Issue 6, January 2003 (Back to Contents)

Anne Steer, Head of Careers, reports on Radley's annual careers convention.

Discussions during the conference (Click to enlarge)

The Choices Conference - so named by my predecessor Mick Wright in 1999 - is Radley's annual careers convention for the entire VI.I year group. It started life as the Management Skills Conference which aimed to introduce to students a variety of areas of work available in business and industry and to break down some of their fixed prejudices about certain jobs.

The aim of the Choices Conference is as follows: To enable the students to become aware of the choices that face them as they leave Radley or university.

The content of the conference revolves around three themes:

• The Radleian Society: the role it can play in establishing contacts through and beyond university for work experience and advice in specific career areas.
  
• Gap Year: the value and range of the many different opportunities now available.
  
• Careers Choice: which skills are required in different careers and how an individual can prepare himself for a future in a particular profession. Which transferable skills are also required?
  

Each boy in VI.I has the opportunity to attend three seminars during the course of the conference. The intention is that they attend two seminars on careers and one on gap year. The vast majority of boys get into the seminars of their first choice.

The seminars are mostly led by ORs and they do a maximum of two seminars per evening (leaving time to roam the ever changing college campus or to chat to other ORs over a glass of wine).

I aim to get two ORs of different "vintages" to share a seminar. This is beneficial for both audience and speakers, as it enriches the discussions regarding qualifications, individual career progress and provides more scope for personal anecdotes...

At the June 2002 Conference we had 27 speakers, to whom we would like to say a big THANK YOU for giving up half a working day and an evening to help Radleians.

The next Choices Conference in June 2003 is only five months away! I am looking forward to seeing many familiar, but also some new OR faces.