The students have all completed the Career Ready programme alongside their Level 3 BTEC Extended Diploma qualification. The programme, run by national charity Career Ready, includes a series of masterclasses that aim to help students gain practical and current employment knowledge; mentoring by someone from the world of work; workplace visits that give behind-the-scenes insights into different industries; and internships and work-based experiences that help students put their learning into practice working for real employer.
Clare O’Neill, Head of Business Development at Northern Regional College added, “Due to the success of Career Ready, Northern Regional College will be launching a new Career Ready programme for our students in Magherafelt and Coleraine and we look forward to enhancing their employability skills to ensure they are well prepared for the world of work.”
Career Ready (formerly known as Career Academies UK) is a national charity that aims to open up the world of work to young people and support them to develop the skills and attitudes they will need to compete for the best jobs in the country. Northern Regional College has been working with Career Ready since 2012 to help students prepare for the world of work within the Engineering industry – this was the first of its kind to be launched in Northern Ireland. In 2014 the Career Ready IT Programme was introduced at our Ballymena campus – this was the first cohort of IT students to graduate from Career Ready.
At the Graduation Ceremony, Bill Watson, Engineering Lecturer and Career Ready co-ordinator at Northern Regional College was presented with the Santander Employability Champion Award for Northern Ireland. Bill has been running the Career Ready Engineering programme since 2012. The key focus of his role as Career Ready co-ordinator is building strong relationships with the local Engineering industry and linking students, mentors from engineering companies and the College.
Speaking about his award, Bill commented, “Winning this award is a shock – I wasn’t expecting it and I’m sure there was tough competition. I am very grateful though and will continue to try my best to provide the students with the best opportunities that I can throughout their programme.”
One of our long standing members of the Local Advisory Board (LAB) for the Career Ready Engineering Programme – David Condell, Operations Manager at McAuley Engineering – was also recognised for his work as part of the LAB as well as mentor at Northern Regional College by being awarded Citi Career Ready Volunteer of the Year Award.
IT Career Ready students graduating at Parliament Buildings
