As a local business based in Southgate, North London the team here at Nippy Gecko IT believe in the importance of investing and giving back into the local community in which we are based.
It is for this reason that we jumped at the opportunity to work in partnership with Winchmore Secondary School when we were invited to attend a Business Speed Networking event with 6th form students.
The aim of the event was to introduce local businesses to young people searching for future employment opportunities, voluntary opportunities, work experience, graduate schemes or just general industry related careers information.
The format of the Business Speed Networking event involved the students having 90 seconds to ‘pitch themselves’ in a series of one to one mini business meetings and then the business representatives having 90 seconds to respond to the student’s pitch.
First impressions count
It is said that first impressions are made in 30 seconds or less, while I am not sure of the exact accuracy of this time, it is certainly true that first impressions do most definitely count in business.
We were really impressed by how well the event was organised, the students from Winchmore School came prepared to persuade with well-thought out questions and answers. The young people we spoke with definitely made strong first impressions and were a real credit to both themselves and the school.
Wendy Winter, Economic Wellbeing Co-ordinator at Winchmore School said “Thank you so much for attending our speed networking event, our students are equally appreciative of the opportunity to talk to industry representatives who can offer advice and guidance about careers in their fields and many students have commented on the value of such input and the effect it has on university and pathway choices.”
How to get a career in tech
As a tech company, we often get asked how young people can get into the IT sector so we have summarised our top tips below:
- Up to Date – Keep up to date with trends in technology and be prepared to constantly ‘skill up’
- Qualifications – Study for a relevant degree in Computer Science or other industry specific qualifications
- Stand Out – Like most competitive fields, you need to look at ways of standing out from other graduates and the best way to do this is to gain work experience
- Be Creative – When you are starting off a career, it really is a chicken and egg situation in that it is hard to get a job unless you have work experience. Be creative and use your initiative, whether this means fixing your friends laptops or building your own website, do it as it will help you learn skills and to stand out from all those other job applicants
- People Skills – Contrary to most people’s belief, IT is not just about sitting behind a desk looking at a computer all day! Atleast not at Nippy Gecko IT which is why our slogan is ‘Awesome IT by people not robots’. Good people skills are vitally important as inevitably you will be dealing with real people!
- Get Personal – Last but not least, do your research. As a small business we pride ourselves on our highly personalised service. Likewise, when recruiting, we are looking for someone who has bothered to look at our website, find out about our company and be as excited as we are about what we do
We are always on the look out for top talent to join our team so if you think you have got what it takes then check out our availability on https://nippygecko.com/join-our-team/
