The other day I blogged about the negative press surrounding work experience. And about how employers have to think differently to create a positive experience that unlocks potential in people. Especially the people who are the future of work and will expect very different career paths than my generation.
Quite by chance , Marie – one of our newest Opportunities 4 Employment placements – asked me for a quote about how I thought she was getting on. She wanted to use this in her Learning Log . This details her experience of Bromford – and will be used when she (hopefully) makes the transition to an Apprentice.
I agreed , of course , but asked her what the experience so far had felt like for her.
This is what she said – unedited:
Being an O4E is a title in itself, your given an opportunity to do something.
That something, means more to me than I could ever imagine. Its turned my life around in so many positive ways.
Rather than being held in a category that I wasn’t working because I was lazy and just wanted to reap in benefits, was totally untrue and I wanted to break that mould.
Being an O4E has made me a somebody, rather than a nobody.
That’s what we have to create for young people.
Paul Taylor 
Heartwarming to read Marie’s comments, of course, and I hope that everything goes well for her. However, I would like to suggest to her that she has made herself ” feel like a somebody…” by accepting an “opportunity to do something ” – and that can be pretty scary when ,perhaps, it is all new to her. Far less threatening to stay under the duvet!
Well done, Marie, for grabbing the opportunity – I think you are a somebody, too.