STEMNET Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Network

Youth unemployment; a big concern now and a time-bomb for the future. This we know; there are enough people writing about it without saying the important thing: what action they have taken beyond commentating.

At Calibre Search we have decided to give a day a month to different groups to contribute to the solution. This is first in a series of blog postings that we’ll be making telling you what we have done, how we found out about it and contact details for how you can get involved should you feel that you would like to do something similar.

This Tuesday I spent most of the day at St Mary’s Mount School in Leeds as a mentor working with a group of 6 pupils at an event developed by the local Education Business Partnership (EBP) called “You’re Hired!”. The “You’re Hired!” exercise was run twice before lunch and after the break I had the opportunity to talk with pupils in the classroom as an open forum.

Before going to the school I was given a thorough briefing by Becky from the EBP as to what was involved, what to expect and what my role would be.

My role was purely as a facilitator and to advise; I would not have to supervise the pupils at all, just introduce myself, tell them about my experience of interviewing and guide them through the event.

After introducing myself and finding out a bit about the pupils I was working with we started on the formal aspects of the exercise analysing what constitutes a good and bad first impression before moving on to looking at attitudes and skills. The students had completed a questionnaire before hand looking at their attitudes and their own unique selling points.

We then went on to looking at a job advert, identifying the key aspects of it and how to use that information to anticipate, and prepare for, questions at a mock interview.

Holding the interview was good fun and I was amazed by how well my interviewees performed with very little preparation time; it was obvious that the children had bought in to what we were showing them and the materials were supporting the learning very effectively.

What was particularly interesting was providing feedback directly to them and how the group were keen to contribute to that process as well as take on board the additional thoughts I gave as to how a good answer could be extended to be a great one.

After a brief look at using the STAR (Situation Task Action Result) competency based interview format including a role play and feedback session we had a brief open forum where the children asked me questions about everything from the session itself, to what I do as a recruiter and what general advice I could give them.

The event was rounded off with presenting attendance certificates before enjoying a much needed coffee ready to do the same again with the second group.

Running through the event the next time was interesting; while I had a better idea of what would happen, the second group who had a slightly different take on the material. As a result, it got me thinking and I had to present the thoughts and concepts in a different way to before.

Both groups said that it was a useful exercise and you could see how with very little input, their thinking had radically changed about how they would approach applying for a role, preparing for an interview and the interview itself.

After lunch I spent 40 minutes in the classroom with about 30 students and their teacher answering questions about looking for work, applying for roles, writing a CV and different careers. It also gave me the opportunity to find out what they think their situation will be when they leave school. I was pleasantly surprised by some who had thought about their careers, picked their options accordingly and working hard to achieve the grades that will keep them on the path. There were others who created the impression of being completely disinterested, but as the end of the session approached were busy quizzing me about all manner of subjects. Just maybe everything that they had experienced that morning and spoken about previously had got their eyes open and minds buzzing; I sincerely hope so.

Given the response that I get when I inform people that they will be having a competency based interview when they meet my clients I think it shows foresight introducing the concept at this stage and will certainly help any of the students that use in a real situation stand head and shoulders above what will no doubt be stiff and plentiful competition.

The EBP runs this and other similar sessions throughout the year and there are a number of EBP’s throughout the country. They are really keen to speak to people who feel they can help deliver sessions such as “You’re Hired!” or talk to students about employment related issues or give information about career choices.

The two local ones are Leeds and North Yorkshire. While Leeds tends to operate within the City boundaries, North Yorkshire actually works on a much wider scale (including Leeds’ region in some respects) and both can put you in contact with counterparts in your area if you want to take part.