Today we launched Your Health, Your Career, a new digital tool available on the established careers information platform, Career Compass. Funded via the West Yorkshire Health and Growth Accelerator, the tool is freely accessible online, designed to support current and future members of the health and care workforce across West Yorkshire.
You can access and explore the tool today, read more about it below and sign up to one of our upcoming Your Health Your Career Webinars.
Contact Marnie.Smyly1@nhs.net to set up a briefing for your team or service
What is Your Health Your Career?
Your Health Your Career is a new digital tool available on the established careers information platform, Career Compass. The tool is freely accessible online, targeted at current and future members of the health and care workforce across West Yorkshire.
Who is it for?
Your Health Your Career is designed for use by people considering an upcoming career change, who are experiencing one or more of the following:
- Mental health conditions (anxiety and/or depression)
- Musculoskeletal conditions (chronic pain and/or mobility issues)
- Neurodivergence (autism and/or ADHD)
Relevant career changes may include changing locations, changing employer, seeking a different role or retraining, joining the workforce or taking up employment after a period of ill-health or unemployment.
How does it work?
By sharing information about their health and work, users receive personalised information about how this might interact with their career decisions. This includes factors such as working environment, physical demands, emotional demands, and routine. The tool then provides space for individuals to reflect on how these factors are affected by their health, and visa versa.
These outputs can be used by an individual, with a manager, careers advisor, job coach or health professional.
Who can use Your Health, Your Career?
- Students who are entering the health and care sector
- Members of the workforce considering a career change
- Line managers supporting staff to manage their health
- Careers advisors in education settings, employment services and job centres
- People professionals supporting managers and the workforce
- Occupational health staff supporting staff with work and health challenges
How was it built?
Our key design principles were:
- Co-designed: Designed in collaboration with careers experts, experts in mental and physical health, occupational health staff, people professionals, and accessibility specialists.
- Evidence-based: Built on career guidance, wellbeing at work, and health and work coaching best practice, as well as research on long-term conditions and disabilities in the workplace.
- Accessible: Easy to locate and interact with online, whilst accounting for those with digital access needs. The entire tool has been constructed to impart a lot of information as simply as possible, and all content has been vetted by literary accessibility experts.
- Asset-based: Your Health Your Career is designed to be empowering, focusing on what people can do and widening their perceived number of options and opportunities.
- Personalised: Users are directed to specific careers information, career role examples, and detailed case study examples based on their responses to the tool.
Why was it made?
Your Health, Your Career is based on expertise and insight from health and care employers, experts in health, coaching, education, employment and careers.
The aim of this tool is to enable the health and care workforce to make informed and proactive career decisions in the context of their health, increasing their job satisfaction and supporting their wellbeing.
