Careers Zone report, click to download

The Careers Zone is a new zone where students attending a careers fair at their school can talk online with a range of scientists and engineers, based all over the UK.

A lot of the time, school careers fairs are only able to accommodate businesses and organisations in the local area. We want to give students an opportunity to ask their questions to experts working in a multitude of areas, letting them see how diverse STEM careers can be. In turn, STEM professionals can pass on honest advice and information, showing students what it’s like to be a real engineer or scientist.

We selected a range of experts to take part, including a deep-sea researcher, a scientist for the NHS and a Jaguar Land Rover engineer. There were also engineers who had gotten into their professions through an apprenticeship. It was important for us to let students see the different options they have as they make decisions about their future careers. Experts could log in to the site from wherever they were for their scheduled Live Chat sessions, and then answer questions sent to them as they had time throughout the day (we even had an engineer take part in a chat from Mexico).

We set up on a long table with iPads and laptops for students to sit down at and use. We had two banners which showed some example questions, but often students came with a specific area of interest and asked us who the best expert was for them to talk with.

After two pilots, we’ve learnt it’s important for us to be on the same level as all the other stands at the fair, making approachable for students to ask who we are, and whether they can join in. We were also told that there was an announcement in the school newsletter about us being at the fair, and students had been preparing questions during tutorial times. This meant they came to the stand interested and prepared, making the chats lively and focussed. We’ve left the zone open so students can continue to log in, ask questions and leave comments.

The project clearly works at some level, but we are keen to pilot it in different schools. There are things we’ll have to change for next time, such as shortening the log in process, which can take valuable time away from students who only have 30 minutes or less at the fair. We’d also like to try a new way of showing students how to use the site. We’ve written up a report about our second pilot, including some examples of conversations that happened in the chat and ideas for next time, which you can read here.