Careers provision in the county has advanced in leaps and bounds since the Warwickshire Careers Hub joined forces with Warwickshire Skills Hub in September 2023.

Employer engagement with local schools and colleges has significantly increased, due mainly to collaboration between the Careers Hub and Vicki Haslam’s Business Skills Support team based at Warwickshire Skills Hub in Nuneaton.

 

The Careers Hub’s group of Cornerstone Employers has gained a lot of traction while Emma Carty and her Careers Hub team has also been working with the Care Leaving team and the Virtual School on starting a project around young carers and looked-after young people. This project is still at the planning stage but the great enthusiasm for it from the Cornerstone Employers means it will certainly happen.

 

Another project which is up and running with support from local employers is Teacher Encounters. This has seen Lisi Aerospace, Studley Castle and George Eliot Hospital hold work experience days for teachers. All three hosted a work experience day at which teachers had a tour, met some employees and supported interns and heard from the employer about their recruitment practices and routes to their employment.

 

Nineteen teachers from 14 schools and colleges attended over the three days and feedback was that they really valued such time away from school and seeing first-hand what it is like to work in these industries. With this knowledge, they are then able to have meaningful and impactful conversations with their students back at school.

 

Eva Harrison from Careers Seeks Direct supported all three days and is currently creating lesson plans relating to the workplace visit, for the teachers to use with students. Teachers Encounters was so successful that it will run again in the next academic year with six more employers. Any employer interested in supporting this project and keen for young people to know about their business and potentially increase their talent pool, should please get in touch with emmacarty@warwickshire.gov.uk.

 

Immense support also continues to be supplied by The Careers Hub’s pool of Enterprise Advisors (business volunteers who pledge to support a local school on a long-term basis). Chloe Bond from JLR is supporting a cohort of students from Stratford Girls Grammar School around ‘Girls into Engineering.’ Ruth Dollen from Pier Training has supported Exhall Grange students around careers in the health and social care sector. Karen Moore from KSM Recruitment has delivered four sessions to students from Etone College around recruitment processes and practices and interview techniques.  

 

Alongside these ongoing arrangements sit employer ad-hoc support (Give-an-Hour support) where many local employers volunteer some time to support schools and colleges' careers events. These include Brian Halford, a well-respected author and sports journalist for 30 years, who will attend The Polesworth School’s careers fair next week along with BBC Coventry & Warwickshire’s sports editor Rob Gurney.

 

“It will be a pleasure to visit The Polesworth School and chat to students about the glamour of sports journalism – the 0-0 draws, the motorways miles and the ‘rain stopped play!’ said Brian. “I have been lucky enough to have a decent career and will be forever grateful to those people, especially when I was starting out and deciding what to do, who took me under their wings and gave me brilliant advice. If I can pass on anything of use, then great.

 

“I’m delighted to be able to support Warwickshire Careers Hub with the fantastic work they do and would urge all employers to consider how they could help and also benefit from engaging with talented young career-seekers.”  

 

Warwickshire Careers Hub’s Operational Hub Lead, Emma Carty, said: “We are so grateful to everyone who kindly give up anything from an hour to committing to meeting a school or college every half term. Their input is invaluable to schools and, most importantly, our young people.

 

“One saying that has stuck with me since joining the Careers and Enterprise Company in 2019 is 'You can't be what you can't see.'  This is the truest and shortest statement that I have heard. If it wasn't for our businesses connecting with our schools and colleges through the Careers Hub, then how are our young people going to know what is out there for them? They won't know about your business or sector, if we don't show them. 

 

“If you are interested in supporting the Careers Hub, please get in touch. Not only can we connect you with our schools and colleges, but there is also a plethora of support available to you as a business from the Skills Hub team.

 

“Charlotte Smith leads on the Supported Employment team and the Warwickshire Supported Employment Service which supports young people and adults with autism and learning disabilities with an aspiration to work. Vicki Haslam leads the Business Support team which offers a wide variety of business skills support to create skills plans, source new talent and promote businesses to those seeking career opportunities. And Heather Docksey runs the Fair Chance Employment programme, an inclusive programme which supports Warwickshire employers to shape their roles and recruitment processes to be more inclusive and accessible to jobseekers.

 

If you are interested in speaking to any of the Careers Hub Team to find out more about how you can support Warwickshire Schools and College, please email careershub@warwickshire.gov.uk The Skills Hub team is available at skillshub@warwickshire.gov.uk