Work Experience Archives - The Kent Foundation

Tell us about yourself:

Name: Cyntia Correia
Age: 19
Hobbies: I like dancing, shopping, laughing, watching movies, listening to music, going out with my friends or family, sometimes I like staying home by myself and relaxing…

Tell us more about where you are from in France…
I’m from Marseille a city in the South of France. About 1.7 million people live in the metropolitan area and about 850,000 in the city itself. This makes it the second largest city in France by number of people. It is the third largest by size. Marseille is in the South, just at the Mediterranean Sea. It has the biggest commercial port in France. The port is one of the most important ones in the Mediterranean. In Marseille we have very hot weather with beautiful beaches…

Why did you come to England for your work experience?
I’ve always loved English, learning new languages and new cultures, and I’ve always had a good level in English, so when I went to College on the first year they made us pass a test to decide if we had the right education to be in the European Section, and I passed the test (I had my best friend with me so it was great) 🙂
The European Section has a project called Erasmus and every year students travel to England for work experience.
That’s why I was interested in entering the European Section, because I was so excited to know that I could have the chance to travel to England.
It has been an incredible experience for me that I will take with me for the rest of my life.

What does The Kent Foundation do and what was your role?
Kent Foundation helps young people open up their own businesses. They train “Mentors” that are men or women that have experience in business and can help young business people. To decide which Mentor goes with which Mentee they have a “Matching” step which consists in interviewing the Mentee to know what their business plans are for the future, their ideas, their experiences, their skills and based on that they match the right Mentor and the Mentee hoping that everything will go just fine. My role at Kent Foundation was to support Liam and Paul with both office based tasks such as administration, preparing for events and managing/inputting data right through to external events such as meeting people at workshops, events and exhibitions.

Where did you go and what did you see in England?
During my stay England I went to London on the first week, me and my friends went to Camden Town and Oxford Street, it was very nice, but the most important thing was all the people I met during my work experience, English people are so nice, I participated in so many events and meetings. Everywhere I went people started talking to me without knowing me and asking me questions about my life and that for me, was so lovelyyyyy.

What have you learnt from your experience?
During my stay in England I’ve learned so much about myself and my motivations in life.
Once, in the office I had a conversation with Liam and Paul and they told me that everything that happens in your life it’s based on the choices you make, you got to know what you want, fight for it and work for it, not just wait for something to happen. That conversation made me think so much about what I want for my future, I’ve got to be more motivated in what I do so I can get what I want, they told me that if I’m not happy with something in my life I need to change it or just leave it like that.

I’m only 19 and it would be hard to continue with something that I don’t like for the rest of my life. I just want to say thank you to Paul, Liam, Stuart, Rob, Camellia and every other person that I met, I can’t remember the names of everyone because my memory is horrible, but I will never forget them. This work experience made me grow up so much.

Merci Beaucoup, Muito Obrigada, Gracias

Cyntia

Hello I’m Myriam

I am 17 years old and enjoy singing, shopping, listening to music, sport, going out at night to restaurants, cinema, etc…

Tell us about where you are from in France?

I’m from Marseille, a big city in the south of France. Previously the name of the city was Massilia, don’t ask me why, I really don’t remember 😀 Here’s something important to know about it? It is very sunny! In Maidstone the “must have” is an umbrella, but in Marseille it’s definitely the sunglasses!

I think two of the most important aspects of life in my city are “The Summer” (we have beautiful beaches) and “The Football” (our team is Olympic de Marseille). We have many places to visits, many malls for shopping, and a lot of beaches to tan.

The “Marseillais” (people who live in Marseille) are proud of our accent which is unique to the South of France, so much so that a lot of French people from other regions in the country can have trouble understanding us.

Plus the foods are totally better than England.

Why did you come to England for your work experience?

Since I was 11 years old, I have loved English and am really interested in the English and American singers.

I started my studies in a College General and my English was really good so they put me in the European section but this didn’t interest me enough so I decided to change to Professional Studies. I am currently study Admin Work in the vocational High School Frederic Mistral and this is my last year.

There are 5 periods of work experience that I have had to complete during my 3 years studying Admin and 1 period is in England because I’m in European section. Not all students in my class have the chance to do this work experience in England, you have to be responsible and good at English.

To complete work experience in England allows me to improve my English and discover a new way of working in a different culture.

What does Kent Foundation for Young Entrepreneurs do? What was your role?

Kent Foundation is a charity enterprise that helps young peoples to start their own business. They find a Volunteer Business Mentor for each young business person to support them.

The Mentor meets the young business person and they work together on business problems. The Mentors have attended training to be prepared for this experience.

Some tasks that I completed were:
– Participated and engaged with young people and business owners at exhibitions.
– Create documents such as minutes of meetings, posters, risk assessments, organisation charts etc
– Participate in meetings with Mentors, Mentees and Volunteers.
– Redesign the notice board at the entrance.

Where did you go and what did you see on your stay to England?

During my 3 weeks in Maidstone, I went to London visiting Camden Town where you can find a bargain so I bought some clothes, I also went to Oxford Street via Piccadilly Circus. I went just the once to London because the train from Maidstone to London is expensive…

We also celebrated the birthday of a boy in my class by having a night out bowling.

When I was with my teachers in October, we visited Leeds Castle, Historic Dockyard in Chatham and Madame Tussaud’s in London and of course I went in to Maidstone Town for some shopping and souvenirs…

What have you learnt from your experience?

During my work experience I learnt to:

– Develop my language skills
– Discover a new culture, a new way of life
– Be more mature, be independent
– Be aware about the clothes i’m wearing e.g. formal/informal
– Listen and respond
I will always keep a good souvenir about this work experience in my memory, it was exceptional for me to do it in England and with great people. I met so many people during meetings and events, all the things that I did were really interesting. It was a one off chance for me to work in this enterprise with Paul and Liam, they are so passionate about their jobs 🙂

Tag: Work Experience

French work experience student supports Kent’s young business owners

French Work Experience Student Supports Kent’s Young Business Owners