Date
24.07.2019
A skills based volunteering day like no other saw over 150 interns from Deutsche Bank’s Summer Internship Programme visit Chobham Academy in Stratford, East London, for a full day of one-to-one mentoring with Year 10 students.
The volunteers and students worked together through a series of bespoke activities, designed to boost confidence, develop employability skills, and raise awareness of life in the working world. This culminated in a mock interview, which gave students the chance to put into practise the skills they had been working on all day.
My partner and I discussed what makes a good CV and creating it. I can use the tips and ‘STAR’ method to apply to my CV which betters my chance of being employed
Student, Chobham AcademyThe great thing about the day is that there are actually two sets of beneficiaries: the students and the volunteers. Spending the whole day networking and building a rapport is a unique experience; it takes both parties out of their comfort zone and encourages them to adapt. It takes confidence to tackle this new situation and it is a great opportunity to practise problem solving, communication and teamwork with an individual outside of one’s immediate peer group. In fact, what the students perhaps don’t realise is that they are in fact playing a key role in facilitating and ensuring that the volunteers also feel comfortable! The diversity amongst participants was also great in the sense that many of the interns studied in different institutes, in different parts of the world. Sharing this experience with the young students greatly contributes to our aim of raising aspirations and broadening horizons.
It was positive to see how quickly the students felt comfortable with the volunteers, and there was a real buzz in the room as volunteers and students worked closely together. The bespoke resources sparked interest and discussion amongst the participants and the final mock interview was a great way to bring all of the learning together
Anne-Marie Greenland