On Monday morning, our Lower Sixth students participated in an InvestIN Education webinar, designed to explore career options. They were challenged to reconsider how to prepare themselves for their future career and the steps to take both inside and outside of School to achieve their goals. They were taught how to expand their knowledge, develop their skill set, gain a competitive advantage and build their network.

There was particular emphasis on the challenges and opportunities of today’s job market for young adults, not least owing to the pandemic. The presentation highlighted to our students the key skills that employers are looking for today, focusing on commercial awareness, challenge and solutions, emotional intelligence and demonstration.

Students were taught to consider ‘career clusters’, ranging from ‘the technologists’ to ‘the generators’. This way of thinking introduced students to the idea that careers are not necessarily linear and that key skills are portable across sectors and positions.

As a follow-up to the webinar, we will be asking our Lower Sixth students to express their early career interests this term, to identify how best we can support and prepare them effectively for their individual pathway. 

Sutton Valence is a partner school of InvestIn Education, which offers a range of immersive experiences and work placement programmes. InvestIN programmes are well-reputed and considered highly by universities, apprenticeships and employers. As such, we would strongly recommend that your child considers the range of programmes available to them at InvestIN: www.investin.org. As a partner school, participants are entitled to a 10% discount on the cost of the InvestIN programme.

Please contact Mr Ellmers for more information (ellmersl@svs.org.uk).