Lancing launches new Employability Event
There are seismic changes taking place in the jobs market driven by technological, economic and sociological factors, these are resulting in a highly competitive graduate jobs market. At the same time employers are signalling the importance for young people to focus on their soft skills as well as improving their AI literacy.
It was reported recently that from September, audit and assurance staff joining Deloitte UK will be given extra training in transferable skills such as communication and problem solving. AI can do many things, but it will never be able to recreate the interpersonal skills that are so valuable in creating the culture that enables a business to succeed.
With all of this in mind, the team at Lancing launched a dedicated event in March for the Lower Sixth to build their employability and career management skills.
The keynote speaker and special guest was Caroline Goyder, author of “Find your Voice” and an internationally recognised expert speaker and trainer with senior management within organisations and private individuals. In the first session, Caroline engaged the whole group in learning valuable techniques to gain confidence and be prepared to “show up when you least feel able to”. After the main session, Caroline then worked with smaller groups in a carousel where they were able to interact personally with her.
“What a delightful group, and I hope that I have given them all a little bit of a sense of how brilliant they already are and how they can trust themselves when they are grounded and when they show up in service of something bigger than them contributing to the institutions, the businesses that they want to go and study at or work for.”
Students rotated across the morning into other sessions learning about:
Assessment centres, how they are used by organisations. Students practiced some of the challenges and problem-solving activities that they may find themselves being asked to carry out as part of job seeking.
LinkedIn as a professional networking site. Students heard from recent OLs and reviewed LinkedIn profiles of recent leavers to develop an understanding of how to create an effective profile, how to present their time at Lancing and why this might be helpful at this point in the Sixth Form.
Developing a CV. This was an active and practical session based in the Sixth Form centre where students worked to complete their CV guided and supported by staff.
This was an entirely new event and getting feedback from students is important in order to continue to improve and innovate the My Future Careers Programme. Following the event students reported:
- A 26% increase in their confidence in having employability skills
- The event was well timed in the academic year
- 65% scored the event 4/5 out of 5
- The level of engagement across the carousels was excellent with a high % of students indicating an interest in further support in these and other employability development areas.
- The survey also enabled students to leave specific requests for one-to-one dedicated support.