Careers Speed Networking!

Great event at Kenilworth School

Some questions to answer and props to give them ideas

Excellent event at Kenilworth School and Sixth Form here in Warwickshire organised by the schools careers adviser Marie Brennan.

The idea was simple enough, about 25 professionals from all backgrounds seated in the hall at tables in rows.

Two groups of students from year 6 (about 13-14 yrs old?) and around 260 in total came in groups of six to sit with the adults and quiz them for six minutes about their job, then like musical chairs they all move around.

You can see the questions above, I turned the first question around and asked them what they thought I did as a job, most said builder or surveyor because of the hard hat and hi-viz!
The kids were a credit to the school and actually looked interested in what we had to say.

My main message when I talk to students about Mechanical Engineering is the transferability of skills between sectors, I go on to describe my own journey through aerospace, prototyping, motorsport, food industry, utilities and now consulting across all of these sectors to 'sell' the profession of engineering to them.

I often hear engineers calling out for more youngsters to join our industry, I say the way to go is to get into schools and talk to kids about the opportunities, that's the best way of getting new engineers in my opinion.