Fourteen Career Ready Isle of Man students descended on the Mountain View Innovation Centre in Ramsey for a day of interactive masterclasses and workshops.

AFD Software hosted Career Ready for the day, with general manager Duncan McLeod leading one of the masterclasses on development project management.

Mr McLeod said: ’We wanted to give the students a workshop on real-life scenarios that happen in the work place in an IT environment.

’Understanding of projects, especially the agile methodology, in the development cycle are areas where the students are most likely to take in the work place going forward.

’We therefore felt it was important to give some form of guidance and to highlight some of the challenges they will be likely to face.’

This first session was followed by a company visit around the Mountain View Innovation Centre and AFD Software.

Insight

Company visits are a key part of the Career Ready programme as they are a great opportunity to provide students insight into how different companies operate and to chat with people who work there.

After lunch, Alison Teare from Simply Marketing joined the group to run a session on LinkedIn.

The students gained insight into the importance of digital networking and were encouraged to set-up profiles to help them in the next stage of their careers.

Mrs Teare said: ’I like to champion social media as a positive and LinkedIn is an incredibly valuable tool for students in higher education, who are looking to position themselves online in preparation for starting a career.

’It is also a highly valuable tool for networking in advance of applying for a job.’

The final session of the day was a Career Ready programme compulsory masterclass, entitled ’Success at Interviews’.

Lorna Trevethan, Career Ready Isle of Man co-ordinator, was joined by a team from Paragon Recruitment (who are also mentors on the programme) to run this masterclass.

Students learnt about different types of interviews and how to prepare.

When they next meet with their mentors they will have a mock interview to help put into practice all that they learnt.

Lorna Trevethan said: ’The away day was a new format for delivering some of the key components of the Career Ready Programme, the masterclasses and the company visit. It was such a successful day we we will definitely be running similar events in the future.

’It’s great to see the students all coming together from the five High Schools and UCM, as well as some of the board members and mentors,engaging with the sessions.

’We are very grateful to the Mountain View Innovation Centre for hosting us at their fabulous venue.’

The Career Ready programme offers practical learning to help young people develop the skills they need for a career in IT and is linked to their academic studies or interests.

The Career Ready programme has been running in the island since 2014 and involves five schools: Ramsey Grammar, QEII, Castle Rushen, Ballakermeen and St Ninian’s, along with UCM.