30th October 2023 What do you need to start developing your career?

It’s half term – or reading week if you are at university.

Perhaps you or someone in your family is using this time to think about your next steps. Maybe considering a work placement or revising for exams.

The Talent Foundry has been delivering Barclays LifeSkills for 10 years, which helps people gain skills, confidence and connections to succeed at work and manage their money.

Jenni Anderson, Acting CEO at the charity has some advice for students considering their next steps.

If a student or young person is thinking about their future career today, where should they start?

We all know the saying, "do what you love, and you’ll never work another day in your life." Well, at The Talent Foundry, we always suggest to students to start with the question, “what do I enjoy doing?”

This can help you to self-reflect on activities - either through volunteering or at school - that you most enjoy and start to identify what skills you are using.

For example, if you enjoy spending time with your friends and encouraging them to do things together, you might be displaying leadership skills; or perhaps negotiation skills - when not everyone agrees. You might be the person in your friendship group that enjoys coming up with the creative ideas, or the person who analyses the pros and cons of each one.

These skills are really valuable in the workplace. And understanding them can put you on the right track to using them in your future career.

From there, you can research the careers or job roles which require the skills you already have, as well as find out what skills you may need to improve or build upon. It just takes a spark of an idea to discover a whole world of opportunities for life and work.

It is important to know you are not on your own when thinking about your future. Always talk about your options, to teachers, friends, family and do as much research as possible to highlight all the pathways available to you. This often helps you to realise the jobs you don’t want to do!

What are some of the common barriers to work in the UK today, for young people and adults?

For adults and young people alike, the most common barrier to achieving your career goals is confidence.

We are afraid that we might not be good enough - we might have been told this in our past. We’re worried about getting it wrong or fearful of being rejected. Everyone feels like this at some point in their career, and unchecked it can stop us realising our full potential.

The good thing about confidence, however, is that you can develop it through practice. Every time you put yourself in a new situation or try something for the first time, you are building your confidence to be able to do it again. It gets easier every time.

Another barrier is your network, and in part you need to develop your confidence to be able to widen your network to find new career opportunities.

Where you grew up and your local connections can affect your ability to search out the employers or industries that can offer you a rewarding career. This doesn’t mean that they don’t exist, but you might not know someone who can introduce you, or perhaps offer you some work experience.

Initially, find someone, one person who you can chat through your aspirations with. This could be a teacher, a mentor, or family friend. Ask them to help you identify the people and places that could help you with your career goal. Then map out how you can reach them.

Not only widening your network, but building your confidence skills by stepping outside your comfort zone.

How can The Talent Foundry help?

We work with thousands of students who may not have access to the professional networks or career mentors that many of us take for granted. We see young people with aspirations, talents and abilities that are in high demand by employers, but they don’t have the confidence or connections to take that first step into the world of work.

Through Barclays LifeSkills we support young people to identify the core transferable skills they already have and spark ideas as to where they could use them, at school, at home and in their future careers.

All it takes is just one person to give you a boost, tell you that you did a good job and recognise the talents that you have, to have the confidence to rewrite their CV, apply for a role, smash the interview and get the job.

Where can Barclays LifeSkills support students and teachers

We believe everyone should have the opportunity to discover what they are amazing at, and Barclays LifeSkills supports us to work in some of the most deprived areas of the UK and help young people think big about their futures.

We help young people develop the skills and confidence that will support them as they take their first steps into higher education or the world of work.

A real benefit of working with Barclays LifeSkills is that we can connect young people to role models and volunteers in their local towns and cities. Having volunteers in the programme brings the lessons and activities to life, with real-world work scenarios identifying and practicing the skills employers need, such as problem-solving, teamwork, communication and creativity.

It makes a huge difference when the young people hear directly how their skills and talents are important to employers, and through positive feedback in the sessions, build their confidence to fulfil their aspirations.

Find out what Barclays is doing in your community and how you can benefit, or help others. Search Barclays Communities now.

Book Barclays LifeSkills for your students by visiting our programme pages.