Title: Introduction
Description: Me on my first day outside the office building
Before I started my work experience, I completed a skills audit so I would know what skills to work on throughout my week at the LCR Careers Hub and Growth Platform. I had never really thought about my transferable skills before and couldn’t really think of any specific examples of where I had used them.
Over this week, I think I have really improved on many different skills that could help me in the future. For example, talking to new people that I have never met before and having the confidence to ask them about their jobs. This has helped my communication skills. I have also recognised my core strengths for example, being fluent in German, which I didn’t even think of as a strength. I have learnt how big of an advantage this is when looking for a job.
I chose to come to Growth Platform because it has many different sectors that I can learn about as I am still unsure of what I would like to do in the future. Before I came here, I was looking forward to being in a professional workplace for the first time and to developing new skills to help with future applications.
During my placement, I improved my communication skills, as I met many new people over the week. Before this work experience placement, I wasn’t very confident with this because I rarely meet new people at school. On my first day, I wrote a list of questions I could ask people about themselves and things I could tell them about myself so I would feel confident when speaking to others. This helped me because before my placement I didn’t really know what to say to people I had just met and this made me nervous.
One day, I went networking at Pins Social Club where I met many people and practised my communication skills. We went there to get more businesses involved with local careers education and I saw many inspiring women telling stories about their lives and careers as it was International Women’s Day. This excited me as I learnt about the opportunities across Liverpool City Region and realised this could be me in the future!
Title: Communication Skills
Description: Networking at Pins Social Club
Title: Presentation Skills
Description: Presentation on a Teams meeting with staff
I was never confident about doing presentations on my own. This was mainly because it was rare for me to have a chance to do one so the thought of doing it made me nervous as I was worried about making mistakes. However, I did a presentation about myself near the end of the week on a Teams meeting and it wasn’t difficult at all. I created a script and a slide which helped me prepare what to say so I wasn’t nervous about it.
On my skills audit that I completed before my placement, I mentioned how I wasn’t confident about presenting so the fact that I actually did it with ease shows how my confidence in presenting has really grown throughout the week. To keep improving on this, I will do a presentation in person so I can build this skill. Being a good presenter is definitely an important skill to have for the future as it allows you to get your ideas across clearly and allows you to keep your audience engaged.
During my placement, I also worked as part of a team. I was able to improve on my teamwork skills. For example, I worked with members of staff to think of new ideas to improve the LCR Careers Hub website such as making the website clearer to viewers and adding a visual overview like a flowchart. I worked with different people from different departments everyday.
On International Women’s Day I went on a tour of the Radisson Red Hotel with the rest of the Growth Platform team which was fun and interesting and gave me the chance to meet and learn from new people.
This whole experience has given me the opportunity to work on my teamwork skills for the future as it helped me understand how people can work differently and there isn’t always one right way to work.
Title: Teamwork Skills
Description: International Women’s Day at Growth Platform Team Meeting
Title: Self-Management – Setting Future Targets
Description: Learning about LCR growth sectors
Although I am still not sure what job I would want to do in the future, this work experience has really improved my knowledge about different careers and skills that will definitely help me when looking for a job. For example, I learned about the different growth sectors and was interested in the Digital and Creative Sector because it is very diverse and I enjoy using digital products. I will definitely do some more research on this sector through the BeMore site and attend a Careers Hub gaming webinar to help my plans.
Throughout the week I also practised my punctuality and being able to organise myself to arrive on time. To do this, I set an alarm and woke up early every day to get ready and to make sure I didn’t miss my train. One day on my placement, I had to meet staff at a different location so I had to research the train times and routes as I was going to a different station. I also had to be on time to attend meetings such as a staff meeting on Teams and a meeting with the BeMore team. This has helped me learn how to manage myself in the workplace.
Overall, I had a great week and staff were very welcoming to me and always offered me help if I needed it. I believe my work experience at the LCR Careers Hub and Growth Platform has really helped me develop my transferable skills. This is evident in my second skills audit that I completed on my last day as it helped me realise that I have made so much progress during the week. In my first skills audit I couldn’t really think of many examples where I had used my skills in the past and lacked confidence in those skills, for example, giving a presentation or recognising my core strengths. However, now I feel much better about them and I’m glad I had this experience.
On my last day, I even did some remote work because all the trains were suspended due to snow. This was also a good experience for me as I might have a job in the future where I would have to take part remotely and learn how to work in different ways.
I want to use everything I have learnt to help me in school and when I apply for a part-time job as I now recognise the great skills that I have and how to demonstrate them to others!
Title: Conclusion
Description: Me in the Growth Platform office in front of the Liver Buildings
