One of the highlights of the term so far in the Careers office has been reading the entries for this year’s Summer Careers Challenge. It’s always a delight to see the value our pupils get from work experience whether that be seeing a depth of knowledge develop in a particular career or a spark of interest in a new path, previously unexplored. The Challenge was started last year to acknowledge the effort many pupils put into learning about the world of work and exploring possible career paths, which is an important complement to their academic efforts.
One standout finding from the submissions is that over 59% of pupils said that doing the work experience had ‘definitely’ changed their view on potential careers they might enjoy with another 32% said it had ‘maybe’ changed their views. The number of entries this year was over 5 times that of last year and with so many diverse experiences it was very hard to select our winners, but our final decisions were based on the quality of the reflections after their experiences – a really important part of the process.
Writes Sue Grice, Head of Careers
The Taylors’ Careers team constantly curates our list of work experience opportunities and posts them on the Careers SharePoint site. Pupils are regularly encouraged to get into the habit of checking frequently to catch the latest updates. Many of our entrants used this to find their experiences which included placements in the workplace, lectures, online MOOCs and virtual work simulation assignments. Some gained their placements via competitive selection processes, while others were able to draw upon the knowledge of family and friends to get meaningful placements. Volunteering is also an excellent way to develop key employability skills with a bonus of often being more rewarding than the pupils expect!
Below are just a few key reflections taking from winning entries showing the breadth of learning from the pupils’ experiences.
“The best advice I have both found and been told is to try every opportunity… This has been incredibly useful, and I would like to continue with this attitude as it is how I originally discovered the Royal Institution, which I now visit every other week during term time for lectures. It’s also how I came to get a contact at the Engineering firm, which led to my work experience there this summer.”
“[My work experience] has got me interested in manufacturing engineering, which, after some research, I think is incredibly cool and is a critical branch of engineering, often overlooked but equally impressive when compared to other forms.”
“The path, engineering, that I would like to take remains the same, but the specific sector of engineering isn’t quite set in stone. I initially wanted to do Chemical engineering because of a love for chemistry, but I have discovered passion for other sectors, in oil and gas, although a dying industry, still has a good future moving to LNG and Subsea.”
“I set up activities for children in nursery/reception and a challenge I faced was thinking of ideas that are suitable for people of that age. I thought the experience was helpful for me as this was something that I had not done before, and I felt great about the experience as it was very rewarding to see the boys enjoying the activity they were doing.”
“One workshop on human factors really caught my attention. It seems like a great combination of all my interests including design, aeronautics and electronics. The consideration of human interaction when creating a product was exciting to me and I hope to continue exploring this space, especially as I continue my DT studies at Taylors’ and my later career.”
Our winners are:
Viraaj V, Ethan G, Sahas S, Shaurjesh B, Thomas M, Pranav M, Krishaang B (Divs)
Aarnav H, Demilade O. (5ths)
Pranay P, Chaitya J, Sebastian S, Chase C, Leo B, Riyan B, Ravin A, Huseyin O, Aarav P, Peter B, Alexander M (L6)
Prahil S, Amrit S (U6)
Winners from the Middle School received a £10 Amazon voucher, whilst the Sixth Form were rewarded with a £15 Uber eats voucher. Congratulations to all our winners and well done to all those who took the time to not only do work experience this summer but to think about what it meant to them afterwards and enter this year’s Challenge. We can see that everyone took away valuable learning and experiences which will help them on their journey to further defining their career aspirations.
ANNOUNCEMENT! Watch out for our new Taylors’ Careers Bulletin, coming soon to your email. This is a new initiative designed to be regular update about what is going on in the world of careers showcasing just some of the opportunities that your child can get involved with both at Taylors’ and elsewhere.
