A Rather Warm Careers Day with Ashton Sixth Form College!

Summer is finally here, and shortly so too will be exam results and some Big Decisions for many students......

Like most of the country, I spent a significant part of yesterday feeling pretty hot and bothered. Not just because of the heat, but initially, because I had offered to deliver a full day of talks and workshops discussing 'Business & Law' with Year 12 students at Ashton Sixth Form College as part of 'Employability Week'; a new initiative launched this year.

I'm a Marketer, so when I first started talking about this with Guidance Manager Hazel Kindley, I was genuinely excited about what we could put together. Hazel had initially approached us in the hopes that Managing Partner David Parkes could give a half hour talk on 'A day in the life of..', but once we got chatting it became clear that as a small, independent local business, we were also the perfect candidates to talk about many other topics such as 'self-employment and enterprise'. I was also foolish enough to divulge details of my own background, and my 'route in to law' as it were, and before I knew it, I had offered to run a full day session!

So...the big day came around and I was literally sweating just at the thought of getting up to talk to a lecture hall full of students. I'm used to presenting, but the last time I had done so with an audience of students, they were my peers and I knew what to expect from them. Yesterday, I suddenly felt very old!

David kicked off proceedings by going through his own career path and then we led that in to the wider topic of 'Options in Law'. After this, I was on my own with a Hall full of students looking everything from terrified (please don't ask me a question) to somewhat bored (I'd rather be sunbathing) but with a combination of my charm and wit...and a large bag of Bribery Sweets, we got under way and really got to grips with some of the choices and decisions they are facing.

I really enjoyed the chance to talk through what we do and why we do it, and to hear from some of the students about what is motivating them to get in to a career in Law. I'm also glad to say, it did not make me nostalgic for my youth in anyway. It made me realise how much there is to decide at that age and how ill-equipped you are to do so!

I think (well, hope) that we delivered a useful and informative session and maybe one day, we'll be approached by one of those students asking us for a training contract.

Fingers crossed!

Jenny