Develop your communication skills

Pledge as little as one hour a year to visit a local state school or college to take part in one of the following sessions with support from a teacher:

• CV workshop
• Mock interview
• Career insight talk
• Careers fair
• Reading partner

In return, you will gain invaluable experience public speaking, presenting and providing practical guidance to the next generation.

Any professional over 18 can take part. It’s a great opportunity for you to share your experience and help prepare young people for work.

You do not require any training or a criminal records check as a teacher will always be present.

Sign up today in three simple steps.

1. Register your interest on the Inspiring the Future portal.
   Make sure you:
   Select ‘CIPD’ as your referrer (it’s top of the drop-down list)
   Indicate if you are a CIPD member
2. Create your online profile for schools and colleges to view.
3. Profile match: your profile will be visible to registered local schools and colleges in your chosen area, who will then get in touch when they have suitable opportunities. It's low commitment and if you can't make a particular session you are asked to attend, that's not a problem.

CIPD research has found that there is currently a huge mismatch between employers and young people at the recruitment stage. Our report Employers are from Mars, young people are from Venus: addressing the young people/jobs mismatch highlighted the lack of careers advice and guidance in schools as one of core problems.

As part of this research, employers cited young people experiencing the following challenges:

• inability to ‘sell themselves’ positively and appeal to employers
• poor written communication (eg text-speak, rushed application forms)
• ‘blasé’ or unmotivated approach to an interview
• inability to stand out from the crowd
• poor CV writing skills.

As an outside professional volunteering in a school or college, you will help young people understand what employers are looking for, develop the skills and confidence to market themselves more effectively and ultimately find work.

The Education and Employers Taskforce have also found that young people who engage with employers at school are less likely to become a NEET (not in employment, education or training) later on. See more about the Education and Employers Taskforce research.