The Prince’s Trust has tracked the well-being of young people for over a decade.
Last month the charity recorded the highest anxiety levels ever, in those aged between 16-25 years, fuelling further fears that ‘young people are losing all hope for their future’.
Their report coincided with the Make Your Mark Winter School I ran pro-bono for students, offering them the time, space and practical tools coaching makes available. Tools proven to help reduce anxiety, promote resilience, and improve mental health.
What’s clear from the near-on 100 students I’ve now coached from universities and colleges across the country, is that the essential soft skills that coaching develops, the ones so desperately needed in business, are missing in the academic arena and, in this unprecedented climate, that’s impacting their career prospects and their mental health.
“What I learned from Susan’s Winter School was a lot different to what they teach at university and school.
We’ve never looked at things like mindset or body language and how these things impact you and your speech.
All these nuggets Susan shares are really going to help me. I think there’s a lot of young people out there that will benefit from this programme.”
So says Karissa Shah who is in her final year at Kings College, London, studying a BA in the Political Economy. She is not alone in holding this view.
I’ve developed and am delivering these student schools to lend a helping hand to our young people - our leaders of the future – to enable them to explore how they think, how they look, what they say and how they say it. Their response has been phenomenal.
But I haven’t run these schools alone, I’ve done so with the support of my corporate clients and that support reassures me that business is not, as the alarming headlines suggest, ready to write off this “COVID generation”.
I’ll be running another virtual school, again pro bono, this summer for up to 100 students and will again be inviting my clients to lend their support. So, if you didn’t get involved this time and want to understand what it is all about, then please keep reading. For here I share the programme’s benefits and why young participants are finding these schools so special in some of their words, rather than mine…
“Coronavirus has hit home more since I did Susan’s programme last summer,” says
Heriot-Watt final year Chemical Engineering student Emily Mason, who is also a Make Your Mark ambassador. “It was early days when I did this programme – we were still unsure what impact the pandemic would have on us. I couldn’t believe how much anxiety I was hearing from Winter School students just six months on. Anxiety about their career prospects, the scarcity and competitiveness of jobs and internships. But these schools create as safe space for students. One module is all about mindset and I was impressed by how much students were engaging and sharing their personal experiences.”
“I was really self-critical,” says Emma Boyle, Winter School participant who is studying International Business Management at Heriot-Watt University and has just become a Make Your Mark Ambassador. “I think I knew that before attending this programme, I thought I had quite low confidence, but I never actively looked or knew how to fix it. Susan gave us 10-15 ways that we could try to tackle this inner critic. I’ve used one of them a lot. It’s really helped me.”
“This pandemic has impacted student mental health adversely. When you hear that constant negative voice in your head, you can and must manage it because if you don’t, you’re not taking into consideration the consequences that it’s having on you. It’s really impacting everything – how you look, how you speak, how you act,” that’s Lewis Traill, Winter School participant and newly appointed Make Your Mark Ambassador, who is studying Mechanical Engineering and is a Project Director for the Engineering Society at the University of Edinburgh.
“The person who nominated me for Winter School told me: ‘This will be a life changing career moment for you,’ and it certainly was. Each session offered everyone something we could take away. Being able to give so many different people something they want, something they need, something they’d enjoy – I’d say that’s exceptional.”
Salman-Ur Rehman is in his final year at Heriot-Watt University studying Chemical Engineering, and has also become a programme Ambassador.
Kirsty Mitchell, another Make Your Mark ambassador facilitating many breakout rooms for Winter School says: “In the last session I asked what students found most impactful. They all had different answers, but they loved learning about unhelpful speech habits. I think that was so useful because everyone does these things without realising. People were sharing the immediate results they were getting from that session – like the girl who told me she’d been in an interview and could hear Susan’s voice in her mind. She’d left that interview so pleased with her performance.”
“These techniques Susan shares help you in interviews, but I’ve been finding them incredibly useful even when writing my job applications. For example, when asked, ‘why do you think you’d be a good fit for the job’ it’s quite difficult to try and tell a company you’re right for them without sounding arrogant. Then, when you try not to sound arrogant, you can come across as less confident.
When you’re doing job applications it’s an important skill and I’ve been finding Susan’s tips from Winter School really useful.”
This is the experience of Emily Fielder who will be finishing her Master’s in Global Social and Political Thought at St Andrews University in September.
Ifeanyi Felukwu is my programme’s youngest participant to date. He’s in year 12 (age 16) studying a sports BTEC at the Bulwell Academy in Nottingham.
“In Zoom and Teams meetings I’m able to speak more clearly now. I find myself thinking about my positioning and posture because these things give you an aura, so others better feel your presence. Your positioning doesn’t just impact how you look, it impacts everything – it even helps you speak more clearly.”
“At my age, without this programme, I would never have realised what I discovered through this experience. Going through this content – it’s just brilliant. I got so much out of it that I’m so thankful for. Now I’m becoming a Make Your Mark ambassador because I want to share my experiences. There is such a need and demand for young people to find and unlock their actual potential. This programme can change someone’s life.” Lauren Johnston will complete her Master’s in Business Strategy, Leadership and Change this September from Heriot-Watt University.
And, as we’re talking about programme ambassadors, I’d particularly like to thank Emily Mason, Kirsty Mitchell, Beth Thom and Naomi Oamen, for giving up their Sunday evenings in the holidays to help me run this Winter School – paying forward their experiences to now benefit others.
A huge thank you also to Denise Shillito, who supported participants by sharing her insights as an HR business leader. There’s a separate article coming soon about Denise’s experiences of the programme and why she was so eager to get involved.
But for now, let me leave you with this concluding comment from Flora Gillies, a recent graduate who studied Animal Biology at Napier University.
“Learning that Susan usually coaches senior executives is great because it helps you realise; they face similar difficulties to what we’re experiencing as young people.
That those advanced in their careers sometimes need help to speak well and be confident. Somehow, I found that reassuring.”
And that’s really what these Make Your Mark with Susan Room® student schools are all about – helping our young people bridge from the world of study to the world of work. Giving them those non-technical skills that are critical to sustained success. And, helping them see its these soft skills that unite professionals - regardless of whether you are leaping onto the first rung of your career or leaping off its top one to smash the glass ceiling.
So, from me and all the Make Your Mark Winter School participants, thanks to everyone who lent their fantastic support.
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