New Capital Experience for Business Career Academy

Posting by Ruth Sharp, Business Career Academy Co-ordinator

The Business Career Academy is new to me this year. The scheme itself was launched at the College last year and the first cohort of students have flourished under the initiative. My job is to bring a new group of Business students through.

That job started by selecting the students who would be part of the Business Career Academy and representatives from Lloyds TSB helped me to do that recently. Then, this week, we had our first trip with the successful applicants and it took us to London to take part in Career Academies UK’s ‘A Capital Experience’.

The students who successfully applied to the Business Career Academy are all on the BTEC Extended Diploma in Business course, which is a course I am very familiar with, having taught on this qualification for many years. For those as new to the Career Academy as me, here’s what that is: it’s part of a national scheme that raises the aspirations and develops the employability skills of young people. Career Academies UK works with the College to secure workplace networks and experiences for students, linking up with both local and national employers.

At ‘A Capital Experience’, students from Career Academies across the country visited London to get a taste of the banking sector. Our students spent the morning visiting Deutsche Bank and in the afternoon attended a conference at the Royal Festival Hall. The morning excursion enabled the students to see merchant bankers “on the floor”, juggling phone calls and banks of computer screens filled with financial information. It was a real eye-opener for the students, not least because of how hectic it is working on the floor in a huge global business like that.

The afternoon included a networking session, in which a bell was repeated rung and students were given a minute to introduce themselves to someone they had never met before and exchange contact details. This was a useful exercise, particularly in that it taught the students how important it is to collect contact details when you are networking, so you can follow up the initial meeting with further communication.

It was a great trip. The students were a credit to the College and they learnt a lot. They will have lots more wonderful opportunities this year, including more visits to local businesses, guru lectures from business representatives, mentoring and a six-week paid internship next summer.

Following hot on the heels of this Business Career Academy, a further four strands of this scheme are being launched, covering IT, Media, Public Services and Science. Any businesses who are interested in becoming involved in the scheme, be it to host students on visits, give talks, provide mentoring or internships, are asked to call Sue Brookes on 0121 704 2581 or email careeracademy@solihullsfc.ac.uk.