On 7th July, The Work-wise Foundation delivered their first in school event since the pandemic hit.

Working in partnership with Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, the charity hosted a morning of interactive networking sessions between employers and pupils at St Bernard’s Catholic High School in Rotherham.

The event, which saw around 170 students from year 10 take part, saw small groups of student spend 5 minutes with employers from the region and hear more about who they are, what they do and the opportunities available in their businesses.

The goal of careers speed networking is to give students the confidence, experience, and opportunity to meet local employers, ask their questions and find out about as many different careers as possible within a short space of time. Research has shown that many young people only aspire to the jobs they see. The Work-wise Foundation and Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council want to broaden student’s horizons and increase the careers that are visible to them.

Emily Woods, Sales, Marketing and Projects from The Work-wise Foundation said: “It was great to be back in a school holding an event again! We’ve really missed engaging in-person with both educators and employers so this was the perfect event to get back to live delivery. The students were fantastic and a real credit to the school and we couldn’t have asked for more engaging employers who had some great insights to share. We are really looking forward to the next event as part of the wider programme.”

The Work-wise Foundation were joined at St Bernard’s Catholic High School were joined by representatives from Yorkshire Information Point, Never Average Marketing, Evolution, Signs Express, Airmaster Air Conditioning Ltd, Ecus Ltd, Bluetree Group, RNN Group, CityFibre, Gulliver’s Valley Theme Park Resort, AMRC Training Centre, Pricecheck Toiletries Ltd and Rotherham Titans. All of the businesses gave up their time voluntarily and The Work-wise Foundation, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council and St Bernard’s Catholic School would like to express their thanks to all businesses who took part.

Initial feedback from the students indicates the event was a success, some of those taking part said:

“I learnt about augmented reality, and overall I learnt about a wide range of possible career paths and their importance. I learnt about the importance of printmaking and STEM and what they do. I also learnt about the work behind the things we see in our everyday lives.” and “I learnt what grades we needed for different jobs, the different job opportunities with different skills, communication skills and I learnt about how it’s ok if I don’t know what job I want right now.”

This event took place as part of the ESF Business and Education Alliance Project on behalf of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council which is funded by the European Social Fund.

The ESF Business and Education Alliance project brings small and medium sized employers from the Rotherham area together with young people for the mutual be

nefit of both parties to develop the future workforce and to support economic and business growth. The project offers employers the chance to participate in a range of interactive events/activities to engage, inspire and inform Rotherham’s young people about the world of work and the local career opportunities available.

In September, The Work-wise Foundation will be organising more Career Speed Networking events in a variety of schools on Rotherham. If you are interested in getting involved in future events, please contact emily@work-wise.co.uk.