Our Charitable Partner at this year’s s1jobs Recruitment Awards, Career Ready, provides vital career opportunities for young people with little family background of higher education or professional careers, giving them the confidence, skills and networks to achieve their full potential.
Career Ready’s success is built upon their partnerships with employers, so we were delighted here at s1jobs to host Caitlin, 17, for a one month work experience placement.
When Caitlin heard about Career Ready during a school assembly, and how it could help with getting her first job or entry into Further Education, she knew it was a valuable opportunity not to be missed.
‘I didn’t get to do work experience in 4th year as I was too busy with my responsibilities as a carer,’ explains Caitlin.
‘When I heard that Career Ready can also help you get into higher education I was really interested because I’d be the first one in my family to go to college or university.’
Caitlin began her placement on the 25th of June hoping to gain valuable work experience, improve her problem solving and communication skills and hopefully bring her one step closer to her career ambition of studying Architecture or Product Design.
Coming straight from school the initial nerves Caitlin had were luckily nothing to worry about. ‘I thought the office would be really strict,’ laughs Caitlin.
‘I was worried that I’d be given lots of work to do straight away and be put on the phone to customers with no training. Luckily it wasn’t like that at all, I was given small tasks at first and gradually given more complicated work to do, which helped to ease me in and boost my confidence.’
Gavin Mochan, Commercial Director at s1jobs, was Caitlin’s mentor on the Career Ready programme.
‘Watching Caitlin grow in confidence has been the most rewarding part of the experience,’ he explains.
‘Before the internship Caitlin would work with me on a one-to-one basis, but has flourished over the last month through the interactions and tasks with the wider team.
Today employers are looking for new employees to bring more than just a qualification, they want them to be work ready. Career Ready is bridging that gap between qualifications and the practical application, peppered with the softer human interactions, which are required to make your way in business.
When it comes to work readiness there is a wider responsibility in ensuring future generations meet business expectations. Family, education authority and young people need to take a share of the solution. However businesses themselves could be doing more, like supporting the activities of Career Ready. Young people can add a great deal of value to most businesses given they are tomorrow’s consumers. During Caitlin’s internship she led a project to review s1jobs user experience from the perspective of a young person, providing invaluable insights for us moving forward.’
As her internship comes to an end at s1jobs, Caitlin says the best things about her time here were seeing how a business works and meeting new people. Her advice to young people thinking about joining the Career Ready programme?
‘Definitely do it, the opportunity Career Ready provides and the experience you gain is really worth your time.’
Working with 40% of Scotland’s secondary schools and 270 companies across all six growth sectors in Scotland, why not find out more about how you can get involved today?