Careers and transition guidance

The RNC College experience is more than being outcome focused or obtaining vocational or academic qualifications. It’s about achievement beyond the classroom and raising aspirations. Your career programme will start with you becoming accomplished in your chosen medium of accessible technology, utilising time management practice, developing independent living skills and gaining industry recognised qualifications, all of which will provide you with a solid foundation to succeed within the workplace.

Careers programme

The RNC Careers Programme is progressive, student focused, personalised and a collaboration between the RNC governors, teachers, tutors, senior management team, students, parents and employers and enterprise - RNC aims to prepare young people to be able to independently navigate their career pathways and have an awareness of the opportunities, both employer and employee responsibilities and be able to learn from their experiences in life.  

Vocational

Our training programmes give you the practical skills, experience and qualifications you need to follow specific career pathways. At RNC we are proud of the range of qualified students who leave us and embark on careers in fitness, massage, business administration, technology, media and the arts.

Preparing for employment

In order to help you move into your future career, the Career Development team will guide you through the raft of employability skills from CV writing, cover letters, applications, mock interviews both face to face and virtual, through to, how to apply for Access to Work and your digital job search presence via LinkedIn, Facebook and more recently Google. 

University preparation and FE

In addition to excellent teaching, students benefit from a dedicated team who will guide you through your UCAS applications, support for university visits and informed talks from Higher Education professionals. Living at a residential college is great preparation for university life. RNC has a universal approach to both HE and FE information and experiences.

Work experience

Each academic year, all students are required to complete a week-long work experience placement, for the duration of their studies. These placements can be either in Hereford or in your home area and should relate to your area of study or career goal. Work experience preparation sessions are held to ensure you will be aware of health and safety, employment legislation, work place etiquette and travel and lunch arrangements. You will also learn how to complete your work experience log books, receive feedback and write letters of thanks to the employer.

RNC can supply a prospective employer with any assistive technology that might be needed, as well as being on hand to answer any questions the employer might have. An employer health and safety risk assessment will be conducted for any placements organised and the employer will also undergo an RNC work experience briefing session and be checked to ensure they have public liability insurance in place.

The RNC’s Careers Programme and the Annual Career Development Planner can be downloaded here.

Careers strategy

Our careers strategy document outlines a stable / structured Careers Programme that aims to prepare young people for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life which is a core statutory responsibility for RNC. It should enable all students to make well-informed decisions about education, training, apprenticeships and employment opportunities as well as help to cope with challenging labour market conditions.

RNC's Careers Programme is delivered in line with the Government's Careers Strategy as published in 'Careers strategy: making the most of everyone's skills and talents' (Department for Education, December 2017) and is based on the eight benchmarks of good career guidance, developed by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation.