CAREERS NEWSLETTER
2017-‐18
ISSUE 18 – Friday 6 July 2018 In our final newsletter for 2017-‐18, as well as covering advice imparted by Prize
Giving guest of honour, Andrew Edmiston, there is a reflective booklet -‐ already emailed to our Lower Sixth -‐ which will prove helpful for any other pupils
undertaking work experience over the summer. Have a great summer!
VALUING THE JOURNEY AS WELL AS THE PRIZE
CONGRATULATIONS!
Bablake’s 2018 Prize Giving guest of honour, Andrew Edmiston – a former pupil (1981 – 1987) and now M anaging Director of International Motors Group – revealed he won a
Progress prize towards the end of his time at Bablake. Not unusual, you might imagine!
Surprisingly though, we have heard many such guests of honour reveal they had failed to win a prize at Bablake, before going on to admit this had never really held them back in
their journey after school.
Indeed Andrew Edmiston crucially focused on the journey, reminding our prize winners that, while any accolade should be celebrated, the final reward should be viewed as merely a snapshot of time or a destination reached. The majority of employers, while obviously keen on ultimate success and celebration, would agree that their employees spend most of their time on a journey. The destination is important but once reached and celebrated, a new, often tougher, journey begins. Bablake had given Andrew Edmiston two key life lessons: one was the importance of perseverance -‐ inevitably failure or falling short of a goal will happen, but being resilient, learning from these stages and making repeated attempts are vital. The second lesson was being humble and showing humility – by understanding your own weaknesses, especially as a team leader, you will create a team where others have strengths to fill any gaps in skills. No-‐one is perfect, but members of the best teams do complement each other. Our prizewinners were urged to inspire their immediate peers to challenge and compete, but ultimately work together. They were told there are no exams for perseverance or humility; instead, every individual can decide to show them. For a team to succeed, recognising a peer’s strengths and allowing them to excel is of benefit to all. Of course, Bablake students have the opportunities to excel academically and focus on more outside the classroom. Employers appreciate academic worth, but social skills and practical sense are as vital. Bablake’s Careers department has seen students leave and move into such a rich variety of professions. Square or round pegs alike, rest assured, there is a fantastic future for all our students to enjoy. They are inquisitive, willing to ask questions, unafraid of challenge and a very safe bet for employers to invest time, resources and faith in.
Earlier this year, we congratulated Upper Sixth students Lucie Barnes and Remy McNamara on being offered positions by AECOM and Deloitte respectively, after successfully negotiating competitive interviews. Now we are delighted to congratulate two m ore Class of 2011 students: • Aaron Biddle, who excelled at our 2017 Mock Interview Morning – producing an academic resource worthy of publication and prompting one interviewer to state she would have offered him employment on the spot – has been offered a technical placement on IBM’s Futures gap year scheme, which will offer him an excellent insight into future digital and cyber routes.
• Liam McSorley, who applied for Deloitte’s BrightStart scheme as well as Remy, heard last week, on the morning of the Leavers’ Ball, that having been accepted for this outstanding programme, he will begin his training in Birmingham later in the year. Well done, A aron & Liam! We look forward to hearing of your progress.
@BablakeCareers
18 BEFORE 18 – END OF YEAR REVIEW
At the start of this academic year, we launched a simple new careers concept, 18 Before 18, which encouraged all Bablake p upils to explore 18 activities or pieces of advice in the quest to make key decisions at 16/ 18 a little easier. After piloting this programme for a year, we will be offering more specific year group advice in September, but for now, it would be excellent for pupils to assess how many activities or steps they tried over 2017/18 and then start to plan for 2018/19. 2017/18 2018/19 Activities Completed Activities Planned 1. 1. 2. 2. 3. 3. 4. 4. 5. 5. 6. 6. 7. 7. 8. 8. 9. 9. 10. 10. 11. 11. 12. 12. 13. 13. 14. 14. 15. 15. 16. 16. 17. 17. 18. 18. We would love to see the grids completed b y Bablake pupils. If you are happy to share yours, please email a photo of it to mgw@bablake.coventry.sch.uk. FOOTNOTEs This week Emma Rosen, founder of 25 Before 25, was interviewed by Emma Kennedy on Radio 4’s ‘The Wrong Job’ for the ‘Square Pegs in Round Holes’ episode: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b88mgg.
For more information on 18 Before 18, please see www.18before18.co.uk.
@18before18
The article above, featuring former pupil Ellie Hutchinson-‐James, appeared in the May 2018 issue of London Property South: House and Home. We are certain Ellie, who has already impressed her employer Knight Frank, will continue to make excellent progress in her sector.
As mentioned in our cover article, one of the very exciting aspects of working at Bablake for over 20 years in the Careers Department -‐ and indeed 31 years in total as a teacher at the school – is hearing about the amazing variety of roles that #OldWheats take up. This summer we will be contacting 18 former pupils and interviewing them for the continuation of our #BablakePupilsEverywhere features that originally featured on www.bablake.com.
@bablakecareers
TALKING POINTS
PAUSE FOR THOUGHT
DISCOVER YOUR POTENTIAL
Earlier this week LinkedIn’s ‘Daily Rundown’ – a highly recommended snapshot of recent business news – featured the thoughts of emergency physician Dr Louis Profeta: “Surround yourself and embrace people do not pray like you, who do not who look like you, who do not love like you especially who do not vote like you.” and sentiments should remind us how we His all breathe the same air and how diverse perspectives in our lives really do enrich us all.
CAREERS FORUMS 2018-‐19
We are planning an exciting new programme of talks for 2018-‐19. Already confirmed are the following: th 10 Sept. (U6th) ‘30 CVs in 50 minutes’ – a speed workshop to help our U6th Mock Interview students.
FAST TOMATO th Our 4 Year pupils have now completed the Fast Tomato programme and will now have an online report to work with, offering useful assistance for important options chosen at 16 and prompts for discussion over the summer. We look forward to assisting these pupils in the Autumn term.
BUZZ TEST rd A good number of our 3 Years have completed the short Buzz test, which helps identity everyone’s natural character. We will ensure all pupils have completed this in the early days of the th 4 Year.
#18BEFORE18
th
24 Sept. (All years) Elle Barker, Global Marketing Director for Soap and Glory.
th
18 Oct. (All years) Priya Lele, Fashion Designer. One of Vogue’s Top 10 designers to watch for 2017.
Anna and Enya, both Sixth Form Music Scholars, arranged two outstanding solo recitals this month at St John the Baptist in Coventry. Both recitals were very well supported by friends, families and teachers. Not only did A nna and Enya delight their audiences with such professional, musical excellence, but also they each arranged and marketed the concerts so successfully that over £500 was raised for their respective, nominated charities, Pro Corda and SKIP (Supporting Kids in Peru). #prideinour musicians
A reminder of the categories pupils may wish to explore to create their programme:
CONGRATULATIONS
• • • • • •
Networking Qualifications Help with Decisions Challenging Yourself Beyond the Classroom Bablake Opportunity
www.18before18.co.uk has more info.
NEW KEY 2018 U6TH MOCK INTERVIEW DEADLINES
CONTACT BABLAKE CAREERS
Mr Mark Woodward
Email: mgw@bablake.coventry.sch.uk
www.2morrow-‐2day.com/mock-‐interview.html [CHOICE OF TOPIC: Friday June 29 4pm] CV: Monday September 10 6pm ONLINE APPLICATION: Sunday September 16 6pm
Twitter: @bablakecareers FB: www.facebook.com/bablakecareers Website: www.2morrow-‐2day.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin/markwoodward Blog: http://bablakecareers.tumblr.com/ Spotify: http://www.spotify.com/18before18 Instagram: @bablakecareers Careers Circulars: http://issuu.com/bablake/stacks