- By Buckinghamshire Business First
- 26 February, 2015
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The Donna Summer track was an all-time favourite of my mother’s - and is the theme of this month’s article.
The average person spends 50 years of their life working and in that time may change jobs and careers several times. Making the right career choice and selecting a job that interests you, yet also matches and compliments your particular strengths and weaknesses, can make all the difference to your success at work, as well as your personal satisfaction and health.
I am a real believer in doing something that you love. I love meeting and talking to people - so it’s no surprise that in my role as Business Support Officer I truly believe I am doing a job that I was born to do. There are also benefits to employers in helping people to do what they want to do in life.
Two thirds of employers rate workplace skills as a top priority when recruiting – yet the majority of businesses don’t offer work placement opportunities to students. When I was at school, I spent my work experience at Rank Xerox in Marlow. I spent many happy hours photocopying, answering the phone, manning reception, and of course, making tea – a skill that still remains intact today. However, I also learnt about the importance of presentation, time keeping, team work, and customer engagement. This experience was invaluable and helped me decide upon a career in a customer focused role. It also meant that I could show off some valuable work experience on my CV.
So, could you offer this valuable opportunity to a Buckinghamshire student? At Buckinghamshire Business First (BBF) we are leading by example and planning to offer work placement opportunities to several students presently undertaking an A-Level equivalent Business Studies or IT qualification at Amersham & Wycombe College or Aylesbury College. These placements will be for one day a week, over five weeks.
The benefits of offering a placement work both ways and I have personal experience of this. My daughter is presently studying NVQ Level 3 Beauty and was required to organise her own work experience. Via my own network I managed to secure her a place at BBF member Serendipity Natural Beauty, a beauty salon in Beaconsfield.
Here is what Teresa Marks at Serendipity had to say: “This was a positive and invaluable experience for us, providing us with a great opportunity to observe the young individual in the workplace. We were really pleased with our candidate’s level of skill and attitude and were pleased to be able to offer an immediate part-time work opportunity, with a long term view for full employment upon completion of her course. This has considerably reduced some of the risks we felt in employing a young individual and we would definitely consider repeating the exercise and offering another work placement opportunity in the future.”
If you want to find out more about helping a young person take their first steps into employment by offering a work placement, then please attend the forthcoming free workshops:
Don’t forget that you can come to me with any business support queries you have. Call us on 01494 568941 or email BusinessSupport@bbf.uk.com.
