Collyer’s students rewarded for their employability skills

Ayesha Islam (Events & Campaigns Manager) at MyKindaCrowd said: “Nestlé were thoroughly impressed with the calibre of students on the day. They all showed such great enthusiasm and real initiative.”

Finalists were selected following series of knock-out events earlier in the year and given a chance to win a two week paid work placement at Nestle over the summer.

Collyer’s Lucy Hargreaves, who co-ordinated one of the stages of the competition held earlier in the year at the college, said: “It’s fantastic to be working in partnership with organisations like MyKindaCrowd, and a large local employer like Nestlé, to provide our students with the employability skills to kick-start their careers.”

On the finals day conducted at Nestle, Collyer’s Joe Brock took students to Crawley to take part in a series of assessments where they were tested on their presentation, teamwork, problem solving and interview skills. Two students, Kim Stamp and Richard Waldron, secured two of the 2 week, paid, work placements.

Kim Stamp said: “The Nestle work Experience assessment day was absolutely amazing! The day included many wonderful team building activities such as building a free standing tower with only paper, pens and tape, we also were asked to come up with ideas for new economically friendly packaging for some of Nestlé’s products, which was great fun. Overall the day was a success and we even had a free lunch!”

Joe Brock, Head of Faculty for Mathematics and Science, said: “Well done to all the students who took part, particularly Kim and Richard. To reach the final was a great achievement in itself and to secure a placement is incredible. The assessment tasks were really testing.”

Collyer’s Vice Principal, Steve Nicholls said: “Thanks to Lucy, Joe and everyone involved for making this important opportunity possible. Well done to the students for reaching the final and doing Collyer’s proud.”

Report and picture contributed by Collyer’s.