On Friday 14 February year 11 students took part in this annual careers event. Business volunteers from the local community, with a wide range of knowledge and expertise, were invited along to give our students the chance to practise their interview technique. This provided students with the opportunity to experience an interview situation prior to starting further education, training or employment. We also arranged a variety of career related workshops facilitated by our colleagues at Ask Apprenticeships and the Department for Work and Pensions. The activities and themes presented throughout the morning included:

• Pathways and entry requirements into further/higher education and training.
• Employer expectations
• Work place employment rights
• Impact of becoming NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) and the support available
• Structure of Apprenticeships, how they work, how to apply and resources to support decision making
• Careerometer/LMI (Labour Market Information); use this app to make comparisons about salary, hours, skills, and future workforce needs etc.
• In what ways will technology impact our jobs in the future?
• Exploring non-linear career pathways

I would like to commend all the students that took part in this event on their mature attitude and willingness to be actively involved. Both the students and volunteers provided feedback about their experience of the day; this is what the volunteers fed back about some of our students:

“Confident, determined and ambitious. ‘Spoke easily and passionately’

‘Friendly, polite and dressed really well’

‘Remained calm under pressure and great enthusiasm’

‘This student demonstrated what she had learnt from being at Limes and what skills she now has’

‘Impressive responses to all questions asked’

‘Able to reflect on previous experiences’

‘Answered questions with detailed responses and clear examples’.

‘Able to reflect on challenges’

These are some of the comments that our students made about their interviews:

‘I have got better at articulating myself’

‘It helped me to become more confident’

‘I found out what to do in a real interview’

‘That I am good at multitasking’

‘I need to work on answering on the spot’

‘I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be’

‘That I can hold a conversation’