Westminster Kingsway’s Career Ready programme

Career Ready are a charity that offers a combination of group activities and employer engagement opportunities to prepare young people for the world of work. One of the 32 pairs were mentor Su Pickerill and her mentee Sara Marcela Escalante Mejia.

Mentor Su Pickerill, who works at Wates, one of the biggest construction firms in the UK, oversees education programmes as part of her role. When asked why she chose Career Ready, Su responded, “In terms of the reason it’s probably two fold.  One is because I am overseeing the programme generally (with work) and wanted to see what my colleagues are going through during the programme.  But on a more personal level, I am really passionate about supporting young people and seeing them develop. I have done some youth development work in the past and it’s something that I personally get a buzz from.”

“I’m not sure I would want to be a teenager at the moment, so hats off to Sara. The world of work is so massive, there are so many opportunities out there and trying to understand what in the world of work you might actually really connect with personally is a challenge.”

Sara Marcela Escalante Mejia, who is studying A Levels in Business, Spanish and Psychology at Westminster Kingsway, is Su’s mentee.  She said: “I applied to get to know new people.  I am glad I’ve met Su, she’s really nice and helpful.  I also want to get new skills and meet people in the working world because at the moment I’m not quite sure what I want to do. Hopefully Su can help me to understand what I want to do when I’m older.”

“Once I have done the Career Ready programme, I want to have an idea of where I want to go when I’m older and learn new skills in the working world, as well as meet people that I might be able to get a job with or learn new knowledge from.”