At 17 years old, Shamira from Southwark was considering a career in the Built Environment sector but didn’t have any experience or exposure to the industry pathways available. Upon joining CYT’s Pathways programme in Year 12, she took part in a Building Future Skills experience which immersed her in a real industry workplace over three days, providing a hands-on taste of industry careers through a realistic team challenge. By engaging positively with industry volunteers throughout the experience, who represented a broad range of roles including design managers, architects and engineers, Shamira became inspired about some of the aspirational career roles available in the sector, including architecture, while also improving her understanding of potential next steps after school.

Following this experience, Shamira was assigned a dedicated CYT coach. As a next step, to help her refine her career goals in the sector, Shamira’s coach supported her to access a week-long work experience placement with one of CYT’s employer partners. The placement was centred on architecture; however, Shamira also had a chance to meet a broad range of professionals throughout the week. This was a transformative experience. Shadowing and connecting with professionals across multiple aspects of a construction project, particularly in a live working environment, gave Shamira a valuable insight into the realities of these different career roles. It was during this placement that her interest shifted towards project management, having seen first-hand how rewarding it can be to coordinate the many moving parts of a construction development. She felt this role was particularly suited to her natural skills.

With a more specific career goal in mind, the next step was to connect Shamira with well-suited CYT Live Vacancies events, in which employers introduce their open apprenticeship vacancies and engage with potential candidates on the Pathways programme. At these events, Shamira developed a real and immersive sense of the apprenticeship recruitment process and became significantly more confident engaging with employers, for example by taking part in mock interviews and networking opportunities with Early Careers Teams. These experiences, alongside 1-2-1 employability coaching with her CYT coach, meant that Shamira had the confidence, understanding and ‘soft skills’ she needed to start applying for apprenticeships – including those presented during the CYT Live Vacancies events, as well as across CYT’s wider employer network.

Crucially, Shamira’s coach helped her to identify, apply and prepare for apprenticeship opportunities that genuinely matched her career interests. This included identifying a Level 6 Project Management apprenticeship with a trusted CYT employer partner, and supporting her to make an effective application that demonstrated her full set of skills and industry experiences.

Having been selected for the full recruitment process, and well-equipped by months of employability coaching and confidence-building with her CYT coach, Shamira aced the interview and successfully secured the apprenticeship offer, which she has accepted! She cannot wait to start her apprenticeship placement and is looking forward to experiencing her career goals become a reality as she takes a huge leap into the built environment sector.