More than 100 State school students from across Bristol are this afternoon coming face to face with six of the South West’s leading organisations for the first time as they get set to become their ‘clients’ as part of the RSG Bristol Young Student of the Year 2012 competition.
It is the first opportunity young hopefuls will have to meet the business people who they will be working closely with over the next six months in order to improve their future employability skills.
The ‘masterclass’ session, which will focus on the topic of marketing, will be led by John Tarrant, director of creative agency DNA, based at Paintworks. The students will also meet representatives from Bristol Media, LEP, Destination Bristol, Atkins, RSG and Chef’s Fo
rum.
Today’s event forms the first stage of the RSG Bristol Young Student of the Year Awards, a practical competition that pairs students with businesses and aims to tackle youth unemployment in the city.
Now in its second year, the competition, which aims bridge the gap between employers and young people in Bristol, is open to 16-19 year olds and is free to enter for all State schools, colleges and academies in the Bristol region. It is being supported by Bristol Business News as media partner.
Run over six months, the competition has three stages and presents students with the opportunity to win a life-changing scholarship with BPP University College worth £15,000, alongside a number of other prizes including internships, work placements and jobs.
The theme for this year’s competition is Bristol Young Futures, which will involve pairing students with real clients from key industry sectors in Bristol.
RSG Bristol Young Student of the Year founder and events management specialist Elaine Brown said: “Participating students will be tasked with working with their clients to create a concept that feeds directly into a dedicated online portal, which will showcase a number of career opportunities available to young people in the region.”
Mike Beesley, chief executive of RSG, headline sponsor of this year’s RSG Bristol Young Student of the Year, added: “We are very much looking forward to kicking off the first round of the competition this week. We are confident that the RSG Bristol Young Student of the Year Awards will give young people the chance to develop some tangible employability skills, helping to address the rising levels of unemployment within this age group in the local area.”
Since its launch last month, the competition has attracted significant backing from the Bristol business community, with nearly 50 professionals signed up to mentor the students and national recruitment organisation, Resource Solutions Group (RSG) pledging to become the competition’s main sponsors for at least two years.
Today’s event is at Leigh Court which has been donated to the competition free of charge by Business West.
