Release day goes better with a plan. You help them write it.
Someone in custody is starting to think about life after release. Encouragement alone will not get them far. They need a realistic goal, an honest CV and a first step they can actually take.
That is the work of a Careers Advisor in our careers information, advice and guidance (CIAG) service, delivered inside a prison. If you have coached, advised or trained people towards work, you will recognise much of this job. The setting is what makes it different.
The opportunity –This role is a 6 Month FTC Maternity Cover
You will own a caseload of prison-based participants, helping each person set realistic employment or training goals through one-to-one sessions and workshops. Success is someone leaving custody with clear goals, an achievable action plan and the confidence to take up work or training, which supports sentence progression and helps reduce reoffending.
Every working day starts at the prison gate, and your mobile phone stays outside. You will work on site during core operational hours, with strict start and finish times, and follow prison routines, instructions and security procedures without exception. Some participants will be hard to reach and some conversations will be challenging. You will hold clear boundaries while offering encouragement, honest challenge and realistic advice, and keep going when progress takes time. Your work is measured against outcomes and against Ministry of Justice, prison and contract standards. If you work well within structure and get real satisfaction from seeing someone leave with a credible plan, this setting will suit you.
What you’ll be doing
- Running one-to-one careers guidance sessions and agreeing realistic goals and action plans.
- Delivering structured workshops on CVs, interview preparation and job search.
- Managing your caseload so every session has a purpose and outcomes keep moving.
- Working with prison staff and partners on sentence planning and routes into work or training.
- Keeping accurate, timely records and following safeguarding, data-security and Ministry of Justice requirements.
What you’ll need
Essential (you need all of these):
- Experience delivering one-to-one guidance or group-based employability support, for example in careers advice, employability, coaching or training.
- Experience supporting people who face barriers to employment.
- Experience handling challenging or sensitive conversations calmly while keeping professional boundaries. A track record of delivering against your own targets, with results to show.
- Evidence of reliable working: keeping to start times, appointments and procedures consistently.
- Confidence using IT systems to record activity and outcomes accurately and on time.
- Willingness to work on site in a prison during core operational hours, following all security rules, including having no mobile phone on site.
- A Level 3 or above qualification in Careers Information, Advice and Guidance, or a willingness to work towards one.
- The ability to complete enhanced vetting, including prison security clearance (see Safer recruitment below).
- An application that shows you have read this advert and understand what Get Set UK does: a clear, accurate CV setting out what you were personally responsible for delivering, and how your experience would help someone in custody prepare for work or training on release.
Desirable (welcome, not required): employability or careers coaching experience. From recruitment, employer engagement, or retail or hospitality management? Show us where you have coached or trained people.
What good looks like in this role
These describe how we work here. They are not extra requirements.
- Deliver results: you review progress across your caseload, own it when something slips and use feedback and data to improve.
- People and Communication: you coach people to make their own decisions about work and keep every conversation clear, respectful and professional.
- Get it right: you follow procedures consistently, act with honesty and fairness, ask for another view when unsure and bounce back from setbacks.
- Strategic direction: you build steady, respectful working relationships with prison staff and partners so each person’s plan joins up.
Why join Get Set UK?
Get Set UK is a UK people services business working across employment, education, skills, careers, wellbeing, employer partnerships and justice services. We help people into learning and work, and this role sits at a critical point on that journey: the move from custody back into the community.
Get Set UK is part of Palladium, which operates in more than 50 countries. Palladium belongs to the Global Infrastructure Solutions Inc. (GISI) family of companies, which reported approximately $18 billion in annual revenue for 2025 and serves clients across more than 100 countries. That backing brings stability to work done one person at a time.
If you are steady within structure and want to help people leave custody with a plan, apply and show us the people you have coached and the progress they made.
What you get
- Annual leave: 25 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays, increasing with service. For a full-time employee working five days per week in England, this normally equates to 33 days annually, five more than the statutory minimum. Entitlements are pro-rated where applicable.
- Healthcare and wellbeing:Vitality health and wellbeing support, including GP services, mental healthsupport and physiotherapy.Employee assistance: A confidential 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme, including up to six counselling sessions annually and legal, financial and debt guidance.
- Pension and shares: Workplace pension, with salary sacrifice available subject to eligibility and scheme rules. Access to a share buy scheme.
- Health and fitness:Up to 360 annually through IncentFit for eligible activities.
- Discounts:Wellbeing, retail, fitness, travel and mobile discounts, including 20% off eligible EE mobile plans.
Recruitment process
Apply through our recruitment platform and complete the short initial questionnaire. If you start your application through Indeed or LinkedIn, you will still need to complete this step before we can review your application.
We assess applications against the essential criteria and the evidence provided. Keep your CV concise and show what you personally did, owned, improved or delivered.
Shortlisted applicants may complete a recruitment call, Teams conversation, role-related assessment or hiring-manager interview, potentially including a practical exercise.
Preparation, responsiveness and attention to detail matter. Any offer is conditional on satisfactory applicable pre-employment checks.
Safer recruitment
Get Set UK is committed to safer recruitment practices to help protect our colleagues and the people we support.
As part of our recruitment process, you will be required to provide a complete and accurate history of your employment and other relevant activity for the previous five years, including explanations for any gaps, together with referee details covering the previous three years.
Please ensure the information you provide is complete and accurate, as we may be unable to progress your application until our safer recruitment requirements have been completed.
Depending on the role, further pre-employment checks may include references, right-to-work checks, DBS checks and/or other appropriate vetting.
For this role, appointment is subject to enhanced vetting appropriate to the role, including prison security clearance. This is carried out by the prison in addition to a DBS check and looks closely at your background. Please be open and complete about your history from the start. Information that is withheld or inaccurate is likely to come to light through vetting and may lead to your application, or an offer, being withdrawn.
Eligibility and inclusion
You must have the full right to work in the UK. Sponsorship is not available for this role.
Get Set UK is a DisabilityConfident and Equal Opportunity Employer. Reasonable adjustments are available throughout recruitment.
Additional information
We reserve the right to close applications early, so we encourage early applications.
Get Set UK is a Disability Confident and Equal Opportunity Employer. We welcome applications from all suitably qualified individuals and are committed to supporting physical and mental wellbeing at work. Reasonable adjustments are available throughout the recruitment process if required.
This role is subject to satisfactory recruitment checks and a commitment to safeguarding learners and clients.
Get Set UK does not accept unsolicited CVs from agencies.
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