Whistl, with a Super Depot at Logistics North Bolton has helped 200 Year 8 students from St. James’ Church of England High School in Bolton to kick start their thinking about future careers. As part of the company’s Whistl Stop Tour Careers programme a team of colleagues from the Bolton, depot led by Louise O’Neil, HR Business Partner, met with pupils to discuss career planning. Topics covered were career plans at school; employability skills; career path so far; all about Whistl; and current jobs available.

The initiative was part of the GM Careers and Enterprise Network which aims to ensure that young people have at least one meaningful encounter with an employer or experience of the world of work for every year that they are in compulsory education. Research shows that young people who have at least four encounters are 86% less likely to be unemployed or not in education or training and can earn up to 18% more during their career. At the moment only 40% of schools offer young people this kind of encounter, and unemployment among young people is three times higher than overall unemployment.

Louise O’Neil, who has been working with the school over the past four years, said:

It was great to speak to the pupils and give them an insight in the different jobs available. I didn’t know my job role existed when I was at school. We had some really great questions from the pupils. The most popular question from the student was ‘how much do you earn?

The teachers tell me that they take much more notice of employers than they do the teachers, when discussing career choices and different pathways. It was amusing when I told the pupils that I have worked for Whistl for 16 years, longer than they had been on the planet!