National Careers Week 2021 Roundup
This week was National Careers Week and Bristol WORKS, in conjunction with delivery partner Sixteen, have delivered 26 live sessions equating to over 540 experiences of work to students in Bristol in the past five days!
Alongside this, WORKS supported the CLF Raising Aspirations event hosted on Like to Be where students across Year 9 accessed a variety of recorded content and live sessions aimed at supporting them with their career decision making and employability skills. Some of the employers and education providers involved included the Department for Work and Pensions, Bristol City Robins Foundation, the NHS, City of Bristol College and many more.
On Monday, sessions from Avon Wildlife Trust and ENGIE gave students and insight into the types of careers available within gardening and construction respectively. Did you know that the construction industry employs 3.1 million people in the UK? That’s a lot of career opportunities!
Tuesday saw the National Careers Service advise students on how to decide what to do when they leave school and the differences between university and apprenticeships. Students also had the opportunity to meet with three employees at the law firm Burges Salmon, busting some common myths about working in law and answering student questions. Did you know that you don’t have to study law at university, or even go to university to become a lawyer?
Throughout the week we also had ‘reverse interviewing’ sessions where students were invited to ask questions to employers including A Cappella Coffee, Avon and Somerset Constabulary and Woofers Dog Groomers.
Waitrose Westbury Park store gave us a behind the scenes tour of their warehouse and stock room and answered students questions in a virtual Q&A. Check out the photos below of students at New Fosseway School getting involved!
On Wednesday, we heard from Bell Group about incredible career and apprenticeship opportunities available within their organisation and the inspiring stories of current employees who worked their way up from apprentice to director. Students also had the chance to watch a fascinating recorded tour of the Bristol Old Vic theatre and ask questions to Engagement Coordinator Harriet who provided information on acting, costume design, set design, work experience and more.
TV Professionals from True to Nature told students about their career journeys and gave advice to anyone looking to work in the TV industry on Thursday afternoon. Top tip? Do your research, be resilient and follow your passions!
Finally, Friday saw a session from University of Bristol Life Science Department, all about the benefits of a career in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) and the opportunities at the university. Sixteen were also busy on Friday, delivering four separate ‘When I Grow Up’ sessions (!) to students giving lots of practical advice on entering the world of work.
A Year 11 Student at Kingsweston School who attended several sessions this week said “This year’s National Careers Week has been really useful because it has shown me different things that I can realistically do and it has given me confidence that I can get a job in the future.”
Miss Close, careers lead at St Bernadette’s Secondary School, told us how the sessions this week have helped her students: “I believe it’s really helped them to see what’s available and has injected some real positivity into their lives during a really tough year… A great effort was given to informing students of a range of careers and real encouragement from young and experienced employees from a wide range of sectors.”
A big thank you to all of the volunteers who gave their time this week to give young people in Bristol experiences of work, to all of the school staff who supported at this busy time and of course to all the students for coming along and asking lots of brilliant questions – we hope you all had a great week!
