BBC Outreach & Corporate Responsibility Feed

Leading the way

2016-06-08T15:22:53+00:00

Sally Williams from BBC Inside Out volunteered to work with a group of young adults developing their CVs and interview skills at the BBC in Salford. A day long workshop helped them reassess their key achievements to date. They were part of the Queen’s Young Leaders programme, which is for 18-25 year olds interested in working in the media.

‘You could visibly see their confidence soar as they rewrote their CVs’

As a 15 year old at a large Comprehensive School on Merseyside, I was laughed at by the visiting careers officer when I told her my ambition was to work at the BBC. “You’re a pretty girl, have you thought of being a hairdresser?” she said with a waft of her hand. The BBC, it seemed, didn’t employ people from my background or from my school. The BBC wasn’t “for me”.

It took almost 10 years to realise my ambition when I was accepted on the BBC’s prestigious Trainee Reporter Scheme. It took a further 10 years for me to realise they hadn’t made a mistake and I wasn’t going to be found out and turfed out of the Corporation for having been to the wrong school in the wrong city.

The careers teacher was wrong; the BBC was for me, just as it’s for everyone of us. It’s this sense of injustice and anger that young people could be discouraged from pursuing a career at the BBC that made me sign up to help at the workshop. I feel very strongly that if the BBC is to remain relevant, it must be staffed by people who reflect our audience.

Queen's Young Leaders gaining confidence at the BBC in Salford

The sessions were for young people aged between 18 and 25 years. They came with varying degrees of confidence and experience, but what they did have in common is they all turned up on time ready to learn, and they all wanted to work in the media. The day started with an excellent session led by Alex Dalton who stressed the importance of good storytelling. This was valuable in helping the young people communicate in a powerful way and to really think about their experiences and skills.

The shy young woman next to me who’d insisted she had “nothing special” to offer was soon opening up and telling me how she spent time in her bedroom writing scripts for TV dramas that she hoped would one day be screened by the BBC. Another young man who was a carer for both his parents had set up a radio station at his college and was presenting his own show. He’d been told at the Job Centre to forget any dreams of working in the media.

The highlight for me was when a group of new joiners arrived and described how they got their first break at the BBC. Their tales of grim determination and enthusiasm were a real inspiration to the attendees who were given an opportunity to meet and question them afterwards. The lesson here was that hard work and tenacity really do pay off in the end and our young hopefuls mustn’t be discouraged or take rejection personally.

The afternoon session was really rewarding as it was more hands on. As coaches, we worked one to one with the delegates helping them to realise that their existing skills – from working in kitchens and shops to helping backstage in their local theatre - are transferable and relevant to life in the media where organisation and innovation are key. You could visibly see their confidence soar as they rewrote their CVs and deciphered daunting job descriptions with renewed vigour. I like to think that the young people left really believing that, despite what they’d been told, the BBC is for them as it is for everyone.

BBC Outreach & Corporate Responsibility brings the BBC closer to its audiences - particularly those audiences we have identified as harder to reach - with face-to-face activity, community support and staff volunteering.

Preparing for the world of work

2016-03-29T14:27:30+00:00

Sam Challinor shared her experience as a volunteer employability coach for young people attending BBC Outreach drop-in sessions during National Apprenticeship Week 2016.

‘If a young person had one new idea, made one new change to their CV, or came away with a greater sense of their potential, I will consider my contribution to have been valuable.’

As a Talent Co-ordinator in the BBC I am acutely aware that for every applicant to the schemes, apprenticeships, and external partnerships we run to open the doors of the media to young people, there are countless others who never reach us.

'It's too competitive for me’ or 'I'm not good enough for that’ or ‘that can’t be for me': these are just some of the assumptions which lead young people to abandon certain career interests or aspirations at an early stage.

We need to tackle this by working positively with young people who are facing decisions about ‘what next?’ at all stages of their education and career.

Having previously volunteered on similar projects, I jumped at the opportunity to become one of the 18 volunteer coaches at BBC Outreach’s employability event at the BBC in Salford.

I was to work with a group of four young people from a local sixth form college where they are at a crucial bridging point between education and work. We would carry out reflective activities around employability and career aspirations to help them to approach their next steps with confidence.

It was with some trepidation that we read through the briefing notes beforehand, realising that we staff – who, let’s be honest, are still eighteen in our heads – had been entrusted with having something valuable to offer to the next generation!

But as soon as we met the young people, the brief helped to ease us in and the students were great in offering lots of thoughts and questions to keep the activities flowing.

Most valuable, in my eyes, was the time spent thinking about their personal strengths and aspirations. Yes, employability is about CVs, cover letters, and interview techniques, and having the tools and techniques to convey your strengths and potential fully to an employer - but it is also about unlocking awareness of that potential, and its incredible market value in an economy which needs young people.

Following a mind-map activity around strengths, the previously doubtful students were genuinely surprised at the picture they had built of themselves once they had considered the full range of their activities – some of the young people had already had several part-time jobs, carried out a range of work experience placements, volunteered in nurseries and hospitals, and had hobbies ranging from dance to art and design.

It seemed that many of the students’ perceptions of their employability still rested upon their academic ability, in spite of their wide range of other achievements. If the young people took anything away from the event, I would hope it was: 'I have something to offer'.

We spent an hour with the young people – and this can leave room for doubt about whether we had a significant impact in that time. But in my view, much of employability is about sparking curiosity.

If a young person had one new idea, made one new change to their CV, or came away with a greater sense of their potential, I will consider my contribution to have been valuable. As always, I will return to my role with a renewed sense of the importance of reaching young people at an early point in their careers and promoting high aspirations.

BBC Outreach ran employability drop-in sessions for young people in Salford, Birmingham and London, harnessing the skills and expertise of BBC staff volunteers, the BBC Academy, and the Job Centre.

The BBC’s own apprenticeship schemes are open for recruitment from 14 March to 18 April 2016 – more details at: bbc.co.uk/getin