Kim writes:
I spent yesterday afternoon talking about careers in construction to year 9 students at Fulham Boys School.
The school had organised a ‘speed networking’ event to help the boys with their career planning. They wanted to help to “widen their horizons and begin to think about how they make themselves ready for the future”.
I went early, because they had offered us an informal lunch beforehand, with the opportunity to sit and eat with the boys. It was very good: burger, wedges and salad – no jokes about school dinners here! I liked the way the students were encouraged to sit with different people to get to know everyone in the school, and that they had to clear up after themselves.
The speed networking was very well planned. The students were given a booklet to help guide their meetings. Each boy spent five minutes with me, and filled in a sheet with notes of what they’d found out.
I sat next to Tom Brown from Tideway Engineering. Everyone there was really nice, and it was lovely to chat with them during the coffee break. I was parched and really grateful to have a drink and a ginger snap by then! Other people who attended were the police, journalists, doctors, an archaeologist, an architect, a screenwriter and the coach of Chelsea football club. Some of them had children at the school, while others, like me, wanted to offer the students information about careers they might not have thought of.
The students were very polite and nice to talk to. One of them said that meeting us was “inspiring” which was very pleasing.
My next event
The next event I’m attending is on Monday. It’s the Taylor Woodrow and BuildForce (southern alliance) armed forces insight day in Piccadilly, where I’ll meet military service leavers who are interested in a career in construction, to talk about what VGC can offer them. It’ll include informal interviews, CV reviews and talking about how social media can help them in their job search.
