At Ms Independent Careers, we exist to help young women understand their worth and what they can achieve in their careers. We believe in women empowering women in the workplace, which is why we work with educators and businesses to bring the two worlds together in careers education for girls, and to help experienced business professionals pass on wisdom and advice.
Introducing young women to the world of work at an early age brings a host of benefits. It educates them on financial literacy, resilience, entrepreneurship and the transferable skills that will see them achieve their goals. This article explores how careers education helps and how we work with people like you to facilitate women empowering women in the workplace.
Benefits of Careers Education
Opens up possibilities
Careers education for young women opens their minds to the possibilities that they might never have considered before. The world of work can seem like a distant prospect when you are in school and your career education is limited.
We still live in a world where, although women are making great strides, business is still so male-centric. The top positions are held by men disproportionately. Career education can help shine a spotlight on women in positions of power in the corporate world and show girls that success is possible. If you can see it, you can be it.
This is why we partner with businesses and bring leaders into educational establishments. Seeing successful female business people is empowering women to achieve more.
Building confidence
Confidence can be a barrier preventing young women from pursuing their dreams of owning their own businesses or climbing the corporate ladder. Learning the fundamentals of business at a young age provides them with the toolbox they need and equips them to conquer.
They enter the job market more sure of their own knowledge and abilities because they have the information they need at their fingertips.
Instilling ambition
Without ambition, it is difficult to reach for the stars. The education girls receive relating to careers and the world of work inspires them to be ambitious. They see the routes they can take and can set themselves ambitions that help to drive themselves forwards.
Without realising the possibilities of what they can achieve and without knowing that someone like them can flourish in the working world, it is difficult to be ambitious.
Destroying stereotypes
There are stereotypes that persist today about the possibilities available for girls or for people from certain backgrounds. Roles that some people are ‘not meant to have’. Of course, that is ridiculous, but these deep-seated beliefs can affect the confidence and ambitions of some young people.
Hearing from people from these backgrounds who have made a success of their careers is essential for inspiring young women to smash those stereotypes.
Financial literacy
The more we instil financial literacy at an early age, the better we prepare young women for the world of employment or entrepreneurship. Not only does it help them keep control of the business books in the future, but it helps young women understand their worth and what salary they should be earning. This is key to giving them the confidence to negotiate the right package when they start a job or a pay rise with their current employer.
A recent survey found that 90% of people in England admitted to learning “nothing at all” or “not very much” about finance during their school education. Unsurprisingly, the Financial Capability Strategy found that “children and young people who say they had financial education at school are more likely to have good money skills.”
Improved outlook
Careers education helps with empowering women by making a real impact on their future outlook. Unfortunately, where that is lacking, it can prevent success.
A report by Ofsted on girls’ career aspirations found that “careers education was generally weak in Key Stage 3. This made informed choices of courses and careers difficult. In particular, the girls spoken to had only limited knowledge and understanding of how their choices influenced their future pay and progression.”
It also noted that “career ambitions were changed through direct observation of a professional at work, through mentoring activities, and through personal encounters and extended discussion with a professional about what their job was actually like.”
This shows the importance of working with professionals and bringing them into the educational arena.
What MIC Does
The four areas in which MIC specialises are resilience, entrepreneurship, finance, and transferable skills. We believe that this is a solid basis for success whether girls choose to start their own business or join a company after their education.
We work with businesses and entrepreneurs to run sessions in which we instil these values in young women and inspire them to achieve their dreams based on this foundation. Our courses tackle all the taboo topics about careers directly with the young women we meet. Transparency is key. It will be a challenge, but it is one in which they can succeed.
Impact of Ms Independent Careers
2022 has been a successful year for MIC and the young people with whom we work. We reached 676 young women in 16 schools and sixth forms, as well as one university. Twelve companies collaborated with us to deliver our programmes, including Clarion Housing, O So Curly and Metro Bank Wimbledon.
It was also the year in which we changed our name to Ms Independent Careers and rebranded with a new logo to align our brand in a more career-focused direction. Our careers clinic also won a National Lottery Community Fund award.
We also met with Gatsby Benchmark to confirm the benefits our offer provides for schools and colleges. Our sessions help them work towards:
● Benchmark 1: A stable careers programme
● Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers
● Benchmark 5: Encounters with employers and employees
Conclusion
The work we are doing is working, and we can impact more women, so let’s do more! We aim to continue our growth into 2023 and beyond to keep empowering women with targeted career education and to see these results on a larger scale. We can work with your pupils to help them reach the highest levels of the business world. Get in touch to find out more.
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