Students WOW’d Accenture with their business pitches at Little Ilford School!
Written by Hayley Turner-McIntyre, Project Manager- Education and Mentoring Works
On 12th May, volunteers from Accenture facilitated a ‘World of Work’ (WOW) Day for around 300 Year 10 students at Little Ilford School, Newham. The students experienced the first half of their day with a variety of volunteers from different departments at Accenture through a series of fun and interactive activities. The aim of WOW Day was to help equip students with the skills needed to be successful in their future careers, which links closely with the Skills Builder Framework that we adopt here at ELBA. The main focus of the day involved teamwork skills and helping students with how they can promote themselves and their key employability skills on their CVs.
The day kicked off with an icebreaker activity, the Giraffe Challenge. Students were tasked by Accenture volunteers to build a giraffe in 20 minutes using limited resources including paper, sellotape and pens; the giraffe also had to be freestanding for 30 seconds. This was a great activity to raise the energy levels of the students who were then ready to get started with the main session. Volunteers shared the ins and outs of what it’s like to work at Accenture, followed by their personal career journey. Students felt inspired by this as they learnt all about what it’s like to work in the world of technology consultancy, including the wide variety of roles that exist in Accenture. Before break began, volunteers introduced the main challenge of the day: the Business Pitch Challenge. Students were placed in groups and tasked with pitching an idea for a new technology-focused start-up business to Accenture, who played the role of a potential business investor. The groups were allocated one of the following areas to focus on: Cost of Living, Sustainability, Education, and Healthcare. Students were keen to get started as they determined their team name and started planning their pitch.
Energy levels remained high amongst the students after the break as they went straight back to planning their business pitch. Volunteers went round each group to offer their guidance and help the teams with their ideas – although the groups already had lots of exciting ideas! Then it was time for the business pitch presentations. Each group stood up in front of their potential business investor (the judge) and the classroom and delivered their pitch. Some students expressed their nervousness by talking in front of the class, but they overcame their fears and remained positive, as each group delivered their pitches with confidence and success. The judges were impressed by all business pitches and provided the groups with both positive and critical feedback, and they were faced with a tough decision to declare the winner of the best presentation for each classroom.
After lunch, the students returned to the final part of the day, which was kindly delivered by the teachers of Little Ilford. This session focused on CV writing skills, self-promotion and future roadmapping. Guided by visual slides and a range of individual and group activities, students learnt all about what to include and not to include in a CV, and they also had a go at writing their own CV. Students were also encouraged to reflect on their personal achievements and skills as they learnt the art of self-promotion. Now that students had a thorough understanding of how to present themselves and their skills confidently to future employers, it was time to start thinking about their next steps. Everyone took part in a personality quiz to help them determine their true colours: analytical, creative, organised, or supportive. Their answers helped them inform the final task of the day which was to create a life map of what they individually want to achieve short-term and long-term, including the steps they need to get there and when they want to achieve it. As the day came to a close, students were asked to reflect on what they had learnt that day and the skills they had used from the Skills Builder Framework.
Overall the day was enjoyable for everyone involved and was a great way to end the week. Thank you Accenture and Little Ilford for all your hard work!
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