skills needs. A detailed Employer Action Plan is developed with guidance towards the most relevant training, funding and local business support which is based on their identified skills needs. 

Fiona said: “Kathryn met with all employees to check that everyone understood their job role and responsibilities and how they fitted in to the wider organisation, how they felt about working for UIS and what prospects they saw for themselves for career progression within the company. After that, she drew up an action plan with a series of recommendations.”

Actions identified included updating job descriptions, having regular one-to-one meetings and creating an employee handbook for all staff.

Kathryn also put them in touch with Scottish Enterprise team, the Scottish Manufacturing Advisory Service (SMAS), who helped the firm identify areas of waste and to develop eight improvement projects to streamline business processes.

Roslyn said: “SMAS have been amazing in supporting us. All our employees are part of a project team and it has been one of the biggest successes as it has brought people together, they are all connected and engaged. 

“It’s amazing to witness and see employees shine.”

Fiona continued: “We’re now looking into how we bring apprentices into the workforce and identifying which areas to place them into. This will help bring fresh talent and ideas into the business. SDS has been supporting us with this. Kathryn still keeps in touch, sending us info on things like funding and research that she thinks would be useful to us.”

Kathryn said: “Over the last year I’ve seen the company grow and change the culture within the business. Staff have been keen to take on new training and new ways of working as they can see the benefit.

“Roslyn and Fiona have made the difference as they’ve engaged with our recommendations and see the potential to grow the business further.”

Find out how Skills for Growth can help your business. Call 0800 783 6000 or visit employers.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk