Speakers For Schools Talk
Year 10 and 12 were treated to an excellent and inspiring talk by David Allison. David is the Co-Founder and CEO of GetMyFirstJob.com. He is passionate about improving access to opportunities for young people and helping business access the next generation of talent. He spoke about his own journey from working at Ford as an engineer and completing his engineering degree whilst working, to going back to University where he teaches part time alongside his new venture into starting his own business that now employs 30 people and has a £10 million+ valuation. His website aims to allow young people access to the wealth of opportunities on offer whether they are looking for an apprenticeship or their first job from university. He debunked many of myths around apprenticeships as an alternative to the traditional route and the students found out that the higher level degree apprenticeships are more competitive than many university courses, Jaguar last year had 10,000 applicants for just 400 places on their degree apprenticeship scheme!
For students who were most interested they were treated to a follow up Q and A session where students could sit down in the Sixth Form common room and ask any questions in a more informal atmosphere. There were some excellent questions and David was impressed that many of our students had prepared and had a good idea of their options.
Many thanks David for inspiring our students and we'd love to invite you back again.
Year 10 said: “Was a very interesting and informative talk”, “I learnt lots about the different options outside of university”, ”I didn’t know the top apprenticeships were as competitive as Oxford or Cambridge”, “I was surprised that you need good A level grades for many apprenticeships”, “I didn’t know the how degrees and apprenticeships compared before”, “I learnt about the drawbacks and advantages of apprenticeships”.
There are lots of apprenticeship events coming up soon, 4th March is National Apprenticeship week, and there is an apprenticeship fair aimed at NHS careers at the hospital on the 20th March. During half term there are open mornings at the Steve Willis training centres in Porchester and Burgess Hill aimed at gas, electrical and plumbing apprentices.
Mr Steven Apsey, MSc, PGCE
Assistant Head / Head of Sixth Form
