Post 16 students received a tremendous boost to their employability skills following a two-day workshop organised by BBC Breakfast presenter Stephanie McGovern.



Post 16 students from Macmillan Academy and other Post 16 providers from the local area received a tremendous boost to their employability skills following a two-day workshop organised by BBC Breakfast presenter Stephanie McGovern.

Stephanie, a former Macmillan Academy student and now governor, demonstrated a willingness to put something back in to the school she herself was a student at, using her contacts and experience to bring in an impressive array of guests including CEOs of international companies, lawyers, forensic scientists, medical professionals, media executives, finance directors and public sector managers, to share their expertise with the students.

Over the course of the two days, students received advice in the job application process and in particular how to best present themselves for interview. The event started with a key note speech from Mary Ampah, a Vice President at Goldman Sachs before moving onto the first session which took the form of 'career speed dating' with the experts from business and other careers.

Formal interviews then took place, with each of the 74 students involved having a mock interview with the expert from the field they hope to work in, then there was another keynote speech, this time from Fiona Kendrick, CEO of Nestle, followed by a panel debate to round off the event.

Mary Ampah from Goldman Sachs was impressed with what she saw, describing the experience as 'Amazing!' even joking that she was so impressed with the students enthusiasm and preparation that, 'There were two definite hires I'd like to make if you don’t mind me taking a couple back to London with me.' She did feel very strongly that events like this are very important in encouraging students to 'keep an open mind', explaining that, 'If you don't have anyone in your family who does any of these roles or careers you just don't have any chance to meet people so this is a really good networking opportunity to find out what people really do and what it's like to be a paramedic, a doctor, lawyer or whatever.'

Macmillan Academy student, Jolie Clarke enjoyed the experience and found her interview to be very useful in preparing for a career in paediatric medicine, but she also found the 'speed dating' session very thought-provoking, explaining that, 'We've listened to lots of different people talk about their careers and there are careers that I'd never even thought about before!'

As well as Macmillan Academy students, a number of external students were involved through their involvement with the National Citizenship Service. One of these students was Matthew Hiesser, a Prior Pursglove student. Matthew enjoyed the 'careers speed dating' and found that he came out of his engineering interview having learned a lot about different types of careers in the field of engineering and with a more open mind about the types of engineering he would be interested in exploring. He also felt that he had learned a lot from Steph McGovern, saying, 'I can take away lots of different skills from my interviews and hopefully this will show on my CV and stand me in good stead for the future.'

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