Our employment service helps people with a learning disability get a job
We know finding work can be a challenge for people with a
learning disability
A learning disability is to do with the way someone's brain works. It makes it harder for someone to learn, understand or do things.
, difficulty or
autism
Autism is a disability. Autistic people find it difficult to understand what other people think and feel. They also find it difficult to tell people what they think and feel. Everyone with autism is different.
, so we have designed our programmes to give you all the support and
guidance
Guidance means being given clear instructions to be able to do something well.
you need to successfully start your careers journey.
Careers guidance meetings are available to people on our Supported internship and Employ Me programmes. A careers guidance meeting is an impartial, one-to-one meeting between yourself and a professionally qualified careers adviser.
What is Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG)?
CEIAG at Mencap helps you develop the knowledge and skills you need to make informed choices, supporting you along your career journey. Our programmes have careers advice, information and guidance embedded within them and cover a range of career activities designed to build your confidence and help you get the job you want.
Example activities are shown below and in our careers journey roadmap:
- Career quizzes
- Vocational profiling (when we support you in making a plan that will help you make choices about your jobs and future).
- Skills assessments
- Labour market information (this is information about how many work opportunities are available in different job sectors and industries. We explore this information with you to help you understand your career options).
-
CV
A CV is also called a Curriculum Vitae. It is a document with information about: your skills, your qualifications and any jobs or volunteering you have done. You may have to send a CV when you try to get a job.
workshops - Employability skills workshops
- Employer encounters
- Level 6 career meetings and plans (a level 6 careers meeting is a one-to-one meeting with our expert Careers Advisor).
- Training and
education
Education is when you learn things. When you fill in a form to get a job, education means you write where you went to school, college or university.
provider encounters - Careers conversations
- Careers fairs
-
Interview
An interview is a meeting where you talk to someone or a group of people about something. When you have an interview for a job, you have to answer questions and say why you would be good at the job. The person who gives the best answers is offered the job.
techniques -
Work experience
Work experience is when you try out a job to help you learn new skills.
- Taster days
Careers guidance you can trust
We recognise that effective careers guidance is the driving force to securing positive futures. Our programmes follow the Gatsby career benchmarks, a robust framework for developing and delivering high quality careers activities, which we evaluate and review our provision against regularly.
Support from a qualified careers adviser
Learners on programme have access to a Level 6 qualified Careers Adviser who is a member of the Career Development Institute (CDI). The Career Development Institute (CDI) are a trusted body that qualified career development professionals are registered with, following their code of ethics.
Feedback from learners after their career meetings
I now have a clearer understanding about job ideas.”
My career meetings were useful and helped with my learning and understanding of labour market information, career pathways and how to manage my own career.”
What is the right job for me?
Deciding what sort of job to apply for can be difficult when there are so many different types of work to choose from. The best thing to do is to think about the things you like to do and then look at the jobs that include those sort of activities.
Labour Market Information (LMI) provides a general guide to jobs and the job market. This is important when making career decisions, so that information about opportunities available now and in the future can be considered.
To help with this, 'LMI for All' - an online provider funded by the Department for Education, have created a fun career tool that matches your skills and interests to jobs. This tool is called the Skillometer.
They also provide another tool called the Careerometer that gives you more information about different jobs.
Organisations who offer additional careers information
Introducing our Careers Leader
Maggi Pugh is our named Careers Lead in England.
We proactively seek to build
relationships
Relationships are about the people in your life. You might have different types of relationships like friendships, family relationships, or a boyfriend or girlfriend.
and positively welcome contact from providers relating to pathways available. If you are an employer or education provider requiring more information please get in touch.