Vacancy -- Member - Career Choices Dewis Gyrfa (Careers Wales)

Careers information advice and guidance services are currently offered to school and further education students, young people not undertaking an educational course, as well as adults.

Currently, these services are being delivered through Career Choices Dewis Gyrfa (CCDG) operating under the name of Careers Wales. CCDG is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Welsh Government.

3 new Board members are to be appointed to start 17 November 2017. The appointments will be made through a fair and open public appointment process.

Careers Wales has a budget of £18.8m Core Revenue Funding from Welsh Government for 2017-2018. The company will be managing future delivery against a challenging financial settlement.

Careers Wales provides an impartial and free (at point of delivery) careers information, advice and guidance (CIAG) service.

Careers Wales will continue to provide services, integrating online, phone and face-to-face platforms to drive efficiency, while incorporating changes to the delivery of services using new technologies.

Careers Wales works proactively at local and national levels with the private and public sectors to help deliver Welsh Government economic, education, skills and social strategies.

Careers Wales is currently involved in:

• Qualified for Life
• Youth Engagement and Progression Framework
• Child Poverty Strategy for Wales
• Learning Pathways 14-19
• STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths)
• Support to schools which have responsibility for the delivery of the statutory Careers and the World of Work (CWW) Curriculum
• Skills and Training Initiatives e.g. AMS (Apprenticeship Matching Service)

Career Wales has four functional areas each headed by a Director reporting to the CCDG Chief Executive, who is responsible for the management of the organisation.

These four operational areas are: developing services; delivering services; improving performance and managing business / resources.

Key policy and operational functions then sit below each of these Directors e.g. human resources, research and evaluation, risk management, promotion and partnership working.

Role of Careers Wales

The overriding aim of Careers Wales will be to achieve high quality outcomes for individuals in terms of effective career planning, successful transition into further education, employment or training and sustained progression. These outcomes will have a demonstrable impact e.g. fewer young people disengaged from employment, education and training.

The challenge to the careers service is to:

• Work with schools, colleges and a range of other agencies and organisations to support young people’s progression through education into further learning or employment (11-14, 14-16).
• Support 16-18 year olds to ensure progression, including the young unemployed 16 and 17 year olds;
• Support adults facing redundancy or who have been made redundant.
• Assist unemployed adults aged 25 plus through the Skills Gateway.
• Provide more focussed and intensive support to priority client groups as identified in the annual remit letter:- http://gov.wales/topics/educationandskills/pathways/careers/?lang=en

Careers Wales is expected to produce a high quality and comprehensive business plan in response to an annual remit letter from Ministers. The annual business plan must include sufficient detail to provide assurance that priorities are being taken forward.

Boards Role

The role of the board is to:

• provide effective leadership; defining and developing strategic direction and setting challenging objectives;

• promote high standards of public finance, upholding the principles of regularity, propriety and value for money;

• ensure that CCDG’s activities are conducted efficiently and effectively; and

• monitor performance to ensure that CCDG fully meets its aims, objectives and performance targets.

A Board Member of Career Choices Dewis Gyrfa (Careers Wales) will:

• Play an active role in delivering the CCDG’s remit and ensuring CCDG will achieve maximum impact. This will include sharing their expertise in what works, challenging the status quo and suggesting solutions;

• Ensure compliance with relevant procurement rules, both in relation to the Welsh Government funding of CCDG (as a wholly owned Welsh Government subsidiary and Teckal company) and CCDG expenditure as a contracting authority subject to the procurement rules.

• Attend Board meetings regularly and prepare thoroughly for those meetings;

• Be prepared to serve on sub committees;

• To provide leadership to CCDG management and staff in implementing the Careers Wales Strategic Vision, Changing Lives – A Vision for Careers Wales;

• Actively provide, and balance, both challenge and support to CCDG management and staff in their work;

• Represent CCDG at public functions;

• Promote the profile of CCDG; and

• Facilitate contact with CCDG’s stakeholders.

The Welsh Government acknowledges the importance of developing and growing bilingual capabilities in public appointments in Wales, and welcomes applications from candidates who demonstrate their capability to work in both English and Welsh.  The following list of language requirements represents an objective assessment by the recruiting body of the Welsh language skills required to undertake the duties of this particular post.

CCDG is seeking three new board members with a range of expertise, across a broad range of economic sectors, professions and social groups. We would be pleased to receive applications from individuals with commercial and business expertise. In particular we would like applications from individuals with a background in any of the following sectors:

• advanced manufacturing and materials;
• professional and financial;
• food and drink;
• ICT and new technologies;
• tourism;
• Life Sciences.

We would also be pleased to receive applications from individuals with skills in one the following areas;

• Corporate governance;
• Procurement and tendering;
• Corporate or Business Management
• Employer representation
• Entrepreneurship.

Essential Criteria

In addition board members will demonstrate the following qualities:

• A proven track record in building relationships with a range of stakeholders, in particular with employers;

• Knowledge and understanding of learning and work issues at community, local and regional or national levels.

• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to clearly and succinctly explain complex issues, while demonstrating respect for the views of others.

• Sound judgement, sensitivity and political awareness;

To be considered, you must be able to demonstrate that you have the qualities, skills and experience to meet all the essential criteria for appointment.

Candidates shortlisted for interview will be required to expand on how they meet the criteria above using examples and evidence.

31/08/2017, 23:55

For further information regarding the selection process, please contact:

The Corporate Shared Service Centre
Tel: 029 2082 5454
Email: sharedservicehelpdesk@gov.wales

For further information regarding the role of the CCDG Board and the role of Board Members, please contact: Vicky Green, Careers Policy and Finance Manager, Careers Policy Branch:

Tel: 0300 025 0234
Email: vicky.green@gov.wales

If you need any further assistance in applying for this role, please contact the Welsh Government’s Corporate Shared Service Centre Helpdesk on 029 2082 5454 or SharedServiceHelpdesk@gov.wales

For further information about Public Appointments in Wales, please visit www.gov.wales/publicappointments

To apply for this role, click on the ‘Apply’ button below. The first time you apply for a post, you will need to complete a registration form for the Welsh Government’s online application system.  You will only need to register once, and you will be able to keep yourself updated on the progress of your application, and any other applications you make, via your registered account.

Once you’ve registered, you’ll be able to access the application form.  To apply you will need to submit two supporting documents. The first, a document outlining how your knowledge, skills and experiences meet the criteria for the role as outlined in the information for candidates.  This document should be no more than 2 sides of A4.  Your application may be rejected if you exceed this limit.  The second document is a full, up to date CV.  The two documents should be uploaded to the ‘Reasons for applying’ section of the online application form.

In your application, you will also be asked to provide details of any activities which have helped you to develop skills that would be useful in a public appointment role, and list the organisations for which you undertook these activities.  We also need to know about any political activity that you’ve undertaken over the last 5 years. 

It is recommended that you register for an account and access the application form as soon as possible so that you see how the application form is structured, before starting to prepare your evidence.  You don’t have to complete the application form all in one go.  You can save your responses, and log in and out as required, until you’re ready to submit – just follow the guidance in the application form.

If you’d like to apply for this opportunity in Welsh, please use the ‘Newid Iaith / Change Language’ link at the top of this page, to take you to the Welsh version of this advert, from which you can apply in Welsh.

If you need any further assistance in applying for this role, please contact the Welsh Government’s Corporate Shared Service Centre Helpdesk on 029 2082 5454 or SharedServiceHelpdesk@wales.gsi.gov.uk 

For further information about Public Appointments in Wales, please visit www.gov.wales/publicappointments