Students explore City careers

Young people from Cardinal Pole Catholic School, Haggerston School and BSix Sixth Form College attended a careers fair at The Tomlinson Centre to discover more about the opportunities available to them in the Square Mile once they leave school or college.

‘Careers in the City’ was organised by Inspire! and the Hackney Learning Trust, who also provided funding for the event. With young people required to stay in education or training until they reach 18, the fair was designed to showcase a range of employment opportunities, apprenticeships and job training schemes for sixth form students who have chosen not to go to university or are undecided about doing so.

Companies hosting stands at the event were: Land Securities, Deloitte, Lloyds Banking Group, Kaplan/ Kaplan Financial,Accenture, The Brokerage Citylink, Skills for Growth, Clyde & Co, Birkbeck University and Agilisys. Students had the chance to meet and talk with company personnel about their own jobs, career progression and the qualifications required for certain roles.

There were also a number of skill challenges and ‘hands-on’ activities that tested the students’ selling, teamwork, communication or problem-solving skills.

The event clearly met its objectives as some of the students’ comments proved: ‘The most useful thing I learnt was about the experience and qualities needed on a CV. I was surprised by the number of apprenticeships people suggested,’ one wrote afterwards. Another felt ‘the advice that was given to me was extremely useful… I learnt what career path to take.’

Employers also gained a lot from the day. One volunteer commented: “I thoroughly enjoyed the event, I feel that it was great to give the students another option to university. After giving our success stories from the apprenticeship programme, many students were thoroughly engaged in what we had to say and were asking to take leaflets and find out what to do next to potentially apply. It was also great to give the students potential interview questions such as “sell me the potato”; it was great for us to provide constructive feedback about what they can potentially improve on and what employers are looking for when carrying out the task. I would recommend the event to all students and apprenticeship ambassadors.”