Helping students get Career Ready in West Dublin

Pupils at five schools in West Dublin have been celebrating the culmination of 18 months of work to prepare for post-school careers. They have taken part in the Career Ready programme delivered by Junior Achievement Ireland (JAI) and supported by Microsoft, launched initially in 2021.

This initiative focuses on one-on-one mentorship from Microsoft volunteers, masterclasses, and workshops in the workplace. It has seen more than 100 students participating from Deansrath Community College, Griffeen Community College, St. Kevin’s Community College, Kishoge Community College, and Lucan Community College.

The programme prepares students for future career opportunities by enhancing their confidence, communication, and collaboration skills. Designated Microsoft mentors help guide individual pupils throughout the programme based on the students’ individual interests and strengths. The mentors come from a variety of careers paths within Microsoft, which helps students get a sense of different paths they could potentially pursue.

During workplace visits at Microsoft Dream Space, additional volunteers host sessions featuring career talks, mock interviews, and workshops on a variety of focused topics such as AI, personal branding, and CV and writing.

“As a mentor, my role was to help my mentee prepare for life after secondary school and encourage them throughout the course of the programme as they explore their career options,” said Sinéad McGivney, Microsoft Senior Service Engineering Manager and Career Ready mentor. “During the initial meetings I had with my mentee, I realized that their areas of interest were not specifically areas I had practical work experience in. The great advantage of working in a large and diverse company like Microsoft is that there were people who did have this experience that I could call upon to offer some tips, advice, and share their learnings along the way.”

Programme coordinators from JAI provided resources and opportunities for connection and feedback that became invaluable for the students, Sinead said. With JAI’s focus on engaging a diverse mentor community from across Microsoft, students could access many career topics and receive detailed feedback on questions.

Two groups of students also had the opportunity to travel to London in 2023 for an offsite career-focused trip. “Our students, many of whom didn’t even have passports before this experience, ordinarily would never have an opportunity to go on a trip like this,” said Griffeen Community College’s Career Ready coordinator, Oisin Quigley. “Microsoft and JAI have broadened their horizon and for that we in Griffeen CC will be eternally grateful.”

This year’s programme culminated in a graduation ceremony at One Microsoft Place that included a talk by special guest, Irish Olympian, Kenny Egan. In sharing feedback on their experience of Career Ready, many of the students expressed appreciation for the dedication of the volunteers and mentors and acknowledged the support they had received throughout the programme, helping them plan for their future and giving them confidence in their career path.

‘‘We have learned a lot in this programme and have had very interesting days at Dream Space,” says a student at St. Kevin’s Community College. “We have learned about AI and what it is like to work at Microsoft. The mentors and people here have taught us a lot about careers.”