PUPILS at a Bradford school have been given tips on how to prepare for the world of work thanks to local businesses.

The National Literacy Trust’s Words for Work programme encourages local businesses to bring groups of employees into local secondary schools to help young people prepare for the live after school.

As part of the scheme, staff from Hallmark Cards and Bradford Council run Cartwright Hall Art Gallery spent the day in Hanson School, in Swain House, giving pupils tips about how to write a CV, different types of careers available, and how to act in an interview.

The programme has been running successfully in Bradford for the last 12 months, focusing on highlighting the importance of literacy for success in employment.

The programme also aims to improve pupils’ communication, speaking and listening skills and give them more confidence in their own abilities.

After completing Words for Work, young people can adapt their communication style to suit the workplace, ask questions to improve their knowledge and understand how to communicate clearly.

Although several schools do Words for Work sessions, Hanson is the only schools to do taster days, where larger numbers of pupils spend the day learning from volunteers.

Sonja Kielty, Curator at Cartwright Hall, said: “We have been doing a lot of exercises with young people, talking about communication skills, things like how you talk to people when you have an interview.

“These young people are 14 years old, so it will be the first time most of them have thought about what they might want to do after they leave school.

“It has been about letting them know when they apply for jobs people will be asking them ‘why should we hire you?’ It is teaching them the confidence they need.

“They were asking us questions too, why we chose the jobs we did, and the different ways you can get into these careers.

“You have to get them to think along the lines of picking a job they love, because they might be doing it for the next 30 years.”

Esther Key, who works at Hallmark, said: “We thought this would be a great opportunity to come in and share skills that these young people will need for the work environment. We are giving them a bit of insight into the working world.

“We have four staff here, we’re all from the marketing department, but it shows how there can be many varied roles even in the same workplace.

“It has been great to meet pupils and answer their questions.

“We’ve told them about how at interviews it is important to get your personality across in the right way.”

Stacy Walsh, English teacher at Hanson Academy, said: “It really hits home for the students.

“It is really beneficial for students, and they really enjoy these events. It broadens their experiences of different workplaces and the different jobs available. The project has been really successful. It would be great to have more businesses volunteering.”

Any businesses looking to volunteer for the programme can contact the trust on wfw@literacytrust.org.uk, or visit literacytrust.org.uk/words_for_work.