On Thursday 21st May Sanna Bux, Administrator at the FTA Fashion Hub in Leicester, took part in two careers events to advise on courses and pathways for those interested in fashion and textiles, she said:
The first event was the Highfields Centre Community Recruitment Fair in association with Project H.O.P.E and the Civil Service.
The event aimed to bring together employers and training providers. It provided an opportunity for those looking for work/training opportunities to see what was available. With over 20 employers/training providers, including the NHS, local schools, and Leicester businesses. The event also offered opportunities for individuals to meet with job coaches that can help aid their journey to employment/career changes.
I attended the event to promote our free and funded courses, as well as our Skills Bootcamp courses and our apprenticeships.
It was great to meet and speak with the attendees and introduce our courses to them, such as how they can help to improve mental health, provide a creative output, and provide skills for employability. I was able to engage with over 40 individuals, some being job coaches therefore reaching more individuals in the long run.
With this event, I also had the opportunity to learn more about other service providers, giving them an opportunity to teach me more about what they do so that I could pass on that information to our students. This knowledge will particularly be helpful when offering end-of-programme information, advice, and guidance to our students.
This was followed by Wreake Valley Academy careers fair as part of their initiative to connect their students (from Year 7 to Year 11) to different training providers and apprenticeships.
The event aimed to let Year 10 students meet training providers to help boost their skillset and confidence. In attendance were different Leicester colleges in attendance, including WQE and Beauchamp, as well as Leicester University, the Army, HOET, the Careers and Enterprise Company, and the Civil Service.
I attended the event with Divya to promote our apprenticeships and courses. It was great to meet the students and show them the different ways that they could get into the fashion industry through our courses and apprenticeships. We were able to interact with 15+ individuals, and were even able to promote our courses to some of their parents.