We were lucky to have a student from The Hollins come and do there work experience with us. Halisa was absolutely fantastic, throwing herself into every task and always smiling and cheerful. She was a huge help in the run-up to the fundraising ball, helping us to make sure everything was ready on time. Here she talks about her journey with us.
“Everyone has to do work experience, so this is my journey. My first initial plan for work experience was to go to work with my dad in his office, however my dad’s office was shut for 3 of the 6 days which wouldn’t have been beneficial to me as I wouldn’t have gained new skills, or it wouldn’t have helped me prepare for my future. The teacher in charge of work placements at my school is Mrs. Stubbs and she suggested I work at Ynot Aspire, which is how my journey started.
Before I came to Ynot Aspire all I knew was that they were a charity that helped young children. I was given a booklet, which I had to fill in over the course of my work placement with Ynot Aspire. I also knew Sharon Burch was the woman who would be my main contact. The first day I arrived it was Tuesday 16th May at 9:30am and I had my first interaction with Sharon Burch! A lovely woman with a pure heart. Day 1 consisted of writing Thank You cards for the favour bags for the fundraising ball and writing my first posts for the Instagram and Facebook accounts of Ynot Aspire. I also found out what everyone’s role is at Ynot and what they do; for example, I learnt that Sharon was the Chief Officer of Ynot and she does the day to day running of the charity from managing staff to strategic overview and business planning to being the safeguarding lead.
I also met Alison who is in charge of administering first aid and Dave, Kyle Nikki and Daisy who are part of the Ynot team. Moving into day 2, I started to prepare the favour bags for the Ynot Aspire charity ball by sticking labels on them. I then moved onto making a display for mental health. This day I met Nikki who is the Wellbeing Coordinator for Ynot Aspire and she signed my report. Day 3 was a very productive day as I created a TikTok page for Ynot and created their first ever video and of course updated my Facebook and Instagram blog. Now, what I found really interesting was the Hyndburn CAN meeting, which I was allowed to attend. (This is a multi-agency meeting where people share information and updates to help provide the best services possible for Hyndburn).
Before I joined Ynot Aspire for my work experience, I didn’t know the behind the scenes and procedures that have to happen so that Ynot Aspire can stay running, so these few days had been eye-opening for me. During day 4 I had filledthe favour bags, uploaded on Instagram and Facebook and then myself and Sharon went to Accrington Stanley to drop everything off for the ball. This was on the Friday and the ball was the following day Saturday, so we had to make sure everything was prepared. Day 5 was on the Monday and on this day, I put up some informative displays in the office and helped organise the arts and crafts box. I also helped re-organise the office completely to make the most of the space. Daisy signed my report on this day, and she is the Project Support Office whose job is to provide admin and office support to the team.
Today is day 6 of my work experience and my final day. Today I created this report for Ynot Aspires website and helped organise the money raised at the charity ball on Saturday. As my journey comes to an end, it is important to remember to thank your employer for providing you with a work placement, so Thank You Sharon Burch for allowing me to spend a week at Ynot Aspire. I have enjoyed meeting and working with Daisy, Dave, Nikki and Kyle from the team, I found it really useful to be in the real workplace, and the most important thing that I learnt was resilience is something that you will always need in the workplace. This will help me prepare for employment because rather than giving up, you can keep going. Thank You again for taking the time to organise my placement and provide me with such a good opportunity. This is my journey and how it has come to an end. A last and final Thank You and I wish everyone who has also just finished their work experience the best of luck for the future. “
Halisa Javid
