Here at Creative Content Company, we love helping out students in my local area and community by attending a Careers Day. I was a pretty average student at school. Hinchingbrooke School was my school from 1996 and I was a middle-line student.
I was top set English, nearly bottom set Maths and in the middle somewhere for Science. In my GCSE’s I did reasonably well but it was nothing to write home about.
In fact I got less than the required 5 GCSEs at Grade C and above to get into Sixth Form. Sadly that was the only option for me. I hadn’t considered college and nor was it something spoken about at my school.
So, I was put in for an NVQ 1 year course. On completion of that I could then join the Sixth Form for my A Levels, but I would be a year behind. This definitely wasn’t ideal. I attended Sixth Form for the required year but it didn’t fit. I was quickly straying from class.
While I passed the NVQ, I wasn’t ready to be ‘put back a year’ so to speak. I was working part time at a restaurant and they offered me full time work and a quick path to management. This is what I decided to do.
I am keen to help students understand that not getting the grades they want is the be all and end all. It can feel that way and there is a huge push to university, but what if that doesn’t fit?
I like to be able to share my story. The fact that I had a strong career in the catering and hospitality business without amazing grades. I then went on to work in various industries and finally set up my own business.
While I still encourage students to work hard and get good grades as it does make life easier, I make them aware they will not fail at life without A* grades.
So why am I doing a Careers Day over enemy lines? I am going to do the Careers Day at St Peters School in Huntingdon.
The reason that this is enemy lines is because I was a Hinchingbrooke School student. These schools were well known rivals. In fact next year I am getting married at Hinchingbrooke House, the Sixth Form of my old school.
Hopefully they won’t cancel my booking if they know I have been over enemy lines!
If you get the chance to help at a Careers Day and you have a story to tell then I can’t recommend it enough. You will give the students so much but it will help you too.
It will remind you of where you came from and what you have achieved. That warm feeling of helping others and inspiring the future is pretty priceless too!
