Networx3 helps out at school employability event
Networx3’s commercial director Caroline Earnshaw has been helping to prepare teenagers for the world of work at a school employability event.
Caroline joined 20-plus business owners and leaders at Lytham St Annes High School to take part in a Year 11 mock interview day.
More than 250 students in their final year at school got the chance to be grilled by real world employers and pick their brains about what they’re looking for in a potential employee.
Caroline interviews dozens of candidates every year in her role as commercial director at rapidly-growing blown fibre optic telecommunications company Networx3.
She shared her experiences of being a skilled interviewer, revealed some job interview hacks and gave honest feedback to each interviewee.
She said: “The day went amazingly well and I did about half a dozen 20 minute interviews. I was able to share my experience of good and bad interviews, pitfalls to avoid and what makes a candidate stand out from the crowd.
“The students were brilliant and it was really rewarding for me as well. I put them through their paces with some generic interview questions but then I also did some mentoring and gave some general advice too. The students were very open and we had some really good conversations about work, life after school and employability.”
Every year Lytham St Annes High School runs the Year 11 mock interview day and offers every Year 11 student the chance to take part as a key component of its careers programme.
External employers from the private and public sector volunteer their time to give the 15 and 16-year-olds some real life experience of what it’s like to sit in a job interview and then provide constructive feedback.
This year’s employer cohort included representatives from the NHS, education, HR, finance and pensions.
Jessica Peloe, careers support officer, said: “We had such a positive response from the students. It was an invaluable experience that many were able to put to good use in upcoming college interviews. They got to see what it is like in the world of work.”