BIG Alliance provide students with first-hand insight into four Islington corporate businesses
On Wednesday 10th July BIG Alliance brought four of its business members (Slaughter and May, Euromonitor International, MUFG, and Expedia Group) to Hargrave Park Primary School to inspire and inform students about careers they may never knew existed.
Following a carousel format, volunteers presented with a colleague to four different classes on how they arrived at their current career path, a day/week in pictures, and a description of a common activity/situation they’re faced with which the students could try to solve.
Charlie Baverstock, Deputy Head Teacher, explained how useful this engagement was for the school: “To support our vision of being ambitious for our children, and wanting them to be inspired by the world, we strive to give them a rich range of experiences to take with them as they grow into young adults. These workshops formed part of our transition week in July and gave them an insight into the world of work and opened their minds to possibilities they may have not been previously aware of”.
In addition the approach was really well received by the individual class teachers, with one saying “they shared their typical day authentically and honestly and did a great job in demonstrating that within a company there are lots of different roles available, for example creative, accounting, sales, recruitment etc”.
Feedback from the volunteers was equally positive, referencing the benefit of presenting to a very different audience in a new environment, connecting with young people, and inspiring them to potentially pursue an industry which has an underrepresentation of certain groups.
Two volunteers from Euromonitor who chose to volunteer again following such a positive experience delivering on our Time to Talk mental well-being programme, said: “We had a great time once again. Thanks a lot for giving us this opportunity to share our experience with the kids. It’s very rewarding. We hope we could open them to new possibilities they hadn’t envisioned before. From our point of view, we sure enjoyed it as these little monsters are a breath of fresh air and it’s super interesting to understand how they see the world. It was, like last time, very well organised and we would be happy to help again in the future”
Other comments from volunteers included:
“Banking can be a tough industry to enter so it was a great opportunity to generate interest in banking for kids from a diverse background. The fact that the school was local to my area also helped make it more tangible to the community I live in” (MUFG volunteer)
“It was fun and really rewarding. A great experience learning how to deliver your messaging to a different type of audience as I usually present to adults” (Expedia volunteer)
“It was a break from my desk and a chance to do something different from my day job – certainly good for general well-being” (Slaughter and May volunteer)
“I felt very well supported and prepared for the session. I also thought the organisation at the school was excellent and really clear” (Slaughter and May volunteer)
Get involved
If you’re interested in helping to educate young people on key topics locally, as well as further uniting businesses and the community in Islington and beyond, please contact tom.browne@thebigalliance.org.uk