We were delighted to welcome members of the Parents’ Guild on 10th June to run an excellent Year 12 careers workshop. Students rotated between each session and learnt how to develop their interview skills, build their own networks and craft their CV’s. 

In the interview workshop, students were in small groups and given four minutes per interview, with two minutes of feedback from the parents, who acted as their interviewers. Dr. Grover kindly chaired this session and shared her top tips for interviews with the students. Her tips included researching the company and individuals who are going to interview you; it is important to find out the topics they are interested in and see which people they know. Essential too is making an effort with your appearance (first impressions really do count !) body language (smile and show you are interested, vary your tone of voice). Do try to structure your answers and think how you can include your key skills or hobbies in your responses.

The crafting your CV session was led by Mr Smallman and the groups discussed why they needed a CV, what it should include and tips on keeping it up to date – always think of it as a moving record.

Mr King-Cline and Danny Vroegop showed students the importance of LinkedIn in a very useful session on building your own network. Students were encouraged to brainstorm how many people they knew ranging across friends, families, neighbours, people connected through clubs or other walks of life and record which jobs they did. These were then put onto a Google Jam Board to create a fantastic network of opportunities for the students.

Our Year 12s found the morning very helpful and we had some fantastic feedback. Charlotte P called the event a useful and ‘informative introduction into the working world. The interview workshop was an amazing opportunity to practice skills we hadn’t yet explored and receive valuable feedback.’

Rhea J said, ‘This workshop really broadened my eyes to the world of work and gave me clarity about the job application process with the help of CV, networking, and interview masterclasses. I think for many people, the interview masterclass pushed us out of our comfort zones. The interview role play was incredibly helpful and great feedback was given will definitely be beneficial to use for the future!’

Bella F also shared her feedback: ‘I found the work experience/networking session especially informative as it made us acknowledge the masses of opportunities that we have available to us.’

Katie L described the CV writing workshop as informative and said that ‘Mr Smallman made the half hour speed by through his dynamic nature and wonderful advice. I went from fearing the working world to being eager for the next steps after school.’

Parent and interviewer Mrs Troman said ‘I enjoyed the mock interview sessions and it was encouraging to see the students develop their confidence and communications throughout the sessions. Very impressive!’

A big thank you again to all the parents who gave their time and such valuable advice to our students.