Employability skills were the focus for Business and IT students at Harrow College last week during a specially arranged event delivered by social enterprise education specialists Working Knowledge.
The day started with students listing the characteristic they considered the most important to employers. Key words including ‘motivation’, ‘creativity’ and ‘team-work’ were common choices amongst the young learners.
The students were then introduced to industry experts who had volunteered their time to be involved in the day’s activities. The full time business professionals represented a wide range of sectors including telecoms, investment banking, digital advertising, sales & recruitment and the energy market – key sectors in which the learners may pursue future employment.
The challenge for students was then set – to meet each business professional in a speed dating style and to pitch themselves as potential employment candidates based on the characteristics they felt were most important. The learners had two minutes per professional to make their pitch. The final activity required the students to review their skills list and to then present these as employability strengths to win over a panel of judges. The day ended with the professionals selecting their winners and awarding prizes.
Romi Patel (pictured), 19, was one of the students who won a prize for his entrepreneurial endeavour during the day. He said "It’s really good that we’re thinking about employment from now. Today has been a really useful day and I’ve made some really useful business contacts”.
Commenting on today's event, Lee Janaway, Director of Student Experience said “today has been another great session where a number of business professionals have come in to support our learners. Harrow College does a lot of work to boost student employability and we're looking forward to more innovative career sessions going forward”.
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