BBC Outreach & Corporate Responsibility Feed

Dreams and determination

2016-12-02T09:49:42+00:00

Anthony Williams drew on his determination and dream of working in the media to coach and inspire young adults from Hackney to realise their own ambitions. He helped plan and run an event with young adults to take a fresh look at their employability.

‘They could relate to my perseverance not to give up on my dreams to work in the media’

I have a passion to reach out to our younger diverse audiences within my role. The BBC Outreach event with Hackney CVS - called ‘BBC Link Up’ - was designed for young adults to understand the different job roles within the BBC and for them to meet some staff and find out how they gained their roles.

I was a facilitator, helping young people with CV coaching, telling them about my journey, and acting out a hiring role in a mock job interview.

The most challenging parts of this project were to create something that would be informative as well as entertaining, and bringing together the visions inside and outside the BBC for it.

I volunteered to meet up for some evenings with Hackney CVS to rehearse with the team. The scenario of a mock interview at the BBC changed as we developed it – even changing on the day of the event. Using my improvisation skills, I was able to develop a fun yet informative role play for our audience to observe and feedback on.

Anthony, second right, at the BBC Link Up with Hackney CVS

It involved creating an interview with a ‘candidate’, based upon his good-versus-bad body language and engagement during interviews. Our young people observed and gave their thoughts on his different styles. I learned more about young people during the CV Clinic, and I believe I provided them with vital coaching in order for them to create a compelling CV.

I was also able to grasp what their feelings are towards major broadcasters such as the BBC. Some said they never thought they could work for the BBC as it seemed so corporate. This was challenged during the event through discussions and through meeting new BBC colleagues such as apprentices, and by having Charlie Sloth from BBC 1Xtra talking about his story.

A mass selfie moment with Charlie Sloth

The most rewarding moment for me was to share with nearly 50 people my inspirational story of how I managed to obtain my role at the BBC after many unsuccessful attempts. I must say that some audience members were very emotional about this, as they could relate to my perseverance to not give up on my dreams to work within the media industry.

I believe I have learnt a lot about young people and I hope to pass this on to BBC Comedy with regard to developing shows that appeal to our younger audiences, and which could potentially start with BBC Three as our online channel.

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.

The power of networking

2016-09-19T22:15:25+00:00

Muaaz Khan was once a youth worker, now he works for BBC Children’s and makes time to inspire young adults starting out in the media industry. He was a panellist talking to delegates at a BBC Outreach employability workshop.

‘It’s strange to think that only last year, I was sitting at home considering my career, and now I’m working at the BBC’

My own big career break came when I attended a networking event - essentially it was a version of speed dating with 50 media industry executives. I tried my best to impress them with my fables of team work and resilience. In the end, it was one person who gave me an opportunity to undertake a four- week work experience placement on Blue Peter. And I haven’t left since.

Top tips at the BBC Outreach employability workshop in Birmingham

Previously, I was a youth worker. I had always enjoyed working with young people. Now working in the broadcast industry and concentrating on my work as a runner for the TV show, the opportunities to help young adults starting out were not as readily available.

Then a request arrived by email asking for BBC staff volunteers to speak on a panel about how to get into the industry, so I jumped at the chance.

Now I have I attended my third such session – this latest was in Birmingham and has been by far the most enjoyable to date.

I was slightly embarrassed to be sitting on a panel next to a BBC producer and an engineer, both of whom undoubtedly had more experience than me.

But that embarrassment quickly dissipated when the questions starting coming in for me: “What does a runner actually do?” and “Can you remember a funny story?” What was even more heartening was that even after the panel session ended, a number of delegates approached me to ask more questions, wanting to find out more about the industry and my journey.

Earlier in the day, there were sessions about selling yourself at the start of your career, interview techniques, and how to write a good CV. Helping facilitate these sessions, I couldn’t help but think how much I would have benefitted from this kind of support years ago.

Young people as a group can have a bad reputation projected upon them. ASBOs and hoodie culture have portrayed young people in the news for all the wrong reasons. But with initiatives like BBC Outreach’s employability masterclasses, and the Media Trust’s Queen’s Young Leaders programme, we’re given excellent insights into all the positive things that young people are doing with their lives.

Volunteering is an integral part of society, whether it’s as a school governor or as a lay magistrate, every can play a role. It only takes a few hours, but you may help someone fulfil as aspiration they’ve been chasing for years.

Is the media for us?

2016-06-14T17:54:34+00:00

Ahmed Hussain did a Hot Shoes placement with the BBC Outreach Face2Face project in Bradford. He helped young people aged 18-24 put together a short film exploring the media as a career.

'I felt challenged, had fun, and I was inspired by the young people!'

My usual day job is on the eighth floor of New Broadcasting House, in London. Whether I’m producing on my regular show on BBC Asian Network, or producing a show at Radio 1 or 1Xtra, it’s a place I am very familiar and comfortable with.

I know the studios like the back of my hand and enjoy working with the staff & DJs across the various networks. This was part of the reason why I chose to work with BBC Outreach – to get me out of that comfort zone, experience a new challenge in areas I wasn’t familiar with but knew I could put my skills to good use.

In my spare time, I regularly teach young people -¬ many of whom are not in education or training – how to get involved in media and more practically within Radio and TV. Hence the similar interests with people who don’t believe the BBC is for them or feel that there are jobs they cannot do. The truth is, they are more than skilled enough to work here.

Face2Face Bradford was a legacy project set-up in the Leeds and Bradford area after 1Xtra had visited for 1Xtra Live in 2015. It was an intensive (but amazing!) week where 15 young people aged 18-24 years were given the chance to chat and meet people from the BBC and other media outlets.

From the start, I had to grasp how BBC Outreach works and spent a few days in Bristol with Jo Sunderland and Shana Rose - who made it super easy! To sit on a board panel and interview young people who wanted to gain work experience at the BBC also opened my eyes to the other side of interviewing and how someone could bring something extra to the BBC if they got the opportunity.

In Face2Face, our students found out how careers work at the BBC, visited the BBC Salford offices and, of course, worked on a film of their own exploring whether the media was for them. This was hands-on experience for them.

They managed to turn around a film all within three days! As someone whose job is in radio, working on filming and editing visuals (something I love but get very little time to do) was stimulating and I picked up a lot of new skills. The end product of my group’s project was a parody film exploring the given subject - was the media for them. I felt challenged, had fun, every day was different and I myself felt inspired by the young people!

For both Bristol and Bradford I ran an interviewing skills workshop. It’s something I really enjoy doing and also seeing the reactions of those attending. It’s moments like this that you realise that because of our day-to-day jobs we get so ingrained with how smoothly everything runs and everyone knows how it works, that actually the majority of people out there find this a fascinating thing and once broken down – it involves a lot of skills and patience.

I’ve come back to work more excited to work with visual content, confident to ask to sit on boards and run more open days or similar workshops for my departments. It’s exciting to speak to people who see working at the BBC as an aspiration and really just reiterates how great my job is.

Being part of another's journey

2016-06-14T17:17:38+00:00

Affie Jeerh is one of the BBC’s peer mentors with the Media Trust’s Queen’s Young Leaders programme. She works at the BBC Academy in the Entry Level Talent team.

'It’s so important to have an open and honest conversation about what you both expect'

Agreeing to be a mentor has been a very personal journey for me and I hope it inspires others to do the same. Offering employment advice, which could change the circumstances for someone, is a big responsibility which I embrace - knowing I am part of the journey for them to discover and tap into their full potential.

It’s a good fit for my role – I am part of the BBC Academy’s Entry Level Talent team; we are concerned with attracting people interested in BBC apprenticeship and trainee schemes in Journalism and Engineering.

Across all the schemes we’re really looking to bring in budding new talent. We want the BBC to reflect the wide range of audiences that we serve – everything from Radio 1Xtra’s Fire in the Booth to BBC Two’s Newsnight programme - and everything in-between. The way to do that is by having a broad mix of people who can reflect our audience’s different interests and passions.

My first mentoring session, I met my mentee, Letitia (I've changed her name), 19 years old, who has already been through quite a lot in her family and personal life – she completely blew me away with her resilience.

It is so important for us to build a mentoring relationship of trust, respect and judgement. People don’t want pity but someone who can help them unlock their true potential. Really focussing in the sessions helps us to establish what’s important to her and what is obtainable but also understanding it can’t be done overnight.

I believe keeping things relaxed eases the pressure, especially when meeting for the first time. It’s so important to have an open and honest conversation about what you both expect from the mentoring sessions and agree when setting the goals.

For me the objective is to listen and when I mean listen, I mean listen and NOT hear what you think you want to hear, if that makes sense!

After our first session, Letitia didn’t waste any time to apply for a recent opportunity for one of the gold-standard BBC training schemes. We will be meeting up soon and I can’t wait to hear what else she has been up to. I’m excited!

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.

Being a mentor is second nature

2016-04-19T11:23:26+00:00

Rem Conway is one of six BBC mentors giving advice and insight in a pilot scheme with the National Mentoring Consortium. The NMC was a successful applicant through BBC Outreach’s Community Doorway programme. NMC supports equality and diversity in graduate recruitment, enhancing the employability of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnicity students, and students with a disability or dyslexia. It works with 300 UK employers who provide volunteer mentors.

‘Having this role has stretched me, as I have had really to take the time to understand the person I am mentoring’

On a day-to-day basis I am usually working on BBC One’s daytime drama, Doctors, but for the past six months I have been mentoring Matt (I've changed his name), an undergraduate student from Birmingham University.

Mentors have always been a huge part of my own journey and a massive asset to my development in business and production so I have always had the desire to offer that development to somebody else.

Over the course of the scheme my mentee and I have met every fortnight to discuss a combination of different things that will develop his employability skills and prepare him for the big bad world of work.

What was interesting about being a mentor is that my mentee actually has all the skills he needs to be employed he just didn't know how to use them, and because of a lack of confidence in himself he could put barriers in his own way.

So for the early meetings we went through the usual documents and tools you think of – CV, job interviews, applications, and so on. And then once we’d been through those we focused on more of the personal things that might hold him back from reaching his goals.

I was then able to arrange some visits for him to the BBC so he could get a clear understanding of the industry and what he might do after university.

Having this role has stretched me, as I have had really to take the time to understand the person I am mentoring.

Things that are second nature to me may not be second nature to him so I had really to pay attention to how my mentee learns and what it is going to take to get him from where he is to where he wants to be.

It has been a pleasure working with the BBC Outreach team, before working for the BBC I only ever saw the things that transmit – programmes, radio shows, online videos, but it has been a great experience for me to get involved with the community outreach that the BBC does and which isn't always publicised.

From the feedback from my mentee and his university, I am glad that they are all taking away a positive attitude towards BBC Outreach work, too.

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