City & Guilds sponsors Virtual College’s new Career VOOC® to transform careers guidance

City & Guilds is sponsoring ‘Working in the Health and Social Care sector’, one of a suite of 10 Career VOOC®s (Vocational Open Online Courses) being developed by Virtual College to help bring careers guidance into the 21st century.

Each Career VOOC® is designed to provide career seekers with a ‘warts and all’ insight into working in that particular sector. Using a range of multimedia tools, it will provide users with an introduction to key job roles, skills requirements and progress routes.

On registration, users are allocated the suite of 10 Career VOOC®s. They can then explore an imaginary town which has a range of employers to visit (retailers, care homes, doctors, nursery, hospital, manufacturers, councils, banks, builders, hotel, bus/rail station etc.) to see what the various job roles entail.

As the user completes each Career VOOC®, they can indicate their level of interest and access enhanced guidance – virtual careers advisor, work experience and volunteering ideas.

Work is underway to link this guidance to job vacancies and employers, both on a local and national basis, providing a complete career journey.

In addition to introducing the users to the skills development routes (such as short courses, Traineeships, Apprenticeships and Degrees), they will be signposted to local and national training providers. They will also be given access to discounted further development opportunities including CV bolstering e-modules, employability and technical certificate e-learning resources.

Chris Kirk, City & Guilds’ Head of UK Customer Strategy & Marketing, commented: “As the first sponsor of the Career VOOC®, we are excited about how we can help young people make truly informed choices - something that is very difficult with traditional careers guidance.

“We look forward to working with Virtual College to make the Health & Social Care VOOC® a huge success.”

The Health & Social Care VOOC® will be promoted by and be available from Virtual College and City & Guilds from July.

For further information, please contact:
Roger Moore, Virtual College
Tel: 01943 605976
Email:roger.moore@virtual-college.co.uk

About Virtual College

• Virtual College has developed into one of the UKs leading providers of total solutions within the e-learning arena. Its key objective is to help enhance the traditional learning solution through the careful integration of technology.
• Founded in 1995, today Virtual College has over 1.3 million registered online learners and this is growing at a rate of over 800 a day, across both public and private sectors. The company has developed a comprehensive product range, including over 200 online courses, accessed via the companys own Learning Management System, as well as offering a complete content design and development service.
• Additional information is available at www.virtual-college.co.uk

About the City & Guilds Group

• The City & Guilds Group www.cityandguilds.com is a global leader in skills education. Approximately 2 million people are currently working towards a City & Guilds qualification, which are offered in more than 20 sectors.
• The City & Guilds Group operates in 80 countries, with regional offices in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Ireland, Hungary, Sri Lanka, Dubai, South Africa and New Zealand.
• The City & Guilds Group includes:
  • City & Guilds Kineo, the leading workplace learning company which helps employers drive business performance through learning and technology
  • The Institute of Leadership & Management develops high-quality leadership and management skills – supporting individual career progression and business growth
  • The Centre for Skills Development, a not for profit research and development body that works to improve the policy and practice of vocational education and training worldwide
• City & Guilds is a chartered institute and its royal president is HRH The Princess Royal. Any surpluses made through its work is reinvested into education or used for student support programmes.
• City & Guilds is the premier sponsor of The UK Skills Show. The Skills Show is an annual celebration which showcases a range of skills, and inspires visitors to consider the training available and the career opportunities that this can lead to.