THE GREAT EALING APPRENTICESHIP FAIR
I was recently invited to host a table at the Great Ealing Apprenticeship Fair at Greenford Hall, to introduce young people to my work sector & share any opportunities that may support them. Having worked with Ealing Council in the past delivering various workshops across various sites, this was a nice way to gain some valuable insight into the current landscape of the needs of young adults and how I can serve them with my gained knowledge & experience so far doing what I do in the creative sector, with mentoring & paid work opportunities available.
If you’ve never been to Greenford Hall before (like me) it’s like something from a period movie. It has this Scandinavian architectural style on the front facade and the foyer feels like a 1960s theatre box office. The inside / main hall is wood panelled to the brim, proper vintage feels which I loved – was pretty random jauxtapostioning of all the corporate-ish roll-up banners bang in the middle of the period hall, whatever the space, it worked.
I could provide plenty pictures here of the event but have decided to limit my sharing to just one image that speaks enough from what it was. Near enough all my interactions with those that arrived at my table, started off with me breaking down my story of how I first entered the creative game painting & selling baseball caps. It is a story I’ve shared numerous times with young folk, to give some context as to how to spot an opportunity and jump on it, fuelled by this unexplainable passion to create & to connect with others.
The most enjoyable and rewarding aspect for me was simply having a conversation, seeing where individuals were at with work / life etc and exploring ways to connect the dots with them leading at their own pace. It felt wholesome. I started at 1pm and spoke to the last person at 4.30pm – it was non-stop convos with so many people I actually lost count – to the point I didn’t even eat my croissant still wrapped up in my bag from earlier. There is something about healthy conversation, it feeds you and then some.
This experience has definitely provided more food for thought into channelling my efforts more on the mentoring side through my practice to help enable young adults more.
Key takeaways:
Creating space for people to share how they feel before any heavy questions or demands of them, can help shape a more productive pathway.
Social anxiety can hinder work search or personal development & must be mindfully addressed.
People often have the idea, but no funds, access or support to try / test something out which can often kill their confidence.
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