Employability and Enterprise Workshops

Getting Ahead prepares students for the world of work by encouraging them to think about the skills and qualities they have, as well as those they may need to develop or improve.

Delivered over two half or full days, each conference is divided into various workshops which introduce key Work and Life skills such as:

• Making a good first impression
• Listening and communicating
• Understanding employer expectations
• Working in a team
• Problem solving
• Applying for a job
• Developing good interview skills.

There are usually around 60 to 70 students, 14 to 15 years old, divided into teams of 6 to 7.  Teams are supported by business volunteers and the overall event is run by an experienced Tower Hamlets Education Business Partnership facilitator.

The activities are short, active and fun, and students get to build a relationship with the volunteers over the day and find out more about the volunteer’s own work/life experiences.

Head to Head is an interview skills programme tailored for pupils in secondary school or college that are about to go on work experience, apply for jobs or gain access to higher education.

Every year, around hundreds of business volunteers interview over 2000 pupils in Years 10-12 (aged 14-17)!

• Each interview is scheduled to last approximately 30 minutes – 5 minutes beforehand to read the pupil’s CV, 15–20 minutes of interview time to draw out key skills such as evidence of teamwork, communication, organisational skills, etc. and 5 minutes for feedback so you can help highlight areas for future development.
• Prior to the interview day, you will receive a mock interview structure, sample questions and directions to the school. On the day, you will also be given an Interview Pack, which contains an interview proforma and feedback forms

Whatever the future career plans of young people might be, they benefit greatly from developing key enterprise skills and improved financial literacy.

Our Enterprise Skills and Financial Literacy portfolio introduces key skills to 11 to 16 year olds in an interactive and enjoyable way.

The workshops can be an hour long or last a full day and involve a range of different situations and scenarios to get students thinking about enterprise and finance – everything from designing and marketing their own board game, to creating a campaign to increase recycling to budgeting for university! Some examples:

Enterprise Skills Workshops:

• Blooming Colour Challenge
• Board Game Challenge
• Business Schools
• Cyber Cafe Challenge
• Environmental Challenge
• Fashion Show Challenge
• Presentation Skills
• Youth Club Challenge

Financial Literacy Workshops:

• Introduction to Banking
• Investment Challenge
• Money, Money, Money
• Uni Money

We also work with teachers and employers to develop new workshops and events.

We welcome teams of volunteers as well as individuals from companies.

Our online booking makes it easy to choose the event, date and location to suit you.

No prior training is required. As this is a one-off activity volunteers do not need to undergo a Disclosure & Barring Service check.

Please note, that currently these opportunities are virtual.

Do get in touch to discuss this further by contacting our our Secondary Schools Team.