Thank you for signing up to deliver a career talk in one of our schools! Whether you’ve interacted with young people before or not, this page is designed to prepare you to confidently deliver a Career Talk in one of our schools.
The aim of our career talks is to engage our young people by exposing them to different career paths professionals like yourself might have taken.
To prep for your talk, we have put together a template presentation which we think will help keep our young people engaged. You can download and edit this template below.
Timeframe tip: Your talk should not last more than 30 minutes, including final Q&As. This is to make sure that our young people can remain fully engaged ensuring the whole duration of the talk, as well as to maximise your precious time!
Delivery tip: Be sure to make the talk INTERACTIVE! The most impact happens when a dialogue is formed between Career Speakers and our young people. Be curious about what they know – we’re sure you’ll be surprised!
For example, if you worked in renewable energy, this might look like asking questions such as “has anyone ever seen a wind turbine? What did it look like?” or “Has anyone ever heard of the word thermodynamics? It’s a tricky one, but we’ll understand it together now!”
More delivery tips:
“I learned that anyone can do this job, no matter how they grew up.”
ReachOut Mentee
At ReachOut, we believe that it is everyone’s responsibility to keep the young people we work with safe.
Please take some time to read our our ‘Safeguarding Summary and Code of Conduct’ which is shared with all volunteers on our Projects.
If you notice anything that you deem to be concerning whilst interacting with our young people on the day, it is your responsibility to relay this to the Project Leader on site as soon as you notice. They will then take over any follow up actions.
No concern is too big or too small, so please when in doubt, report it to us.
If you’re still unsure and would like to book some time with us to have a chat about your Career Talk, please email Susanna, our Corporate Volunteering Officer at susanna.allegretti@reachoutuk.org.
“At first, I was really hesitant to take on the Project Leader role, despite having mentored with ReachOut. However, with the support of the team I’ve really developed my skills. For example, at the Mentee Graduation, I stood up in front of 200 people and presented an award which is something I would never ever have been able to have done before, and isn’t an opportunity I could gain in my other situations.”
Amy McCutcheon, Project Leader at ReachOut Academy, Dean Trust Ardwick, Manchester.
“Being able to spend the summer working at Rede Partners, was an amazing experience. Whether it was working in HR or Finance, I learned so much about the world of private equity, made great connections with fantastic people and I got to learn first-hand what it would be like to work there! I really believe that I can go onto build the career I want now I’ve been a part for a workplace for real”
Victor Adekunle, 18 years old, ReachOut Ambassador, London
“When I first my mentee, she was very reluctant to participate in the sessions. Now, I see a completely different person! Her confidence has grown and she is happy to join in! She still has some self-doubt when it comes to academic work, but that’s what I hope to help her overcome, because she is a very bright person!
Through mentoring, I’ve learnt I’m a lot more patient than I realised. There will be days where she refuses to participate and those are the days that I really see the importance of the character strengths, for both the mentees and the mentors. It also makes it easier for the mentee to understand the character strengths, when I use them myself”
Myrtle, ReachOut Club mentor at Tufnell Primary School, London
“There are more distractions than ever outside of school, and the commitment of our students to attend ReachOut sessions is testament to the value they place on the relationships they foster there, and the challenge and enjoyment they provide.
ReachOut’s focus on communication skills and character development has become an important aspect of our provision of support for these students. The opportunity to relate to a positive role- model other than their usual teachers is key to the programme’s impact, and the evidence of this has been seen in the students’ attendance, resilience and to their overall progress across all the subjects in the school.”
Thomas Janvrin, Assistant Vice Principal at the Petchey Academy London