A team of volunteers headed up by Nicola Moss of Moss Social and Lucy Wake of Thinking Space have delivered an innovative work experience placement for no less than 12 year 10 students from Welland Park Academy, Market Harborough.
Supported by the team at Harborough District Council for the space to host at Harborough Innovation Centre along with Welcomm Communications donating 12 laptops for the students they planned to support, communication has been key to this project. It’s a required skill in business and indeed the focus for the week at The Business Hub work experience program.
The students addressed communication via creating flyers for a networking event. They encouraged businesses to attend by telephoning, emailing and by walking around and knocking on office doors at the Innovation Centre (prearranged and accompanied) to speak with different business people about their sector, their career paths and inviting them along to ‘Cake and Careers’.
A key part of the week was developing a website for The Business Hub, guided and supported by Martin Robson of Roman Britons.
They created a plan for the networking event and communicated to each other who would be responsible for which task. They prepared for the event, did a meet and greet as their guests arrived and chatted over common ground. The students who walked in quiet on Monday morning were professional, conversational, confident and curious. They listened and were interested in what these business people had to share and asked intelligent questions.
John from Design375 said: “It was excellent to have an in-person visit requesting us to join in with the networking event, that takes a lot of courage and the students did themselves very proud stepping out of their comfort zone. Well done.”
They now have lots of business connections who are excited to come into school next term to deliver career talks, support mock interviews and more.
Friday saw the students round off the busy week with a presentation on diversity inclusion from Marc Rowley of HIT Leadership leading to real in-depth discussions.
Marc reflected: “Excellent workshop that engaged the students and made them feel part of something bigger than themselves.”
Topics addressed during the week were sustainability, delivered by James Cox of Unyte Group; marketing with an insightful look at the way charities address marketing from Tim Gorman-Powell from Hope Against Cancer; a masterclass in website creation from Martin Robson who also delivered insight into AI and what it might mean for future jobs and their workplace.
Abigail Brown of Oak Wealth Planning and the Market Harborough Business Network spoke about the value of networking, particularly for small businesses. David Scott of Rambutan cemented the communication piece and how key it is to listen in a methodical way to capture all the data in order to make decisions, and Marc supported with understanding the value differences bring to team working. Along with team-building activities facilitated by Lucy, these students were challenged to think creatively to build a collaborative outcome.
With a supportive network of volunteers, thank yous were also given to Carmen Harrington of Inspired to Change, Linda Dominiak of Tatum Financial Services, Michaela Forty of Family Care Advice Ltd, Cameron Meany of Tax Assist Accountants Market Harborough, Rupert Turton of Action Coach Oakham, Kettering and Market Harborough, and Jack Khurana of Spencer West LLP.
