employment advisor

employment specialist

career advisor

youth worker

case manager

Shaw Trust

The positives

1. Training and induction initially is very good 
2. Shaw trust is very supportive and inclusive and provides support for those with disabilities and neurodiverse conditions 
3. Colleagues are friendly and try to be supportive when they can 
4. You get leave at Christmas, travel expenses and the business world system is good if not a bit confusing 

Negatives

This isn't entirely the fault of shaw trust as I was working on the national careers service contract which was a nightmare. So the blame for the many issues lies at the hands of the EFSA. But my impression is that whilst shaw trust were happy to take on the contract (and the financial rewards) they didn't do a thing to improve things and just washed their hands of the whole thing. It's hilarious that as advisors, we were constantly told to work more efficiently and yet at the same time, having to tick multiple boxes and jump through many hoops to make the company happy. If they genuinely want advisers to work more effectively, review, streamline and simplify procedures and processes, reduce excessive unnecessary admin and invest in a decent crm system as the current system is awful and everything is so long winded on there. Oh and give us admin time to catch up. It really is that simple.

The staff turnover is horrendous and will continue to be until those in power wake up and realise things need to change. Sadly I can't see that ever happening 

If you apply to be a careers adviser thinking you are going to be helping people and making a difference, well.....FORGET IT!! All national careers service, EFSA and shaw trust cares about is wretched targets and compliance and making money and they make it clear on a regular basis that money is key and prioritised over supporting customers. 

Trainee careers advisors have it even worse. Expected to do a demanding level 4 qualification in your own time, work to the same high targets as qualified advisers but on a lower salary. There is minimal support after the initial training and induction, no mentoring and you are on your own and expected to figure things out yourself. If you make a mistake rather than tell you and it be part of your development, they will just let you carry on making mistakes and then you will have a huge amount of errors to rectify, just adding to your already high workload. They expect you to figure everything out on your own. The communication is poor and you also work in isolation so it's hard to feel part of a team and there is little team spirit. You can see why so many people leave, especially trainees. 

When you try and raise issues and suggest improvements, you are ignored and not listened to. It really was demoralising working here at times and the attitude of those higher up is that all the problems are the fault of the advisors despite us trying to get solutions for issues and promptly being ignored. 

If you enjoy working in a stressful, high pressure, fast paced, competitive environment with unrealistic expectations,  very high workload, constant pressure to meet targets and zero worklife balance, you will love it here.

However if you want to actually help and support people, look elsewhere. 

I cannot in good faith recommend this job to anyone. If you come from a sales or recruitment background and are highly competitive and target driven then you will enjoy it. Sadly the role of careers adviser is completely missold and it really is a glorified sales job.

I wish the company would acknowledge the issues and make changes. But either their hands are tied by this contract or they are too arrogant to care. 


Private companies that register themselves charities and absorb outsourced contracts like they’re going out of fashion are often riddled with issues.  I was part of the progenitor to what is now Shaw Trust when I was a trainer and advisor for The Careers Development Group (CDG) and supported the operations of the Crawley branch of this company across 4 DWP employment contracts.  CDG merged sometime in 2015 with Shaw Trust and simply became ‘Shaw Trust’.  How one could review the company depends on your own experiences.  Many would find lots to promote Shaw Trust, other would only regurgitate bile when recalling their time with the company.  I am somewhere in between.  I could rant on forever about the Business Managers; some of them genuinely nice, whereas others were strict disciplinarian tyrants who would abuse you due to their own desperation to achieve targets.  I encountered both at my long-term stint with the Trust.  I worked simultaneously as an Employment Coach and an Employment Advisor on the Flexible New Deal, Work Programme and Work Choice contracts.  The latter was actually great fun as I was required to travel to different centres and carry out job search/employer engagement appointments with job seekers, the Trust paid for my train fares with Click Travel.  I ended on a high and enjoyed this final placement on Work Choice and was given a fairly big redundancy package.  Prior to this however I was churned up in the meat grinder that was Work Programme with a deluge of customers to see, sessions to run and admin to complete that nearly saw the death of me! I nearly had a breakdown, and/or nearly quit my job! Though there was support in place with regards to my wellbeing, the pressure to achieve job start targets was unrelenting and I only just about scraped my way across the finish line, whereas some of my former colleagues collapsed through stress.  This was not necessarily the fault of the company, more the appalling rudeness of a couple of the Business Managers I encountered, some of them still with the Trust.  Though at the time I disagreed with the initiatives the company tried, working with Shaw Trust was light years ahead of the truly horrendous experience I had with Maximus People Services, that was the next company I worked for! But that’s another story.  Shaw Trust do have a proper framework for delivering a contract and organise their staff hierarchy correctly.  They also have dedicated health and wellbeing support workers, when the contracts get intense, and there is the scope for professional certification which you can study for alongside your daily duties.  This is mainly due to the fact that they actually invest a noticeable amount of money into their centres and recruit the correct number of staff to manage the significant workload that comes in.  Again, it can be horrendous!  But it can also be great fun sometimes working for the Trust.  Even if they’re hardly a jewel in the crown, they’re still one of the best in the sector.  If I were able to re-join I would probably do so.

The Good:
-I had a great induction and a friendly, supportive team who were always on hand to help. 

-We were allowed to work from home during COVID. 

-I supported lots of people who truly needed our support. The service is largely suited to those who need basic assistance e.g. CVs and interviews and we had access to some great resources for certain clients.

-Shaw Trust is an inclusive employer and provides great training opportunities to those with less experience. 

The Bad:
The service fails to support a lot of clients and you are often selling dreams to those that want to work in a career other than construction or security etc... 

-Experienced professionals will often feel like they're wasting their time with you but the job centres will refer them anyway and you have to soldier through the session to meet your targets.

-Targets became increasingly strict and subject to more and more micromanagement. 

-You have to work with the DWP who often dehumanised their "customers".

-There was a massive bloat of different employability contracts and even clients were confused about being referred to them.

-You need to help clients using a fixed list of activities, which hurts your ability to have a constructive discussion and instead you resort to ticking boxes to make the compliance team happy. This wouldn't be so bad if you could give management some narrative about why you didn't meet your target, but you can't. Annual leave, challenging "customers", or even training days will count against you in meeting your targets. 

-I felt patronised by the management at times and never felt like I got genuine responses to any feedback or objections, which is understandable considering how inflexible the contract is.

Unfortunately, this is the nature of many government funded contracts as they are not purely quality-driven. If you are more recruitment/sales oriented this could be a great role for you. 



What is the best part of working at the company?
Inspiriting Inclusion and Diversity at Shaw Trust

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The most stressful part about working at Shaw Trust as an Inclusive Employment Consultant was managing the high expectations for both individual and organisational success. This often required navigating complex scenarios and ensuring that all parties involved were effectively supported and empowered.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment at Shaw Trust is characterized by a commitment to inclusivity and empowerment. It fosters a collaborative culture where teamwork and innovation are encouraged. Employees are dedicated to making a positive impact on individuals with disabilities and health conditions, and this shared mission creates a sense of purpose and camaraderie in the workplace. The culture places a strong emphasis on continuous learning and professional development, aligning with my passion for growth and skills development. Additionally, the organization's commitment to inclusion resonates with my values, both as an HR professional and as an individual with a strong interest in community engagement. Overall, the work environment and culture at Shaw Trust align well with my personal and professional goals.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Client meetings, coaching, employer engagement, admin tasks, community involvement, continuous learning, tech integration, teamwork, problem-solving, progress monitoring.

Shaw Trust is a charity, focused on bettering people's lives. I worked closely with the age group of 14-25 year olds, who were NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training).

The job was very rewarding and overall, it was a great place to work. After 9 years working at a Bank, Shaw Trust offered me the opportunity to move across to a sector of work which I had no previous experience in. Unlike other companies, they gave me a chance to learn my craft and allowed me to up-skill to become a better and stronger employee.

The skills learned during my time at Shaw Trust will broaden my horizons for future opportunities and I am more than happy working in the sector I am now in.

The people I met and the colleagues I worked alongside where the best thing about the role and there was a real team spirit within Shaw Trust, which would be very difficult to match elsewhere. The most enjoyable part of the job, was the reward you get when progressing a learner into a position, which nobody thought was possible. Getting the relevant feedback afterwards was very gratifying also.

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end and in this job, Shaw Trust lost the SFA-funded, NEET contract - meaning the team dis-banded and had to look elsewhere for work.

This unfortunate end hasn't left a bad taste when I think of Shaw Trust and most of my memories of the job will be remembered fondly. There were always decisions made by Management, which could have been better. However, this was at a difficult time and it was understandable that these decisions could have been affected by job uncertainty at the time.

Since working for Shaw Trust I have witnessed: increased working hours with no additional pay, introduced poorly planned bonus scheme, then withdrawn it because they couldn't manage it (no replacement on the horizon yet), introduced a pay increase structure based only overachieving set KPI's then not instating incremental pay increases for successful staff due to the system 'only being a guide' and 'Shaw Trust have overspent'. Allow management to recruit or promote into the business their friends leading to incompetency in higher level management. Continually said they will introduce staff training for development which does not materialise. Hire another 'chief of' into a £80kpa plus role for what appears to be the sake of it. Cut vital internal services to save money then panic when work cannot be completed and re-recruit. Run monthly staff surveys to gauge feeling but have not acted on the results so 2 years on the poor results remain unchanged so have changed to quarterly. Refer to the number of people they want to help as 'units' and seem unaware of how disrespectful it appears. I could go on.

Locally, the people working for Shaw Trust have been very dedicated and do go above and beyond for the people they work with (other staff members and clients alike). This has been the single best thing about working for Shaw Trust.

The staff turnover rate at Shaw Trust is incredibly high and after working there for a year I can see why. As a lower level manager I was very focussed on supporting my staff and providing a positive culture. The same unfortunately could not be said for more senior managers. 

I went through 3 managers + 1 temporary manager in my year in employment and received little to no support. I was expected to do the work of 3 completely different roles at once due to not having them in my staffing model (every other site did) and little support was given. 

We work with incredibly dangerous individuals (this isn't an issue for me as my entire career I have worked in similar roles with no concerns) and Shaw Trust are more bothered about money than staff safety. Despite numerous reports that the building is not fit for purpose and a number of incidents, senior staff did not do anything to ensure staff safety despite being made aware they are breaking policies and procedures. I had 2 staff members go off sick because of this and their answer was to hire different staff to replace them. 

My probation was extended by 3 months (2 months late) and although I had achieved everything I was told I needed to they terminated my contract for obscene reasons. 

Their CEO referred to a "staff churn" and I completely agree. Through conversations with senior managers its incredibly clear that they would rather get rid of good staff than support them correctly. 

Would never work for them again. 

I have learned a huge amount in this role and have worked with some genuinely kind, supportive colleagues. The role itself is varied, and I’ve developed skills in administration, case management, stakeholder engagement, and supporting individuals with complex barriers to employment.

However, there are several challenges that impact the overall experience. Training can be inconsistent, with staff often expected to learn through trial and error rather than through structured guidance. Processes and priorities change frequently, making it difficult to feel confident or establish a consistent way of working. There is often a lack of predictability in workloads, targets, and expectations, which can create unnecessary pressure.

At times, senior management can feel disconnected from the realities of frontline delivery. Decisions are sometimes made without fully considering the practical impact on staff and participants, leading to frustration and frequent changes in direction. The focus can shift quickly, making it difficult to plan ahead or feel secure in what is expected.

Overall, the organisation has some excellent people and provides opportunities to learn and develop, but greater consistency, clearer communication, and a stronger understanding of operational realities would improve the experience for both staff and service users.

Was a great place to work, wonderful camaraderie and support from Office Supervisor/ Manager level and office team ..  Fabulous commitment from that level of staff to fulfil employability assessment and support to clients in preparation, application, interview and in job support , delivered in a caring , relevent and professional manner! The vast majority of lower than top management staff in Scotland made redundant despite unending opportunities and demand for such services!   Pity this was not Managed from top levels to ensure renewed and new contracts!  No redundancies from top highest paid levels who were employed to bring work in as per the continuity of the charity/ but non performance fulfillment of top  job roles get rewarded by maintaing top positions and keeping exorbitant salaries and all those lovely lunches etc...keeping in mind this is a charity? Avoid if you have scruples,  decency,  a clear fraud record!  You will be expected to perform miracles without the whiff of a long term permanent secure contract..  Unless you get a top role!  Has opened my eyes and made me question the status of charity status more scrupulously! There are a lot of good ones so do very thorough research first if that is your sector!!

Working as a volunteer at Shaw Trust meant that I was mostly asked to do anything that needed to be done, whether it be steaming clothes, cleaning products, pricing products or tidying the shop floor. I learnt the basics of using a till and I've also learnt how to treat customers and I believe that the store is under good management, along with friendly and supportive employees. There isn't really a hard part of a job, but I would say the most challenging would be tidying the shop floor. Ordering the sizes of the clothes can be rather time consuming. Also, when volunteering, you maybe asked to do the same task, leaving little room for new challenges and experience. I was asked to steam clothes a lot but at the end of the day, the job needed to be done. Because this was a Volunteer job, I have not earned any salary but based on certain advertisements for Shaw Trust, it has a very reasonable salary.
For me, the most enjoyable part of the job would be sorting the prices of CD's, DVD's and games, I feel very confident in doing it so I find it to be a fun task. Overall, Shaw Trust is really enjoyable. You maybe asked rather often to do the same task when volunteering, but it doesn't always happen. It has a very friendly atmosphere and the tasks are very straight forward and simple. 4/5 Stars, Very good.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Employment advisor 4 salaries reported	£28,925 per year
Employment specialist 4 salaries reported	£32,700 per year
Career advisor 6 salaries reported	£26,717 per year
Youth worker 3 salaries reported	£26,320 per year
Case manager 3 salaries reported	£31,133 per year

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