Volunteer from Allianz
I got involved with Young Enterprise through a personal development programme organised by my company. It was an 18-month long programme for managers which recognised talent within company. They wanted us to work with a charity to make a difference.
I feel it made a difference in four ways; personally for me, my own development and my personal skills- its just so satisfying working with a charity. Team working was also gratifying for me and my colleagues.
Thirdly- you get to talk about your company to the students and we tailored the course we did to Allianz so we were teaching about insurance; trying to make it sound exciting to students!
Finally, it was so worthwhile as the students got so much out of it; they really enjoyed it and the feedback from them was really good. They really got into it, particularly the younger ones, they were so enthusiastic!
It was about spending one-on-one time with the students who were struggling and teaching them to think for themselves. One of the schools we went to had a police officer on site, with some of students not even being able to speak English so they had translators on the table. It was harder to engage certain students and public speaking in front of 90 students was really hard. It was also satisfying though as once you got to the end, they were actually asking questions and that felt good.
The most satisfying part was just working with Young Enterprise and knowing you had reached about 300 to 400 students; knowing that you’d spoken to them about your industry and your business. There was one little boy who just wouldn’t join in and I spent some one-on-one time with him and he went on to win one of the art competitions which was great. Overall I learned a lot about different aspects of team work which will be useful for the future. I also developed as an individual by being exposed to situations outside my comfort zone.
I’d say anyone who is looking for personal development and a challenge but also wants to give something back then should be a volunteer with Young Enterprise.
