Delivering Employability and Soft Skills Workshops to Year 7 Students

Axis Volunteers Deliver Workshop to Year 7s at Shenfield Highschool

This month a team of Axis volunteers delivered four Life Soft Skills & Employability Workshops to 244 year 7 students at Shenfield High School.

Having previously delivered the workshops back in 2020, we were delighted to be invited back to the school as the first employers to engage with the students since the pandemic!

The workshops were delivered by members of our Business Support Team – Kellie Durey, Vera O’Driscoll, Daniela Postolachi and Grace D’Souza, and Divisional Manager, Eamon O’Donnell who works local to the school on our Brentwood contract.

Through a combination of group activities and presentations, the aim was to get the students to start thinking about what they can do now whilst in school to develop and improve the skills and attributes needed to succeed in their working life.

The first activity was for the students to work in teams to build a bridge using only newspaper and cellotape. This task highlighted 5 key soft skills including teamwork, communication, problem solving, leadership and time management. The students were asked questions about each of these skills and how they can be transferred into the workplace.

The second part of the workshop involved the students reading through 3 different CV’s and highlighting what they thought was good and bad about each of them. The team later explained the do’s and don’ts in more detail so the students understood how to make a great CV in the future.

It was really good to go back to year 7 and reimagine the 11-year-old me. I wish I had someone giving career talks back then. It was a great opportunity and I love inspiring the next generation it’s definitely very rewarding knowing we are making a difference! – Grace D’Souza, Training Intern