Fifteen years ago Sue started work on Lifepilot, a careers website for adults and a few years later developed and launched the Careerpilot careers site for young people aged 11 to 19. At the time there was limited good quality careers information and advice in the South West area that was easily accessible. Sue developed the websites to help adults and young people get all the information and advice they need about progression routes onto higher education and careers.
Careerpilot and Lifepilot are funded through a partnership of Universities led by Bath and Sue is the Project Manager of a small team who are based within Access, Recruitment and Outreach. The websites are free for anyone to use and are well recognised careers platforms you can use for signposting with prospective students.
Sue’s continued enthusiasm, professionalism and dedication to her work has resulted in thousands of students, parents and teachers being able to access and benefit from these valued resources, not only in the South West but across the whole of England. This year, Careerpilot alone has been used by over 540,000 people.
The Awards
The shortlisted candidates were invited to a prestigious Awards Dinner hosted by the Career Development Institute (CDI) on 18 June, where excellence across the Career Development Sector both nationally and internationally is celebrated once a year. The CDI is the UK's professional body for all aspects of careers work.
Sue and her team who nominated her, were delighted to attend the event in Derby. The event preceded the annual Career Leaders conference where Sue and colleague Alice Hossent delivered a workshop on Careerpilot (which received its own CDI award a few years ago).
Getting to the final three for this award is a huge achievement and was judged as demonstrating the following criteria:
- Meeting client needs.
- Best practice.
- Evidence of inclusive and ethical practice and/or challenging stereotypes.
- Evidence of Impact on clients/customers/self/organisation.
- Innovation.
- Impact.
- Contribution to the development of the profession.
Since news of the awards was released, Sue and her team have been congratulated by colleagues within the careers profession and university partnership to say how well deserved she was to be shortlisted and recognised for her dedication and commitment over the years.
If you would like to know more about how Careerpilot and Lifepilot could be used as a tool to help prospective students, or how you might support our work further, please get in touch with the Careerpilot team at career-pilot@bath.ac.uk. Alternatively, you can visit the websites and have a look around.