A Quacking Good Link
Silver Hill Foods were delighted when they heard they were to be partnered with Beech Hill College in Monaghan which is only ten minutes away from our company. Stuart Steele believes that the staff at Silver Hill Foods can make a real difference to the communities in which we live, work and serve. Silver Hill Foods care about our communities and believe in investing in them. Corporate social responsibility goes a long way in the Company. We are on our second year of the partnership with Beech Hill College and it has been a remarkable experience. We were able to expand the knowledge of the students by outlining the various company roles and how each employee got to their position within the company. The employees had no hesitation in sharing previous life experience with the students. It has been an enormous benefit not only to the students but it shows us at Silver Hill what we can contribute to the future generation.
The programme aligned amazingly with the school’s academic requirements. We began with an Intro Session to give an overview of the company and more importantly to get to know the student. Followed with a CV and interview skills session which students were given advice and tips on how to create a CV along with the do’s and don’ts of doing an interview. “Mock interviews were given by Silver Hill and the benefit of this was extradionary for the student. “I was a bit nervous about doing my interview but when I got into it I got on very well I was pleased about this” Each student was given valuable feedback on their interview. Silver Hill also gave an overview on Business Ethic & Presentation Skills which the students found very beneficial. The company visit seems to be the most fascinating for the students. Silver Hill got great feedback through the end of year evaluations from the students which endorsed our belief in the programme. “It was very nice to get out of the school for the day and it was a great day”, “I liked to see how a company worked”, “It showed us that someone cared about us”, “ We had a good time doing it. “I loved getting out of school to do the visit”, “It was good fun mixing with my friends and learning about the work place and the business.”” It was fun visiting the place. It was good to meet the workers and talk to them”.
We concluded with a wrap up session where the students gave the company a presentation on the overall programme. To hear positive feedback from the students gave the company a sense of achievement and we were very proud of how far the students have come so far on the programme.
Overall Silver Hill Foods agrees that it is an amazing programme and it was evident for us to see an increase in confidence and interpersonal skills in the students themselves ,we aim to help the student make decisions which will benefit their future career and we hope it has inspired them to do well at school.