Unique careers service to help students plan ahead

GMACS – which is short for the Greater Manchester Apprenticeships and Careers Service – was launched yesterday.

To mark the occasion an event took place in Salford, where the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, met with secondary and post-16 education leaders while driving forward his Life Readiness agenda.

From Year 7 through to becoming an adult, young people across Greater Manchester will have access to a range of useful tools to help them build their skills, search and apply for opportunities with businesses and apprenticeships, as well as for college and post-16 courses. GMACS also promises to offer young people the chance to get a flavour of what’s on offer in the world of work and view available jobs.

All secondary schools and colleges in Greater Manchester are being encouraged to sign up to GMACS to allow their students to benefit from the new site, where everything – from details of apprenticeships, careers advice and plans, and even a personality quiz to help young people decide a career – can be easily accessed in one place.

Mr Burnham, said: “It’s absolutely fantastic news for young people across our city-region that GMACS is now available for them to access – creating a single, digital platform to help them make appropriate and informed decisions about their futures and careers.

“GMACS is an ambitious and unique apprenticeship and careers service that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the country. The portal provides a trusted source of information that allows young people to plan, search and apply for their future opportunities – whether that be college places, apprenticeships or other developmental activities to build their skills – all in one place.”

The Mayor was joined at the launch event by more than 300 careers leaders, educators and employers.

Year 10 students from the Oasis Academy in Oldham trialled GMACS ahead of its launch and had some positive things to say about the site:

Hussein Mahmood, 15, said: “GMACS is a very good website and gives ideas of what you might want to do when you leave school.

“It helps you make decisions as gives an idea of salaries and how much you can get paid while doing apprenticeships.

“Everything is in one place on GMACS and easy to find and I would recommend it to anyone interested.”

For more information, visit www.gmacs.co.uk.