The first week in March was careers week in England, from the 3rd to the 7th, and here at Leicestershire Cares we celebrated this with our Career Webinar series, streaming career talks to schools across Leicester. We had 9 speakers and streamed to 10 schools over the week.
The impact of career talks on students:
✔ Increased career aspirations and confidence.
✔ Higher likelihood of employment and reduced risk of becoming NEET. (Not in Education, Employment or Training)
✔ Better understanding of workplace expectations and skills.
✔ Encouragement to consider a wider range of career options.
✔ Increased motivation to achieve good qualifications.
A study by Education and Employers found that students who attended career talks from business professionals were more likely to develop career aspirations aligned with their strengths and interests. The study showed that young people who engaged with at least four employer encounters during school were 86% less likely to become NEET (Source: Education and Employers Report). A government study highlighted that career talks from professionals increase students’ belief in their own abilities and encourage them to pursue more ambitious career paths (Source: UK Gov - Employer Engagement Study). The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found that students who interact with business professionals during their education are more likely to secure higher-paying jobs and stable employment and that exposure to working professionals helps students develop a clearer career direction and improved workplace skills.
On Day one we were joined by Alex Chiavolini, who is a Psychotherapist, Clinical Supervisor and EMDR therapist and Tania Gerard who is a AuDHD Founder and a Neurodiversity Trainer. This opened up some interesting discussions about being authentic to yourself and pursuing your dreams with fierce tenacity. We ended with a Q&A session speaking about the importance of volunteering when you are young to gain all those wonderful transferable skills that employees love so much.
On Wednesday we had Eloise Nicholson-Phillips who works at Everards as a Technical Brewer. Eloise started her journey to becoming a Technical Brewer from a young age with an interest in nutrition and fermenting foods, following her interests and leading her to a career she is clearly very passionate about. She also spoke about the huge variety of roles on offer at a large company like Everards – not just beer makers!
Thursday, we had a really interesting mix of volunteers, each representing either the private, public or charity sector. We had Paul Yates – a probation officer for the Ministry of Justice, Phil Marlow – a Principal Health and Safety Consultant for Surveyors to Educators and Melissa March - Head of Income & Partnerships, Citizens Advice Bureau.
On the final day we did an International Women’s Day special, showcasing some remarkable women is leadership roles. We had Danielle Young who is a Legal Director and Solicitor for a local law firm Nelsons Law, Veronique McKellican who is the Global Key Accounts and Sales Operations Director at GCE Group and Emily Crayston who is a Battery Requirements Engineer for Jaguar and Land Rover. We had some really interesting conversations about working in male dominated fields and having to fight imposter syndrome and believe in yourself - particularly as a woman.
A huge thank you to all of our volunteers for giving up their time and getting involved with this project, and to all the schools who joined in this week. For any schools that are interested all talks were recorded and are available to watch - please get in touch for more information, and if you have read this and are interested in volunteering with our Education project please contact Bella! bella@leicestershirecares.co.uk