Business volunteers inspire and support female students
Written by Zaina Ali, Project Manager – Education Works
This year’s theme for International Women’s Day 2023 was #EmbraceEquity because providing “equal opportunities are no longer enough”. No female is the same and so the aim is to ensure that they are given the right tools and opportunities fit for them in order to ensure they are just as successful as everyone else.
The Education team at ELBA pioneered International Women’s Day by delivering the annual prefect interviews to an entire year group of female students from Sarah Bonnell School based in Stratford, Newham. Volunteers from Accenture, HSBC and other corporate partners supported this event by providing valuable feedback on their interview techniques and helping to boost their confidence in a professional setting. The teachers then used this feedback to select which students were successful and will go on to be prefects next year.
Here is some of the feedback we received from volunteers:
“Thank you very much for organising today. It is always a pleasure to help out at the Sarah Bonnell School with these interviews. Loved meeting more amazing students.”
– Corporate Volunteer
“That’s amazing and thanks so much to you for organising the event – I feel like it was really rewarding for the students and professional volunteers.”
– Corporate Volunteer
“We would like to say a big thank you for letting Accenture volunteers to participate in your event help young girls gain important interview skills, and inspire them to pursue leadership roles and develop themselves. We have received very positive feedback from all volunteers and glad it went well.”
– Corporate Volunteer
The team did not stop there! We also spent the morning at Eden Girls School where Karis Richards – self-employed Consultant – shared her career journey to the year 8 students. The students were thoroughly engaged throughout and asked amazing questions about what Karis enjoys the most about her job, but also regarding the barriers she faces in a male-dominated environment.
Part of our work at ELBA means helping students from ages 11+ to boost their confidence surrounding their employability skills. By taking part in such crucial workshops helps a diverse set of female students to feel empowered and inspired and enables them to learn from female role models; which is key to education. We hope that through our continued work in schools, we will give young people the opportunity to think about further opportunities to develop their skills and knowledge, and think about their values, so that they can make change happen as women leaders of the future.
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