Yes this was my first day at school for a very long time!
It was my first time volunteering with Young Enterprise and it was one of the most rewarding days of my life. I met a group of 13-14 year olds at the Atlantic Academy on Portland and it was abundantly clear from the start that this is a school with very high standards.
Young Enterprise put young people and businesses together to help build a successful and sustainable future for all young people. This helps young people realise their potential beyond education and empower them to learn, to work and to live. Engagement of volunteers from industry and business is a vital ingredient in helping young people develop the confidence and knowledge to start work, and to gain an understanding of the skills and attitudes valued by employers.
My job was to use my business experience to mentor the group, encourage conversation and interaction and generally keep the students on track with the program. The day ran in a series of sessions, helping the students to identify their strengths and traits, think about their future career, identify the real cost of living and ultimately how best to present themselves through their CV and in person to potential employers.
Being a Young Enterprise volunteer was both challenging and rewarding. It was so positive to mentor and see the students change their attitude once they identified their strengths. They were great students, some had some definite ideas about where they wanted to be in 10 years and others needed a little encouragement to speak up. Seeing a student not being able to write anything in a CV to being able to write a very credible profile was amazing. I felt pretty tired at the end of the day but I enjoyed it so much.
Thanks to Mel Bissager from Young Enterprise and Nicki Hayton from Mploy Staffing for encouraging me to do it! I cannot wait until the next time!
Find out more about volunteering with Young Enterprise
