Create a virtuous circle
IN THIS world of recycling and sustainability, many communities aspire to the principles of a virtuous circle. Most of us are more familiar with the concept of a vicious cycle, where a bad situation or behaviour causes another situation equally bad or worse and everything spirals steadily downwards. By contrast, in a virtuous circle, an event or a series of events serves to reinforce positivity, each event or action increasing the beneficial outcome of the next.
Every year, Work Avenue runs Career Networking. This acclaimed speed networking evening offers students the opportunity to explore career options, make connections with people in their chosen sector and network with a wide range of professionals offering invaluable insights to guide their thinking as to future career pathways.
It is all too easy for students — quite rightly — to listen to guidance from their parents about proposed career pathways. And, of course, it is all too easy to ignore this advice, sometimes with good reason, as it may be a generation out of date and often fails to take account of the changing face of the contemporary workplace.
Young people are much more likely to heed the words of their peer group. Chat rooms and online review forums are awash with the opinions of people who have had both positive and negative experiences. Work Avenue tries to go one step further and bring together for networking the alumni of previ- ous Career Networking events, now pursuing their professional careers, with the students of today, looking to embark for the first time upon their career journey. The new professionals are sufficiently contemporary that they understand the imperatives of their chosen career path in today’s world and also, crucially, the recruitment pathway into that career.
Three years ago, Collette Green attended Career Networking. At the time, she was a final year politics student at Birmingham University, devoting increasing time to thinking about future careers. Like many, she found it easier to think about what she did not want to do and much harder to focus on what she did want to do. At the event, she met young professionals in a range of careers, including marketing, PR and brand advertising. They gave her the true picture of their careers, how they got into them and the warts-and-all view of their roles.
Fast forward and Collette is now an account manager at creative and brand agency, Founded. And last year, she attended Career Networking, offering students her own take on her advertising career. “The professionals I met really inspired me and gave me the belief to pursue a career in advertising, an industry I truly love,” she says. “I am so pleased to now be able to help others as I was helped just a few years ago.”
Sam Shaw was one student who met Green. He says: “It made so much more sense to hear what people thought who had been through a recruitment process recently and who really understand today’s workplace. I hope I will be able to come back in a few years when my own career is established.”
Debbie Sheldon, CEO of Work Avenue, adds: “It’s great to see the community coming together to help guide students’ future careers. We are very grateful for the support of all the companies and professionals who support our professional events. It’s particularly satisfying to see former students now become our career professionals, thus turning the wheel full circle.”
Work Avenue has become the Jewish community’s leading employment and business support organisation, working across the Jewish community helping people to become financially self-sufficient, either through securing employment or starting a business, regardless of their age or life stage. It touches the lives of more than 2,000 people each year.
Career Networking at Work Avenue will take place this year on Monday April 10.
jo@workavenue.org.uk 020 8371 3280 Registered charity 1164762