53 year 10 students took part in an employability day at Discovery Park on Tuesday 17th May.
Education Business Partnership were given a target brief from the school and they developed a bespoke programme for the day. This involved a variety of workshops, all designed to help students gain exciting employment opportunities in the future.
Sam Barker, European sales director for Golfbreaks delivered the key notes speak and addressed the core skills required within the work place. Students were involved in role play activities during this talk and were given real life examples of success measures and accountability in industry. Business models were shared and students listened with great intent to this valuable insight into the world of work.
The workshop activities involved a careers fair with cummings, higher education CCU, further
education EKC, apprenticeships, Kent training and apprenticeships and careers advice from EBP. This gave students the opportunity to work on a one to one basis and really understand what steps are required to be successful with their post 16 pathway.
Students also took part in a team building, problem solving based activity that was set up by EBP. This involved using core skills that are fundamental in the workplace such as communication, team work and resilience. Students fully engaged with this activity and enjoyed the hands on nature of the task.
One of the biggest concerns from the pre employability day student feedback was interviews. Students we worried about the process of being interviewed, especially on a one to one level. On the day, EBP ran a group workshop based on interview performance tips which was followed by a one to one interview from external business’ Actis insulation, Golfbreaks and Avondale Care and EBP. Students performed exceptionally well and the interview panel were extremely impressed. One of the panel stated that the students had performed better than a number of previous formal interviews at their workplace.
Students took part in other workshops around CV writing and the process involved with this. The issue of raising confidence and self-belief in preparation for a successful job application was also addressed. The career related conversations carried on throughout the lunch break with students asking a whole range of questions to the panel.
The feedback from both the students and the panel involved was incredible. The day was a huge success and everyone involved is looking forward to the second event next month.
A huge thank you to all the team at Education Business Partnership Kent, James and Chloe from Avondale Care, Sam from Golfbreaks, Mark from Actis Insulation and all that were involved in the careers fair. The student’s thoroughly enjoyed the event and gained so much valuable experience to help them continue their aspirations along their chosen career pathways.