We have tried to make the search options as easy as possible, but if you’re having trouble finding the information you want, this guide will help you. If you’ve already used one of our searches and would like more advice, choose one of the following:
If you’re new to using search on the Careers Advice Service website you can visit our Frequently Asked Questions.
General advice on keywords
Try to use keywords that are as specific as possible. For example, if you want information on the job of a quantity surveyor, put both these words in, not just surveyor.
General advice on searching by postcode
Postcode search is only useful for course searches. If you want to find a course, enter your full postcode and how far you want to travel and the directory will bring up the course providers within your chosen distance.
You can just enter the first part of your postcode (for example, SW1) but the results will be more precise if you enter yowiur full postcode.
Search to find all types of content on a particular topic
| If you enter a subject in the Search box it will bring up careers information, features and forum discussions on this subject. For example, if you enter ‘electrician’ you will be pointed towards job profiles, advice articles and forum discussions which contain the word ‘electrician’ in the main text. Click on the title of the job profile, advice article or discussion thread of your choice.
Once you get your search results you can also enter your postcode to find courses in the same subject. |
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Advanced search: Search for a course
Use this search if you’ve got a clear idea of which course you want - including subject, location, study type and duration.
In the search for a course box follow these steps to find the course you want:
- Subject keyword(s)
Enter one or more words to describe what you’re interested in - for example, ‘Teaching’. Or ‘Plumbing’
- Location
Here you enter your town/city or your postcode, and choose an option from the drop-down menu to indicate how far you’re willing to travel from this point.
- Study type
You can tick the boxes of all the ways you’d like to study (self study is automatically included – un-tick the box if you only want attendance courses).
- Duration
You can choose how long you want the course to last or leave the box as ‘any duration’ to bring up courses of all lengths.
- Start date
You can choose when you’d like the course to start or leave the box as ‘any date’ if you haven’t got a preference; you can tick the ‘include flexible start dates’ box if you want to bring up courses that start at different times of the year.
- Qualification
Choose an option from the drop-down list if you’re looking for a particular qualification or leave the box as ‘any qualification’ if you’ll consider any.
- Click Submit
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The search results page will list courses that match your search criteria, and links to the course providers. If you search for both attendance and self study courses you’ll see two separate columns of courses.
The links just above the provider list let you reorder the results according to:
- alphabetical order by provider
- order of which provider offers the most courses
- order of which provider is nearest to your home
- random order.
The columns list ten course providers at a time. If there are more than ten providers you can view further providers by clicking on the buttons at the bottom of the columns.
Click on the course provider to view their courses. On this page you can also change your study type preference and search again.
Click on the course title for full course details such as a summary of the course, the qualification, contact details, a link to their website and provider facilities. You can also email these course details to a friend. |
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Extra course search tips
Searching for combined courses
You can search for a course that deals with more than one subject by using ‘and’. For example, if you want to do a course combining Italian and German, enter ‘Italian and German’ in the subject keyword box and the directory will bring up courses combining these two subjects.
Searching for more than one subject
You can search for more than one course subject at the same time by using ‘or’. For example, if you want to search for Italian courses and German courses, enter ‘Italian or German’ in the subject keyword box and the directory will bring up courses in Italian or German.
Excluding certain types of courses
You can exclude certain types of courses. For example, if you'd like to study German but not at GCSE level, enter ‘German not GCSE’ and the directory will bring up courses excluding GCSE level courses.
Additional Search Options
Extra options for searching are available from the Find a Course link in the left hand menu. Use this search if you want to browse a subject area or find a specific provider.
Browse By Course Category
This search lets you choose a course category such as sport and leisure, and computing and IT.
When you click on a course category you’re presented with course sub-categories, which are more specific subjects in your area of interest. Keep narrowing your search by choosing sub-categories until you’re asked in which region of the UK you want to study. You can also enter your postcode and how far you’re willing to travel.
On the next pages you can narrow your search by study type and qualification, or you can view all the results.
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You can search for a particular course provider by clicking on its initial letter or number from the options across the top. You can also search by keyword and/or postcode. The keyword search looks for the word in the course provider’s name.
To find course providers in your area just enter your postcode. You can also search by keyword and postcode, to narrow your results further.
Click on the course providers to view their courses.
Job Profile Search
The job profile search is available from the jobs and careers section of the left hand menu.
To find jobs you’re interested in, enter keyword(s) into the search box. This will find job profiles that mention this word either in the title or the main text.
For example, if you enter ‘driver’ it will find jobs connected with driving such as taxi driver and van driver. Click on the job title to go to the job profile of your choice.
You can carry out a more specific search if you enter two or more words such as ‘train driver’. This will find job profiles that contain ‘train’ and job profiles that contain ‘driver’, but not necessarily together. However, if the two words do appear together this profile will be close to the top of the list.
Once you get your job profile search results, you can also search for courses to get into these types of jobs by entering your postcode.
You can also browse through the job families to read profiles in the work areas you’re interested in.
FAQs
To find out which search will be best to get the results you want, choose which of these statements applies to you and click on the link for advice on how to use the search.
I’ve searched but when I put my postcode in I get no results
Make sure you are searching for a Course Subject as postcodes are only relevant for course related searches.
I want to know where my nearest course provider is.
Use our Course Provider Search.
I want to know which courses a provider offers
Use our Course Provider Search.
I know roughly what I want to do but I’m not sure of the name of the course.
Go to Browse By Course Category.
I want to know which courses I can do in a subject area.
Go to Browse By Course Category.
I’d like to do a self study course
Use the Advanced Course Search.
I’m looking for information on jobs and how to get into them.
Use our Job Profile Search.
I know which course I want to do, how to study it, how long for and which qualification I want.
Go to the Advanced Course Search.
I’m looking for the contact details of a particular course provider.
Use our Course Provider Search.
I’d like to do a course covering more than one subject
Read the extra search tips for combined courses on our Advanced Course Search.
I want to search for more than one course at a time.
Read the extra search tips for searching for more than subject on our Advanced Course Search.
I want to search for courses while excluding certain results.
Read the extra search tips for excluding certain types of courses on our Advanced Course Search.
I want to search for other information on a topic
You can use our general search to bring up careers information, forum discussions, features and audio.
