Careers Guide: Youth work careers - Essential advice on jobs in youth work

1. Like and understand young people.

It might sound obvious, but it really helps if you like young people, Mike Counsell, former principal youth officer for Gloucestershire, says: "The job is about being interested in young people's growth and personal development, especially though the transition to adulthood."

"You need to be able to do that within young people's culture - to understand how they think and behave, to be able to have conversations at their level."

Nichola Brown, workforce development officer for the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services, says workers need to be creative and innovative in the things they do. "You've got to bring a tolerant and non-judgmental attitude," she adds.

2. Research your options.

"I always advise people to make sure they've done some voluntary work - certainly before they think about committing to three years for a degree course," says Nichola Brown. "This is one of the few professional areas where it is possible to sample the kind of work you'll do. Look around and see the diversity of jobs that people do."

3. Stay informed.

As a youth worker, you've got to keep on top of the large number of issues facing young people. It is also important to be able to work in communities at grassroots level, to understand the communities young people live in and to be able to work with community leaders.

"Interagency working is increasingly vital," says Fiona Blacke, chief executive of The National Youth Agency. "Youth workers can form a bridge to other services but they also have to act in a team, part of a continuum of intervention, sometimes taking the lead role, sometimes not. Youth workers should be the type who are not afraid to speak out - you will sometimes need to be an advocate for young people."

Pauline Taylor, director of youth work at UK Youth, adds it's vital to remember that youth work is an educational service. "Working with young people is not the same as being their mate. Youth work does involve offering guidance and sometimes you do need to be prepared to be a bit unpopular."

4. Expect to work evenings.

Youth work is not a nine-to-five job. Expect evening and weekend work, including taking young people on residential trips. "There's no point in running a service for young people that isn't available when they need it," says Mike Counsell. "If you can't face that, you're in the wrong job. But there are advantages in having early mornings off."

Pauline Taylor urges people to be realistic when creating youth programmes or projects: "Sometimes you'll set things up and the young people won't turn up - that can be disappointing, but it can be very rewarding when things go well. Be aware too that youth workers are under increasing pressure to get accreditation for what young people do through youth work - and some workers find that can get in the way of what they want to do."

5. Look for opportunities.

"The quality of youth work training and the rise of integrated youth services mean the days of youth work being a dead-end career are long gone," says Fiona Blacke. "Several directors of children's services and heads of national voluntary organisations have youth work backgrounds."

Counsell, now working as a consultant on youth workforce issues, says windows of opportunity are opening up all the time: "Good youth workers have also worked well with other services. Integrated services reinforce that but also give opportunities to transfer. After a few years as a face-to-face youth worker, you can transfer into youth justice or whatever. I think that's great."

THE YOUTH SUPPORT WORKFORCE OF THE FUTURE

Over the coming decade, youth workers will increasingly work in multi-agency teams. Government initiatives such as The Children's Plan envisage wide-ranging youth-support services staffed by people with different backgrounds but who have undergone similar core training.

The provision of things to do and places to go continues to be a major feature of youth policy. Funding streams such as the Myplace programme, which will invest £190m in new youth facilities, and the plans before Parliament to spend unclaimed assets from bank accounts on youth provision should help create job opportunities across the sector. The government's Youth Taskforce is also stressing the importance of providing activities when young people want them, which could mean more youth workers being required to work weekends.