In your opinion, what qualifications are the
most important to achieve?
At the moment Maths and English are probably
the most important all employers want to see
you have good literacy skills and good numeracy
skills as well so they are probably top of
the list at the moment.
What piece of advice would you give a young
person thinking about their future pathway
through education and into work?
There are so many choices now that you’ve
got to really do some research, and that’s
probably the key thing look at what interests
you, what career you want to go for, try and
get some experience and work experience with
an employer so really test out that career
and see if it’s something that you want
to do specifically and just research the sector
and research what jobs are available there
are thousands of choices available so it’s,
you’re spoilt for choice really.
What kind of work experience will help young
people prepare for your chosen career path?
Any contact with an employer is important
so whether that’s traditional work experience
where you might be there for a week or 2 weeks
or 1 day a week for several weeks. The key
thing is to get involved be active have a
can do attitude, be reliable turn up, turn
up on time, present yourself well and just
get involved with as many different things
as you can. It doesn’t have to be work experience
it can be a project that you do with employers
as well. Anything that really gets you in
touch with employers, professional people
to really get that experience and build things
for your CV’s is important.
What are the benefits of an apprenticeship?
For the young person really it’s a chance
to get experience, work with an employer,
get paid at the same time but amongst all
of that get qualifications and acquire new
skills. So it’s really a good way to combine
acquiring new skills learning new things getting
qualifications and work experience at the
same time; so it breaks that cycle of not
being able to get a job because you’ve not
got any experience, and not getting experience
because you haven’t got a job, so it does
enable you to break that cycle.
So would you recommend an apprenticeship to
young people?
Absolutely, it’s not for everybody, and
again you need to think carefully about what
it is, it’s a tough challenge because you
are combining a full time job with studying,
coming to college, doing qualifications, so
it’s a tough qualifications it’s not an
easy one by any means, but if you’re practical
if you’re hands on and want to get involved
and get stuck into work then it’s a great
choice.
