HR
Manager for Eric Robinson Solicitors, Lisa Rome, volunteered at a school in
Southampton as part of our Words for Work programme.
During
12 sessions run over six weeks, Lisa and five of her colleagues supported 11
pupils at Upper Shirley High School to develop employability skills and
increase their confidence.
When
looking for a way to give back to their local community, Eric Robinson
Solicitors felt the Words for Work programme would be an excellent fit for
their company. Lisa said:
“We
really liked the concept of the programme and how it gave us the opportunity
to use our own business skills in a valuable way to help young people.”
After receiving
training from local partner Solent EBP, Lisa and the Eric Robinson team
worked with a group of pupils aged 13-14 who needed additional literacy
support. In a Dragon’s Den style challenge, teams were asked to come up with
a unique product and pitch it to a panel in the final week. Each session
focused on a different element of their business plan including marketing,
finance and branding. Lisa added:
“As we
all work in a professional environment across different areas of the company,
my colleagues and I really felt we could contribute to each session. Using
our career experience, we were able to share business knowledge with the
pupils that teachers may not have been able to, which was extremely
rewarding.”
The Eric
Robinson team were impressed by the pupils’ enthusiasm and how their skills
developed over six weeks. The programme also had an impact on their school
work outside the sessions, with all pupils’ improving by at least one level
of progress. Lisa continued:
“The
pupils really enjoyed taking part in the challenge and were even working on
their pitches outside of school, taking on board feedback and advice we’d
given them. At the end of the programme you could see a huge improvement in
their communication skills and confidence levels – they all presented
professionally, using appropriate business language, tone and pace.”
Lisa
also shared the impact the programme had on her and her colleagues as
volunteers:
“Although
we were all slightly apprehensive about going into the school to begin with
we soon discovered how transferable our business and interpersonal skills
were and this gave us confidence and the students confidence in us. We
were soon comfortable with the pupils and all felt very proud of the progress
they made. The programme has also had a positive impact on our work back at
the office, helping to develop our coaching and leadership skills which will
be really valuable to our business.”