Facts and Figures

• Starting salary:

  An adviser can earn between £20,000 and £27,000 a year. Administration roles pay up to £17,000.

• Senior level salary:

  A senior adviser would earn between £28,000 and £32,000 a year. Managers can earn up to £50,000.

• Education:

  No degree is necessary and there is no standard route into this field. Many employers are more interested in your personal skills and experience than qualifications.

• Skills:

  You'll need to be a good communicator with a passion for helping people and an ability to deal quickly and sensitively with problems. Employers value transferable skills such as experience in project management, good communication, team working, customer service, and report writing. Work experience in different sectors can help demonstrate these. For some roles you will need to understand issues such as housing law and the benefits system. The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) also runs general courses on working in the charity sector. Its foundation course includes a work placement at a charity.

• Likely employer type:

  Local organisations such as night shelters or housing advice centres, large national charities such as Shelter or Centrepoint.

• Opportunities:

  Vacancies are often advertised on the Shelter website at: www.shelter.org.uk There is no definitive figure on the demand for workers.

• Number of professionals:

  Shelter, which is one of the largest organisations working with homeless and badly housed people, employs over 200 housing advisers. There are many smaller housing advice organisations throughout the UK.