1. Career Ready
Take the first steps into the world of work

2. Thanks to Career Ready I was lucky enough to gain a place on a degree funded apprenticeship programme at Costain. I’ve now got a strong foundation on which to build my future.
Over the next ten minutes you’ll hear me talk about what the Career Ready programme involves, and it may sound like something that you’ll want to be involved in. We would love to welcome you into the Career Ready network of students, and work alongside you to help you experience a journey like Yehya’s. It works best when students take responsibility and commit to the programme. Are you ready to stand up, get involved and get Career Ready?
Yehya Hawila, Career Ready alumni Paddington Academy

3. Career Ready is an employer led programme
Career Ready is an employer led programme. What this means is that the Career Ready team and your teachers work really hard to engage lots o employers to deliver the programme to you. These are some of our national employer supporters, who give our students the opportunity to visit their premises, have a mentor, complete a work placement etc.
Being part of the Career Ready programme means broadening your access to the world of work, and meeting people from employers and other organisations that you may have never have heard of, both locally and nationally. Sometimes students join our programme with a very set career idea, but by the end of the programme they may have changed their ideas completely – because of the range of employers that they met. Other students join the programme with no career idea and have struggled to find something that they love – but by the end of the programme, through their many experiences, find themselves inspired and guided on careers.

4. The programme Mentoring Masterclasses Workplace visits
Experiences of work
Whatever you want to do with your life, Career Ready can give you the skills you need to get the career you want.
The programme has been running over 15 years, and over 4,000 volunteers from hundreds of firms are waiting to help you. Career Ready have people from every kind of organisation – from the NHS to multinationals, including a quarter of the FTSE 100 companies.
Four elements make up the Career Ready programme: masterclasses, mentoring, workplace visits and experiences of work. None of these are stand alone and students have to take part in all of them. Let’s find out about each of these elements.
A relationship that will support you
Giving you the knowledge to become Career Ready
The chance to see a range of jobs
An insight into the real world of work

5. Mentoring
Karen taught me to never stop trying and to keep going for something, no matter how many setbacks you may have. Her guidance and support will continue to help me for years to come. 
Mentoring
A mentor is a student’s guide, sounding board and critical friend. Mentoring is the part of the programme that our students say transforms their thinking about careers and work more than anything else. Mentoring is a two way street – the mentor isn’t there to tell you what to do but to help you to understand your options, work through how to make decisions and support you in fulfilling your potential. They can only do this if you are fully committed. The result: a professional relationship which often continues long after the Career Ready programme finishes.
You will be partnered with a mentor who is committed to supporting you and is going to give you an insight into the professional world of work. You will meet and communicate with your mentor regularly and they will help you to:
formulate a career plan
identify the skills and qualities that you need to develop in order to increase your employment/higher education chances
develop your confidence in the workplace and strategies to make the best first impression to an employer
build your own professional network
You will meet your mentor in their workplace – so this means you have to commit to travelling
Kiara, student of the year in 2018, shares how a Career Ready mentor has helped her prepare for a successful future. 
She was fostered at the age of two and before she started the Career Ready programme, she was failing in school and working against those who just wanted to help her.  
She credits her mentor, Karen, for helping her to grow into an ambitious and confident person. Her mentor helped her to develop new skills, taught her the importance of approaching things professionally and confidently, and to never stop trying. As a result of her mentoring relationships, she says she’s much more driven, and her confidence has improved. Her plan for the future is to study law at university.   
Kiara Ross, Leidos Student of the Year 2018

6. Masterclasses
Know yourself - explore what you want to achieve from your career
Networking and communication - make yourself a top class networker
Success at interviews - learn the key steps for success at interviews
Preparing for work - get yourself ready for work placements
Success at Assessment Centres - conquer key recruitment activities
Brand You - develop your own career brand for future success
Masterclasses
Over the course of the programme, you’ll participate in 6 masterclasses designed to develop your Skills for Career Success.
The masterclasses will be delivered by a combination of your Career Ready Regional Manager and employer volunteers.
Not only will you develop your employability skills, but you will also get a chance to meet people from the world of work.
Some of these masterclasses will take place in school or college, and some will take place in employers as part of a work place visit.
It’s your job as a Career Ready student to prepare for the masterclasses in advance – think about the subject and consider what you need to know before the masterclass and what questions you may want to ask the person facilitating.

7. Workplace visits Three visits Local and national employers
Additional opportunities and insight days
Meet people in the work place and find out about career opportunities  
Work place visits
One of the main benefits of Career Ready is that it will give you access to work places that you may not have the opportunity to go to without the programme. You will visit various employers who will give you a chance to find out what it is like to work in their firm and gain an opportunity to speak to people who work there, all the time expanding your own network of contacts who can help you navigate your career choices. Sometimes your masterclasses will be delivered on site as part of a work place visit, like those in these pictures - WPV at Salesforce (top) and Wates (bottom).

8. Work placements
I experienced a paid, four-week internship at Portland Communications. My time at Portland Communications helped with the development of my networking skills. I worked with directors and CEOs, which has blown my mind. My time there also enabled me to understand the practical elements of the world of work and how to improve my weak skills.
Placements
There is no point hearing about the world of work if you don’t actually get an opportunity to experience it. When you apply for the programme you’ll have a chance to compete for work placements, ranging from one week to fours weeks at companies in a huge range of industries. This is your chance to become a valued team member, put the skills you’ve learned into practice and find out what work’s really all about.
Jephta Asamoah, Leidos Student of the Year 2018

9. A Capital Experience https://youtu.be/gaOkTiK8UAY
A Capital Experience will be your first Career Ready networking opportunity. In December, you will come together with other Career Ready first year students from right across England, Wales and Northern Ireland at the Dominion Theatre in London. You will be one of over 1,500 students attending, all starting the same journey together. In addition to meeting all the other first years who have taken this opportunity, you will visit an employer in London and meet people working there, get a better understanding of what that company does and have an opportunity to network.
Each year over 70 employers host Career Ready students. Where will A Capital Experience take you?

10. Award winners Leidos Student of the Year
AstraZeneca STEM Student of the Year
Mentor of the Year
Logistics Student of the Year
And of course, there are awards too!
Each year, schools and colleges get to nominate a student for our Student of the Year Award and the STEM Student of the Year award. These awards recognise young people who have gone above and beyond the requirements of the programme and demonstrated that they have had a transformational experience. This year our students of the year went to Washington, sponsored by Leidos, to experience the world of work on the other side of the Atlantic, and our STEM award winners went to CERN.

11. Say ‘YES’ to opportunities
What do you want to learn?
Record every experience and what you learnt
Say ‘YES’ to opportunities
What skills would you like to develop?
Career Ready will provide you with lots of opportunities – and it is your job to say yes to these opportunities and be proactive during them. Career Ready students have a responsibility to make the most of new opportunities – to prepare by asking themselves the following questions:
What do I want to learn from this experience?
What skills can I develop from this experience?
What questions can I ask to help me understand and make the most of this experience?
In what ways can I make sure I capture this experience, and the skills and knowledge so that employers and universities can see what I have taken part in and achieved?
If you are selected to be part of the programme you will be representing your school and Career Ready at each and every employer meeting or event. We expect our students to be great ambassadors by being on time, attending when they have said they will, being polite, asking questions and saying thank you.
Be curious and ask questions

12. Your commitment Participate in all aspects of the programme
Attend all masterclasses
Make the most of having a mentor and meet with them regularly
Be proactive and take up the opportunities that the programme provides
If allocated a national internship, commit your summer holidays to completing it fully
Career Ready can give you lots of opportunities – but it’s your job to participate fully and effectively.
Go through each point and stress the importance of full participation.

13. Apply today! www.careerready.org.uk Ask your coordinator how to apply
Refer to the application process below
Online application form
Employers and teachers review the applications and identify students to shortlist for an interview
Interviews take place
Students offered a place
If you have any further questions, speak to your Career Ready Coordinator about how you can get involved.