Careers Springboard

Looking for a job in the UK at present is more difficult than I can ever remember, and while the media are much focused on youth unemployment the reality for senior managers, especially those who have been made redundant, is just as challenging.

Careers Springboard, a charity run entirely by highly qualified volunteers, is a self-help group of professionals, managers and graduates seeking work. The weekly zoom webinars attract some 100 attendees, and we provide free individual virtual sessions covering CV Preparation, Mock Interviews, Career Coaching, LinkedIn and Counselling.

I am a Trustee and responsible with my team for providing advice to help members create CVs that will present them as must-see candidates.

Since a CV is an Advertisement with the sole intent of getting the candidate an interview, my many years of experience as a Marketing Director across a very wide range of industries have given me the skills, knowledge and experience to develop tools and advice for this specific task.

If this free service is of interest to you, or indeed any of the others mentioned above, then just go to our website: careersspringboard.org.uk

Bucks Skills Hub

In addition to my work with Careers Springboard, I am also an Enterprise Advisor with the Bucks Skills Hub, helping secondary school children develop their first CVs.

Schoolreaders

The importance of literacy to a child’s life chances cannot be overemphasised. The statistics will probably horrify you as they did me:

• 1 in 4 children will leave primary education without the age-appropriate level of reading.
• Of those 25%, only 1 in 10 will get a GCSE in English and Maths.
• 57% of the prison population has a reading age of less than 11.

In essence, not being able to read properly when entering secondary education is hugely damaging to life chances.

I am a volunteer at a fantastic charity, Schoolreaders, which organises some 35,000 people to go into primary schools across England on a weekly basis to read one-to-one with children who need extra support in this area. This service is provided absolutely free of charge to schools, which is a great benefit in these days of pressure on budgets.

I can tell you that while I know what I do is important, it is difficult to express how much pleasure and satisfaction I get from the role. I am neither their teacher nor their parent — I am there to instil the joy of reading and make it as much fun as possible for my cohort of weaker readers.

If this is something that would interest you, then visit: schoolreaders.org

Career History

If you wish to know more about my working career do look at my LinkedIn profile