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Posted on March 17th 2022
Careers Fair 2022 - Full Report
Last week Harris Academy Battersea celebrated National Careers Week with a Careers Fair after school. Students were able to have one-to-one conversations with a number of universities, providers and professionals. All years were invited as it is never too early to start thinking about your career!
To help our students navigate the fair they were given a poster that had a list of the people attending and a worksheet with key questions so they could prepare ahead of the event, and make sure they did not miss out on anyone who they really wanted to talk to.
There was a great atmosphere in the main hall and it was fantastic to see our students so engaged. Similarly, the professionals were quick to praise our students for their professional demeanour and were taken aback by how reflective some of their questions were.
What our students got out of it
Different pathways. At the Careers Fair there were different universities, apprenticeship providers and professionals whom students could talk to, to find out more about the different pathways/routes you can take.
Practicing soft skills. Students were given a safe space to practise those soft skills of introducing yourself in a professional manner, actively listening and responding to answers.
Networking. This was also the perfect occasian for students to make connections and get contact details of people they may work with in the future. Which in turn provides another opportunity for them to practise contacting professionals, whether it is to organise a research project with Nuffield Research, to accompany an apprenticeship application with P&G, to follow-up on an offer of work experience or simply to thank them for their time and advice.
What students said...
“It was really interesting to talk to the universities. I knew I wanted to do Maths at university, but I didn’t realise how many different degrees there are that involve Maths.” Year 9 student
“I liked talking to the man from UBS. It gave me insight into what it is actually like” Year 12 student
“It was really fun just talking to people about their work. I also went round and asked all the teachers why they became teachers.” Year 10 student
“The person I enjoyed talking to the most was just so encouraging and supportive of what I wanted to do.” Year 12 student
How can you get involved in the next careers event?
We are keen to grow our community and develop a network of people who are able to support our students in their pursuit of careers. If you want to get involved and join the HABS Careers Community please click HERE to fill in a short survey.
What can you do to support your child in their pursuit of careers?
Continue the conversation at home
It can be difficult to know how best to support your child with considering their career options after school.
- Try to keep the conversation ongoing, regularly asking about their interests, hobbies, skills and strengths, the sectors or types of organisations they’re interested in and how these might inform their next steps.
- Encourage them to ask you about what you do day to day. How you ended up in that career.
- If they are meeting family/friends, get them to practice introducing themselves and asking questions and responding reflectively to their answers.
Explore Unifrog with them
Unifrog is a website which all students have access to which provides them an opportunity to research careers, university degrees, A-Level choices, apprenticeships and GCSE/A-level option choices that align with their individual career aspirations. Students can also build a record of the activities and experiences they have encountered along with the skills that have been developed through them.
Get them to explore a career each week on Unifrog. This could be a Career they saw on TV/in the news, your own career, or a career of one of your family friends. Ask them to explain back to you what they would do if they were in that career.
If you haven’t already accessed Unifrog to use the range of resources available to support parents with help their child to make Post 16 choices, please do go to Unifrog.org/sign in and then use the code ACAPparents.
Click HERE to access a parent account on Unifrog. Use the code ACAPparents.
For further enquiries email: careerseducation@harrisbattersea.org.uk
