Students gain valuable insights from Virtual Careers Event
Nearly 3,000 students in Coventry and Warwickshire took part in a virtual careers event this week to give them a taste of life post-education.
The Coventry & Warwickshire Careers Hub, which was launched by the Careers & Enterprise Company and brought to the region by the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP), held a Virtual Work Experience Day on Wednesday June 23, with a live session taking place between 11am and noon.
Employers including Severn Trent Water, Farrans Construction, Ubisoft, Willmott Dixon, GreenSquareAccord and Think Higher (which is part of the University of Warwick Connect programme), were involved in the event which was aimed at year 10 and 11 pupils.
Enterprise co-ordinator Emma Culey from Coventry & Warwickshire Careers Hub, who is part-funded by Think Higher Coventry and Warwickshire which is based at the University of Warwick, said: “We ran the live Q&A between 11am and noon and we had a really good turnout from students and they were particularly interested in talking to two apprentices from Severn Trent.
“Employers developed a number of activities – some were individual student tasks, others were group tasks and another was to design a game.
“Think Higher also put together a session about preparing themselves for the workforce. This covered carrying out research before work placements, asking ‘what is a code of conduct?’, thinking about how students should behave in the workplace, and assessing their transferrable skills and how to build on those."
Marion Plant, board director and chair of the CWLEP Reset Taskforce and the Productivity and Skills Business Group, said: “Supporting the development of skills and promoting career opportunities in Coventry and Warwickshire is one of the key action points of the CWLEP’s Strategic Reset Taskforce.
“It is vital we provide highly-skilled jobs to encourage young people to train and stay in the area and promote the skills which are needed in specific sectors such as electrification, health and social care, and logistics to boost the economy in the long-term.”