The first ever Nairobi Cocktail Week is officially on this week! Organised by Brian Owango of Aqueous Mobile Cocktail Bars this is the ultimate opportunity to engage your drinking senses and try something new in some of Nairobi's best cocktail bars and lounges.

Well thought out and straightforward, the NCW2014 experience involves 24 of the top bars and lounges serving a quality selection of cocktails at only 400 bob. From Whiskey to Gin cocktails, even Sambuca, there is no excuse not to reward yourself after a hard days work. There is something for everyone...

In addition to that, 12 of the 24 participating bars will be offering an extra item on the menu, a signature cocktail avaliable only this week. I have to say, as much as I love a good Old Fashioned, the treat of a specialty cocktail in a luxury location, like Kempinski, for only 400 bob is enough to make me leave my car at home and cab it for the rest of the week.

Running from 29th August to 7th September, if there were ever a time when the designated driver could exchange his keys for a glass, this would be it.

EasyTaxi is the only chauffeur I need this week. The easy to use app is available on google play and is the most responsible way to get around every time you head out for a drink. My favourite part about it is the standard rates from zone to zone eg Westlands to Karen. The last thing I want to be doing when I'm tired and tipsy is haggle over a hundred shillings. All I have to do now is open the app, select 'request taxi' and since it knows my location, and i've entered my phone number, minutes later, I'm on a safe ride home.

Remember, drinking is always fun when it's done responsibly. This week is about quality not quantity. Explore, find out what you like and drink in moderation. Binge drinking is not only hazardous to your health but also negatively affects those around you. Make it a night to remember, not one to forget.

Cheers,

- Jer

To find out which bars are participating and keep up with the latest, follow Nairobi Cocktail Week on Facebook

What is good careers advice?

When I started teaching Careers it was because the usual (and truly excellent) member of staff was seriously ill and I was asked to plug the gap until he returned.  Always keen for a new challenge I accepted. I had no qualification other than having taught careers in his department. Up to that point, I followed his suggested lesson plans and just did as I was told.

Then, suddenly, I was in charge. It took me several months to realise just what I had got myself into but I threw myself into the task regardless – and loved it! Naturally, behind every role in school there is a lot of theory and I felt it would be advisable to get a CEIAG qualification so that I felt less like I was sitting on a wobbly stool! I was not a Careers Advisor – but the overseer of Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) in my school. This is an important point because you do need to draw on the services of a trained and impartial Careers Advisor in school.  Some schools are using companies like this http://www.isco.org.uk where services can be bought in for a daily rate. There will be times when you are on the receiving end of questions you can’t answer but your CA can. There’s no disgrace in telling students that you don’t know an answer but that you will find out. A great port of call is this site http://www.outstandingcareers.co.uk. With loads of pointers, information and resources, you are sure to find help there. Don’t be afraid to point young people in the direction of sites like the National Careers Service (https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/Pages/Home.aspx) where they can chat to an Advisor or perhaps your area still has Connexions and their site sometimes has an online chat facility.

There are some key principles of good careers education. Firstly, it should be impartial. It is not your job to make them change their minds. I remember feeling particularly annoyed when one of my Year 10 boys, with a huge potential for enterprise, was told by a Careers Advisor ‘You can do that later in life. What will you do when you leave school then?’

In my area, one of the big problems we had was that other local schools with sixth forms did everything in their power to ‘encourage’ their students to stay at their school and not look at other options. They had a vested interest in keeping their own numbers up. Personal feelings must be pushed aside and children will sometimes have to overcome stereotypical views at home. In one case, a boy told me ‘People like us don’t do University’. His parents had killed off any hope that he, quite a clever boy, might be able to succeed in Higher Education. I disputed this, of course, but his parents’ views won in the end.

One of the hardest areas of Careers Education is expecting students to be realistic. Many are not! How do you help little Billy understand that he probably won’t be able to be a brain surgeon? Left to their own devices, children will want to be pop stars, footballers – or simply just not work as they are going to win the Lottery. Letting them down gently whilst not shattering their dreams is tough. One of the reasons I loved using The Real Game with younger students was that it was governed by five main principles. One of these was ‘Follow your heart’. But this was backed up with a hefty dose of reality and stressed the need to know yourself, be realistic and always have a Plan B. One of my students was a truly excellent footballer. He was selected for Manchester United boys and from that day did no really meaningful work in school. As far as he was concerned, his future was sorted. Why did he need qualifications? Three years later he was dropped from the Junior team and found himself in the predicament of having no qualifications and no experience other than football. There was no Plan B.

As a Careers Co-ordinator or a member of the Leadership team you need to know what your responsibilities are. This document should hopefully clarify your statutory duty:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/careers-guidance-for-young-people-in-schools

Although this document focuses on Key Stage 3 and 4, recommendations from other agencies and businesses say that some element of Careers Education ought to be present from Primary school so that young people are more aware of opportunities, their own strengths and weaknesses and have direct experience of the workplace.

One of the best pieces of advice I was given was to be in touch with other schools in the area, meet up if you can and discuss what each school does. This way you can share resources, maybe organise events together to keep costs down and tap into the expertise of others.

Did I provide good careers advice? I hope so. One of the best parts of doing this job is knowing that you have made a difference. Recently I got an email from an ex-student. In it he told me:

“The point of this email was to thank you for your help through school. If it wasn't for you I don't think I would have near enough confidence as I do now to walk into meetings with clients and be able to hold my own.”

To me, this is what matters and makes the job absolutely worthwhile.

  Share this newsletter with your contacts

Best Wishes,

LifeSkills National Careers Week 2014

NHS Careers Opportunities

NHS Careers is the careers information service for the NHS in England and is part of Health Education England.

We support careers advisers, NHS healthcare organisations, schools and colleges with a series of resources and tools to help you bring the 350 plus NHS opportunities to life. We run web chats, and provide a career mapper, videos, and a course finder to help you. Click on the links for information and make sure you're registered to receive our regular newsletter.

We look forward to seeing you at the National Career Guidance Shows in Leicester on 12 March and London on 26 March, and at the Big Bang Fair in Birmingham from 13 to 16 March!

Information for careers advisers and teachers

Everything from a career mapper and job descriptions to videos and information about our national competition.

Teaching resources

An online toolkit of activities and multimedia resources that support careers education.

Step into the NHS website

Specifically for 14 to 19 year olds to help them find out what sort of career would suit them, schools competition details, videos and more.

Step into the NHS national schools competition

Get your year 8 and 9 students thinking about an NHS career and they could win a fab prize!

Information | Teaching Resources | Step into the NHS | Competition | NHS Careers Zone

The LifeSkills National Careers Week Digital Guide is out now!

The LifeSkills National Careers Week Digital Guide has now been published. Featuring articles by O2, Sky, LifeSkills, Virgin Media, NHS Careers and much more. To view, click here LifeSkills National Careers Week 2014 Digital Guide.

Did you know that Issuu has an app where you can view our Digital Guide on your Android smartphone/tablet? Click here to download the app.

New resources on our website!

We have lots of new resources on our new look website to help you support your involvement with LifeSkills National Careers Week 2014.

17 Regional Ambassadors sharing their campaigns for NCW 2014

A Careers Zone with even more employer opportunities on Future Jobs

The NEW official NCW Digital Guide

Download our official NCW Posters

Download our NCW Tips Sheet

Download 5 Employability Cards

Watch our 25 Job Profile Films

Watch our NCW Promo Film & Advice Tips

Read our NCW Tumblr, featuring articles by one of our Regional Ambassadors Lynda Dixon

NCW2014 Latest News including NCW2015 Dates!

We can now announce the dates for NCW2015 are the 2nd to 6th of March! If you haven't already - sign-up here. It takes 2 minutes and then we can shout about you and your establishment.

Follow us on our Twitter network to be kept up to date with the latest news and competitions - @CareersWeek

The NCW Digital Guide will be available as a PDF download next week! We'll be sending out a NCW wrap-up newsletter asking for your photos and events to be shared on our wesbite, as well as your feedback so we can make NCW2015 even better!

Careers Zone's Latest Clients

To help provide information on a wide array of career offerings and pathways we have some great supporters of LifeSkills National Careers Week 2014:

LifeSkills

GSK

Creative Pioneers

Taste Success

The Institute of the Motor Industry

Virgin Media

GoThinkBig (O2)

Freshfields

Careers in Racing

Careers that Move

Sky

Hospitality Guild

NHS Careers

BDO

Gap Medics

ACCA

HSS Hire

Milkround

EY

Skills for Care

Nestle

Win work experience with a football journalist at a Barclays Premier League fixture during the 2013/14 season. Click the link to enter and find out more www.footballwriters.co.uk/features/barclays-aspiring-journalist     

Whether you are working in Secondary school and have to set up a block placement for a group of children or in a Primary school and want to allow children to experience workplaces for a half-day or day visit, you will rely on local businesses to help you with your task.

In Primary school, any school visit will contain a careers thread and relevant questions will help draw out from the children some ideas about working life. I had the joy of visiting some Northumberland schools where they had this down to a fine art. Topic-based learning is particularly useful for Primary careers work. One example was a school where they were looking at food production from farm to fork. As part of this they visited a farm and a baker’s shop. The Careers opportunities were massive and the culmination of this was that the children planted their own wheat, invited a local artist in to make a clay oven in the school garden, harvested and ground their wheat, made bread in the outdoor oven and then ate it hot in the garden. Those children had the opportunity to meet and speak to a farmer, a baker, a shop assistant, a potter and a chef in just a few weeks. These may or may not have been careers that they were interested in but at least it gave them a clear picture of the pros and cons of each job. This type of activity shows the link between careers and enterprise education really clearly.

As far as a block placement in secondary school is concerned, your school may not wish to go through this process. In that case, it would be a good idea to try to build in some type of business experience in a voluntary capacity. It is worth asking your students if they already do this – you might be surprised. Many young people work at local stables or kennels, have a paper round or run errands for elderly neighbours. Some may be young carers and have experience of taking responsibility for a parent, grandparent or younger sibling. Encourage those who do these things to add their experiences to their portfolio. For those who don’t, try to make links locally for options e.g. in charity shops or care homes.

A vital part of work experience is the preparation that happens beforehand. Despite all the organising, if your students don’t have a grounding in and awareness of work skills, they will be at an immediate disadvantage. I have some horrendous personal experience of this and learned my lesson for future occasions. Don’t just assume that they know how to behave in the workplace. The way they dress, speak to people, their attitude and punctuality are so vitally important. The build up to work experience week must cover all aspects of how things should be in the workplace. It is very different to school and they need to know that!

The big headache comes with the block placement week, if your school does this. Again, I was lucky to have the services of the local Education Business Partnership and they took a huge amount of weight off my shoulders – but it is still a big job. We used to send out all of Year 10 en masse. They were prepared for this event weeks in advance and given a set time to find their own suitable placement. I use the word ‘suitable’ as have had some strange requests in the past. One girl wanted to work with a blacksmith and one in a tattoo parlour. Clearly there are limits to what you can do due to health and safety. Placements in hospitals and police stations are limited and those who fully expected to go into a hairdressers and start perming, cutting and colouring had big shocks ahead. In my experience, students who found their own placements were much happier than those who didn’t.

The process is long and difficult and I used to dread the early morning phone calls to indicate that something went wrong, but on the whole the students gained such a lot from the experience. I remember going to see a girl who was working on the shop floor in Iceland. The Manager pointed me in the direction of the staff canteen. There I found her asleep with her head on the table. She could not believe how hard it was, on her feet, working from 9 o’clock until 5:30. Another looked at me as if I were completely insane when I showed her the details of her placement and she had to work Saturdays.  The issue of insurance and health and safety is massive – and yet another reason why I was delighted that the EBP covered that side of things. They were definitely money well spent!

Of course there were success stories, just as in Primary. One girl went to a local dog grooming parlour, to work on the administrative side of the business. She suggested a better way of keeping digital records and set up the system for the business. They were absolutely thrilled and still use her system today. The business owner said she would have had to pay someone to do that for her and so in that particular case it was clear to see the gains to the student as well as the business.

Even though work experience is a mammoth task to organise, it is well worth the time and trouble. Our students kept a diary each day and noted what they had learned and where they felt they could do better. This was then used in feedback after the placement. Having talked this through, it was then an experience they could add to their careers file.

Once back in school, a good work placement or an engaging school visit can be just the encouragement some children need to raise aspiration and work harder to achieve their goals.

In tomorrow’s blog, we will try to ascertain what makes good careers and guidance.

  FIND THE CAREER YOU WANT

At EY we know that everyone's different and there's no one right answer. That's why we've developed several great ways to start a career in business. We also recognize that the choices you make now really matter, so we've created a range of content to help you work out exactly what's right for you.

Start by downloading our business careers guide, which explains what all the options are for school leavers with an interest in a career in business.

You can also watch the animation we commissioned that explains ore about what we actually do here at EY.

Or take a look around our school leaver site, where we have plenty of videos, blog posts and articles from our current school leavers, and tips on topics like the application process.

Find our more at ukcareerguide.ey.com

Pathways sponsored by Virgin Media 06/03/14

Careers with Virgin Media

In a digital world that provides us with so much choice at the click of a mouse it is important not just to search careers advice but to actually find answers. That's why Virgin Media are proud to support LifeSkills National Careers Week 2014. As a provider of career pathways from work experience, internships, graduate scheme and traineeships through to our award winning apprenticeship program, we believe that the investment in our people will continue to drive our business forward. It's important to celebrate the fact that we are all different and acknowledge that there is not just one right way to start your career but that it is more important to find the right way for you.

Virgin Media provides broadband, TV, mobile and home phone services to some of the happiest customers in the UK. We believe in fantastic products and amazing service - all provided by great people. And that's where you come in.

We want all of our people to love their work, to feel valued and be inspired. So what does that mean for you? Plenty! The freedom to do more for customers. The time to take care of the fine details. The scope to think of new and better ways to do things. The room to balance work with the rest of your life. The perfect place to build a career. And that's just for starters.

Great people doing great work deserve great benefits. That's why we give our people the recognition and rewards they deserve for the hard work they do. So join us and you'll enjoy a variety of benefits, including a generous holiday allowance, contributory pension scheme and, of course, discounts on mobile, broadband and cable services.

Virgin Media Apprenticeships Scheme | Virgin Media Careers Zone

The LifeSkills National Careers Week Digital Guide is out now!

The LifeSkills National Careers Week Digital Guide has now been published. Featuring articles by O2, Sky, LifeSkills, Virgin Media, NHS Careers and much more. To view, click here LifeSkills National Careers Week 2014 Digital Guide.

Did you know that Issuu has an app where you can view our Digital Guide on your Android smartphone/tablet? Click here to download the app.

New resources on our website!

We have lots of new resources on our new look website to help you support your involvement with LifeSkills National Careers Week 2014.

17 Regional Ambassadors sharing their campaigns for NCW 2014

A Careers Zone with even more employer opportunities on Future Jobs

The NEW official NCW Digital Guide

Download our official NCW Posters

Download our NCW Tips Sheet

Download 5 Employability Cards

Watch our 25 Job Profile Films

Watch our NCW Promo Film & Advice Tips

Read our NCW Tumblr, featuring articles by one of our Regional Ambassadors Lynda Dixon and Pitman Training

 What to do next?

If you haven't already - sign-up here. It takes 2 minutes and then we can shout about you and your establishment.

Please share this with colleagues, friends, PTAs and employer stakeholders wherever you are. The more we work together the better the future for our youth.

Follow us on our social media networks to keep up to date with the latest news and resources.

Careers Zone's Latest Clients

To help provide information on a wide array of career offerings and pathways we have some great new supporters of LifeSkills National Careers Week 2014:

LifeSkills

GSK

Creative Pioneers

Taste Success

The Institute of the Motor Industry

Virgin Media

GoThinkBig (O2)

Freshfields

Careers in Racing

Careers that Move

Sky

Hospitality Guild

NHS Careers

BDO

Gap Medics

ACCA

HSS Hire

Milkround

EY

Skills for Care

Nestle

A recent report claimed that 37% of young people look to television programmes and 8% to celebrities for their careers guidance*, quite shocking stats when you really think about what is being said here; we can soon begin to build a picture which allows it to becomes clear why there is an ongoing cause for concern as to whether or not the career advice, help and support young people require to make sound and apt decisions about their careers is actually available.

Due to a reworking of the careers advice system a couple of years ago, responsibility was placed more so on schools to deliver impartial career information, support and guidance to their pupils. But, with research confirming only one in three teachers are confident they are providing legally required careers advice, there is great cause for concern for the younger generation.

If you are at the stage in life where it’s time to make some important decisions about your career, it’s extremely important you acquire the advice and support you need to make informed decisions which effectively will shape your future.

Many know from a young age what they want to be, but for many of us, this does change over the years as we begin to build our personal traits, different perspectives and outlooks. Although there are lots of people who start off in a certain profession and then change career to something completely different for a number of different reasons, its best to try and get a firm grasp of what you are good at or what you enjoy, what skills you have and a profession which will best suit your character, early on. Considering you will spend a huge percentage of your adult life working, we cannot undermine how important the decisions you make now are when it comes to your career.

There is currently an ongoing debate on whether or not there is sufficient career advice and support which young education leavers require in order to make sound and apt decisions when considering the world of employment and what career paths are available. But, with initiatives such as National Careers Week #NCW2014 and Skills London, it is becoming evident that more resources are being set up as an obligation to help give you the advice and information you need to get to where you want to go in your career, and if you’re unsure – don’t worry, there are tools, such as The Pitman Training Career MOT, and opportunities to gain experience on the job with the rise in apprenticeships to help you figure things out and make informed decisions.

The Career MOT is a fun, free app which was developed to help inspire those unhappy in their current occupations, confused as to what roles to apply for, those returning to work, leaving school, college or university and those that would like to take their career to the next level, but unsure of what that role would be. The app aims to help you identify your key skills and character traits and show how these can help launch you into perfectly suited careers, and advise you on some of the paths you can follow to get there.

After creating your own personal avatar in the Career MOT app you then take a quick psychometric test to identify which skills of your character traits feed into your most suited careers and how your personal strengths could help you excel in certain roles and how your existing skills could already open doors to new opportunities.

Telling you if you’re an ENTJ (Extraverted iNtuitive Thinking Judging) personality, or perhaps a INTP (Introverted Intuitive Thinking Perceiving) personality, the Career MOT offers personal results that best match your temperament to careers and traits.

Even if you know what you want to do career wise and how to get there, it may be interesting to still have a go the app and see your results – would they suggest a different direction? They may confirm that you are choosing the right career for you, and we’re sure you’ll agree it’s always nice to have a bit of reassurance.

All in all, although it can seem quite daunting you’re at a very exciting stage - Choosing your career, or working out what you want to do and how to get there. Consider your personality alongside work related strengths, to help highlight how your character will be one of our biggest assets in your careers. With this in mind you’ll hopefully be one step closer to determining the right choices for your career.