Invest in Me is a project run by DYW in conjunction with the Bank of Scotland. It is a two day programme whereby pupils are given skills, techniques and life like experiences to enable them to feel more confident when applying for jobs.
Thursday 26 October was the first day where over 30 pupils from 6 Dundee Secondary schools gathered at Dundee and Angus College Kingsway Campus to learn more about employability skills by rotating around 3 workshops. They gained skills in how to use social media to their advantage and learned about their personal brand. They learned about communication skills and gained insight into the effect personalities have when trying to connect with others. There was a workshop on CV writing and how to sell yourself in your personal statement. And there was a workshop around what makes a good interview delivered from professionals who interview candidates on a regular basis.
At the end of day 1 pupils were issued with a job description, person specification and application form which they had to complete along with a relevant CV. Finally, pupils signed up for telephone interviews with the Bank of Scotland managers which were held the following week, before coming back for day 2 for the face to face interview.
Day two happened on Thursday 2 November. This was a busy day with the highlight of having a one to one real life interview with a Bank Manager. After having the interview pupils were then able to complete a series of questions which helped them to self-reflect on how they thought they had performed in the interview. At the end of the day they were able to compare this to the feedback from the managers. Skills Development Scotland ran two workshops around My WoW and Life After School. The pupils had a chance to do an online job search whereby they put into practice some of what they had learned about My WoW as well as searching on other job sites. Another high spot of the day was the session led by our Modern Apprentice Ambassadors whereby the pupils were able to engage on a fairly informal basis with young people who are now in the working world and studying to complete their Modern Apprenticeships.
We had excellent feedback from the participants with 100% saying they enjoyed the event and would recommend it to other people. Some comments:
“I enjoyed talking to professional people.”
“I enjoyed speaking to the modern apprentices.”
“The modern apprentices were great.”
“I think the interview was really helpful because I now have experience of how it all works.”
“Finding out where you can get a job was really good.”
“It was good because I now have more understanding about my opportunities.”
“Brill”
“Amazing experience”
The bank managers were very impressed with the pupils saying that they enjoyed the experience and that the pupils were both engaging and interesting.
Many thanks to everyone who helped make the event such a success and we are now working with the Angus schools to deliver a similar event in March 2018.