Harrow College students hoping to make their mark in the world of employment have taken part in an audition day for recruitment and coaching company Raw Talent Academy (RTA).
Trials to win a spot on RTA’s Employability Academy coaching course took place at the college’s Harrow Weald campus on Wednesday 22 October.
Founded by former The Apprentice winner Lee McQueen, RTA aims to nurture employability skills and talent among young people.
RTA’s Employability Academy aims to give students the chance to experience a job application process, as well as taking two groups of 15 students on an in-depth five-stage coaching course built around their current classes.
During the day-long audition students were asked to get into five teams and conquer The Apprentice-style tasks, which included critiquing anonymous CVs; trying to sell products to an audience, such as broken umbrellas; creating a TV advert for a product and re-branding a well-known energy drink.
Student Kanwal Munir said that attending the auditions was a great experience.
“These RTA auditions are a great way of gaining life skills within the business and entrepreneurial sector, especially because these skills aren’t included within the curriculum. Winning a place on the Employability Academy coaching course would be a great opportunity to improve my employability skills.”
This is the third year Harrow College has partnered with McQueen and his business Raw Talent Academy to improve students’ chances of securing employment.
McQueen himself will deliver the coaching alongside Raw Talent Academy’s experienced coaches, sharing advice on building relationships, an employee’s role within an organisation and the importance of knowledge, entrepreneurship and commercial awareness.
McQueen said that it was beneficial for students to attend RTA’s employability auditions as it helped them hone invaluable employability skills.
“I think it’s important for the students of Harrow College to experience employability auditions. A lot of these kids haven’t had a job before and don’t have much experience of the interview process. What Raw Talent Academy is aiming to do is make these students more confident when they face potential employers. The students that win the audition round today will be part of a course that will enhance valuable employability skills.”
Lee Janaway, head of department for business, English, health and wellbeing at Harrow College added: “We are extremely pleased to work with Raw Talent Academy and Lee McQueen again, to give our students the opportunity to develop key attributes and skills that will prepare them for employment.
"We really value the importance of developing students' skills and knowledge in employability and enterprise as we prepare them for life after college. Last year’s cohort of students who went through this course thoroughly enjoyed the bespoke training and it was evident from feedback from the students, employers and teachers that this training had impacted on their progression choices.”