4th June 2024 Helping students aim high - Volunteers' Week

Stephen Gehlhaar has been supporting our Barclays LifeSkills Intensive Intervention programmes since 2018. Acting as a mentor for students, Stephen has helped to develop their confidence for work through the skills development workshops.

As part of our Volunteers’ Week, celebrations, we asked Stephen to tell us about his experiences of volunteering with young people.

“During my interview process at Barclays, a presentation was given about LifeSkills. This swung my decision to take the Barclays offer and I signed up to become a mentor as soon as I could.”

Volunteer highlights

“One key standout moment was on the first face-to-face session with Bury schools. We were at the Etihad Stadium and doing an exercise on Aiming High. One student had a blank sheet of paper in front of her, so I sat down to chat it through with her.

I want to write hairdresser, but my mum says I should have a proper job.

“When I told her that she had permission to write it down and dream of how to be a hairdresser her face lit up.

“This was LifeSkills in a nutshell – giving young people the opportunity to be what they want to be.”

What are employers looking for when recruiting young talent

“Business will always need people who can take the lead in challenges, people who do what they promise, people who can think creatively to achieve goals and people who support each other when things are difficult.

"All the key transferrable skills covered in LifeSkills will not ‘go out of fashion' soon.

“Another growing area is the ability to process information and make decisions. With every technology advance there will be more data and information created. The ability to process that data (or use Gen AI to help support the processing and analysis of that data) will be more and more important."

Volunteering benefits

“Young people always find ways to ask you questions or say something that you have never thought of before. They keep you on your toes.

“Sometimes a student has shared a challenge – and it has been almost the same as a problem I had as a young person. After the sessions I was able to reflect on these from my own point of view.

“It is always the people – every LifeSkills volunteer, facilitator and organiser are wonderful. You get some much energy and belief in human nature from such people.”

Importance of connections

“The world is changing far quicker than when I was their age. The world is far more remote place where it might feel that you can find everything with a YouTube video or an internet search, etc.

“However the world changes, it needs young people to be interested in how industries develop and we as volunteers need to make sure those opportunities are not missed by the next generation.

“We need to make them aware of the opportunities and help them understand how they have the power to make a difference in work they may never have imagined before.”

Inspired to volunteer?

“Just go for it. Any small action you can do that grows the confidence of even just one person give you such a buzz. Volunteering has always given me more than I feel I have given to it.”

Thank you Stephen!

Stephen is a Project Manager, Corporate Technology, Trade & Working Capital at Barclays.

If Stephen's experience has encouraged you to volunteer, please contact with our team on info@talentfoundry.org.uk