Getting Ready to Meet an EmployerTwenty minutes now so you get something real out of it

What is happening, and what you get out of it

The encounter: [employer name], [what they do], [date and format - talk, visit, mock interviews, Q&A]. By the end you will have: • Three questions you actually want the answer to • A clear picture of one job you cannot currently describe • One named contact and one follow-up action • Evidence for your own careers record This counts. Every encounter goes on your record and is the thing you will draw on when you write a personal statement or an application at 16 and 18.

Why we keep doing this

86%less likely to be NEET with 4+ employer encounters

1 in 816-24 year olds are NEET in 2026

What lands, and what does not

This makes a good impression

• Arriving early and switching your phone off • Looking at whoever is speaking • Asking a question that shows you listened • Writing something down • Saying thank you and using their name • Admitting you do not know something and asking

This loses the room

• Talking while they are talking • "How much do you earn?" as your opening question • Reading a question off a sheet without listening to the answer • Wandering off during a site tour • Sitting at the back with your coat on • Asking nothing at all

ActivityBuild your question bank

In pairs8 min

In pairs, write six questions. Use these stems, and finish them so they are about this employer: • What does a normal Tuesday look like for you? • What did you do between school and this job? • What is the hardest part of the job that nobody warns you about? • Which subjects do you actually use? • How do people get in here at 16 or 18 - apprenticeships, placements, something else? • What is the typical starting salary for someone joining your team? • What has changed most in your industry in the last five years? • What would make you remember a student who came here today? Now pick your best three and underline them. Those are the ones you will ask. On a site visit, add one thing you want to see with your own eyes.

“

I have done a lot of school visits. The students I remember are not the confident ones - they are the ones who asked a question that showed they had thought about my answer. Two of them ended up on our apprenticeship scheme.

- Employer volunteer, hosts two school visits a year

Discussion

Pre-flight check

1What are your three questions? Say them out loud to your partner.

2What is the one thing you want to know by the end of today that you do not know now?

3What could go wrong here, and how would you handle it professionally?

Your next twenty-four hours

1

Write down three things you learned, before you get home - while it is still fresh

2

Write down one thing that surprised you or changed your mind

3

Send a thank-you email through your tutor, naming one specific thing you took from it

4

Log the encounter on your careers record so it counts as evidence

5

Decide one next step: research a role, ask for a placement, look up an entry route

6

Tell someone about it - a parent, a tutor, a friend. Saying it out loud is what makes it stick