How Supporting Norwich 16-24 year olds into Work led me into a Job to Help Norfolk 16-24 year olds prepare for work by Volunteering
I’m pleased to say that as well as thoroughly enjoying my internship with Norwich For Jobs, the city’s campaign to half youth unemployment, the skills I developed helped me to secure longer term employment with another initiative to help local young people.
Through encouraging and supporting local businesses to offer employment and training opportunities to young people I discovered that I really want to help young people into work as well as making it easy for local organisations to benefit from the skills they have to offer. I also realised that Norwich truly is a fine city in which to work with lots of inspirational people who really want to improve community cohesion, opportunities for young people and business growth.
I developed the confidence to professionally communicate with a wide range of audiences in the public, private and charity sector; from 16 year olds to experienced business leaders. I recruited new supporters from each sphere, building up new relationships and developing existing partnerships. I improved my ability to manage correspondence and relationships with internal and external stakeholders efficiently and effectively through regular face-to-face, phone and email contact.
I also learnt the importance of and took the opportunity to network extensively; I was fortunate to meet a wide variety of really great people, working directly for and in partnership with Norwich For Jobs, many of whom I hope to stay in contact with both personally and professionally.
By the time I met the friendly Manager of Norfolk Can Inspire at a meeting I had arranged to discuss how we could work together and found out that they were recruiting for a Local Coordinator for Norwich I was not only certain that I was very interested in this line of work but I also finally felt confident that I ticked every box of the previously dreaded person specification. Even better, I could back each requirement up with a recent relevant example which enabled me to write the quickest cover letter of my life, on the spot. Not only did I feel as though I could prove myself as a resourceful self-starter with a background in youth and community work my day-to-day role with Norwich For Jobs often included exactly what they were looking for: coordination between local young people, voluntary organisations and professionals.
Shortly after giving a presentation about Norwich For Jobs at the launch of a similar initiative in East London to a significantly larger audience and after practising with a Jobcentre Plus colleague I actually felt more excited than nervous to deliver my presentation to the panel of my Norfolk Can Inspire interview. For the first time, I actually enjoyed a job interview and it paid off.
I have no doubt that my success in gaining what I am sure will be interesting, long-term employment is largely thanks to the diverse experience that I have gained through working for Norwich For Jobs, supported by the UEA.
I’m also really pleased that I am able to continue with Norwich For Jobs part-time as the Employer Engagement Manager because my job with Norfolk Can Inspire is not quite full-time. I hope this will be beneficial for both myself and the campaign because the only negative aspect of a 3 month internship is that by the end of three months you can really learn a lot, add value to the project, be given a lot of responsibility and establish important relationships but unless the employer is able to keep you on it may feel as though it’s over just as you’re getting into the swing of it.
I highly recommend the UEA Graduate Internship Programme to any graduates wishing to gain invaluable and financially viable work experience in a wide range of fields which not only makes you more attractive to employers but can also help with one of the most difficult aspects of career planning and job hunting; knowing what you’d like to do and what steps you need to take to get there.
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