by Stephen Ritch
With the job market becoming increasingly competitive Junior Achievement Isle of Man has teamed up with six local employers to deliver CV and interview workshops to year 11 students at Ballakermeen High School.
Students have to prepare a CV and choose to which of the employers - Barclays Wealth, Isle of Man Government, Manx Telecom, Marks & Spencer, Swagelok and Tracey Bell - they wish to apply. They are then given a job description in advance of the 35-minute interview which concludes with a feedback session.
The interview programme has been devised by Ballakermeen High School’s key stage four manager Eoin Moriarty in collaboration with Junior Achievement’s Joy Spence, a former recruitment specialist with more than 15 years’ local industry experience.
She said: ‘Junior Achievement is all about preparing students for the world of work and, in an economic climate where the job market is contracting, young people need all the help and support we, together with schools and our volunteer business partners, can offer.
‘These workshops are designed to give students a taste of the “real” world; an opportunity for them to develop a whole range of interview techniques, from personal presentation to communications skills.’
Mr Moriarty said: ‘Any opportunities we can provide for students to hone their CV writing and interview skills prior to applying for actual jobs has to be a good thing and we are very grateful that employers have embraced this new initiative.
‘Students are definitely nervous going in but, from the positive feedback they get, they emerge more confident and clearly buzzing from the experience they’ve had. 72 students volunteered to take part in this project and the feedback from them, the employers and parents has been fantastic.’
Conducting interviews on behalf of Marks & Spencer were Maria Caldwell and her colleague Marie Clare who said: ‘Both Maria and I think the mock interviews are a great idea, as we see so many young adults fail our interviews due to lack of knowledge and understanding of what companies are looking for.
‘The benefit for the students is huge as they get the chance to gain that knowledge before they leave school and have now some idea about what potential employers are looking for, regarding their appearance, CV presentation, knowledge of the company and the area in which they wish to work.
‘The benefit to Marks & Spencer is that hopefully some of these students would now pass the interview process and become a benefit to our store.’
The pair’s first interviewee was 16-year-old Gina Clarke who said: ‘I signed up for the workshop because I saw it as an opportunity while still at school to experience what job interviews are like. Having done the interview, it’s certainly given me more confidence for when I go for a job for real.’
Swagelok’s Neville Jewell said: ‘Mock interviews are important because they really do help these young men and women. When I was their age there was nothing going on at that time that prepared you for the outside world. The job market is more competitive than ever and being able to give these guys the tools to gain that advantage in getting that job is important. I find it personally rewarding to be a part of this scheme as it gives me an opportunity to apply my experience and hopefully guide young people so they can avoid some of the pitfalls I encountered when job hunting.’
Joy Spence concluded: ‘We’re enormously grateful to Ballakermeen High School for their support and to the interviewers for giving so generously of their time and bringing such authenticity to the programme. Given that so many students signed up for the workshops, it’s clear that young people have very genuine concerns about their future careers.’
-ENDS-
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Junior Achievement and Ballakermeen High School Launch Interview Workshops