A number of Selby College students have recently taken part in a series of employability workshops delivered by energy giant National Grid and national charity Young Enterprise.

Designed to prepare young people for the recruitment process and entering employment, the Young Enterprise ‘Grid for Good’ pathway programme consisted of three different sessions including insight, teambuilding and upskilling.

The insight session featured a quiz which was designed to introduce students to personal profiling, which is often used as part of National Grid’s recruitment process. The students were able to discuss their findings in small groups, as well as gain insight into opportunities at National Grid and the wider energy industry.

As part of the teambuilding exercise, the students were given a problem-solving task based on a scenario regularly used by National Grid at its assessment centre – enabling them to understand the skills a major national employer is looking for.

The final session, upskilling, consisted of tasks for work readiness training with members from National Grid’s recruitment team. They provided the students with advice on how to showcase their skills in the very best way to get noticed and be successful in their future job applications.

The students were also introduced to some mock interview competency-based questions and were trained on how to prepare a STAR (situation, task, action and result) structured answer.

“The Grid for Good programme was a real eye opener for me, as I didn’t know about the different career paths or opportunities which are available within the energy sector until now. The team building exercise was my favourite part of the workshops, as I enjoy being able to work in a team and lookat ways to solve problems. It was great to be able to bounce ideas off others in the team and gain feedback from members of National Grid’s team,” said Jack Midgley, Year 1 Level 3 Business student at Selby College.

Students Alesha Tomlinson, Ashley Dutu, Hollie Downes, Jack Midgley, Joshua Coneyworth, Lewis Harrison, Noah Sykes-Scott and Sarah Ridley, were presented with certificates upon completing the programme.

The students are currently studying a mixture of courses at the College, including Level 3 Business, Level 3 Information Technology and Level 2 and Level 3 Engineering.

“It’s fantastic to see large companies such as National Grid coming together with charities such as Young Enterprise to provide young people with insight and work-related skills ahead of entering the world of work. Our students found the workshops extremely beneficial and interactive, helping them to gain a better understanding of the skills they need to thrive in employment or within the energy sector. We are looking forward to running the programme again in the new academic year to ensure that more of our students can benefit from the initiative,” said Rebecca James, Work Placement Coordinator at Selby College.

Q&A sessions were also held with National Grid volunteers, where students could ask questions about working in the energy sector and how they can access other Grid for Good pathway programmes.

Led by National Grid, the Grid for Good scheme is a flagship energy industry programme designed to provide training and employment opportunities for young people.

Students also have the opportunity to progress on to Tier 2 of the scheme which includes a one-to-one, 12-week career mentoring programme. This can lead to two-week paid work experience opportunities with National Grid, enabling young people to gain real-life experience of working in the energy industry.