Bringing young people and employers together is one thing but creating an environment where students feel confident enough to put their hands up, approach professionals they’ve never met and start asking questions is another.

For Hell Raymond-Hayling, Production Technology and AI Researcher from the BBC, that was one of the things that stood out most at Discover Tech Manchester.

Joining a panel of professionals from across the tech sector, Hell watched students grow increasingly confident:

“I felt the students were really engaged and given that they were from different schools and didn’t necessarily know loads of people there. I feel like as they warmed up, […] they were asking lots of questions and participating in the activities.”

Giving students a reason to say hello

Throughout the day, students were encouraged to use their breaks to approach tech professionals to find out more about their jobs. They were given conversation starter prompts to help them get started. For Hell, the proof that it was working came at lunchtime.

“I was just sitting in the lunch break with my laptop, just answering some of my emails and I had loads of them come up to me and ask me questions about my job on their lunch break, which was quite impressive given that teenagers love lunch break.”

One student noticed Hell writing computer code and asked which programming language they were using. The conversation quickly moved on to a practice project the student had completed using the same language. “They really had something to say about my work, and we could actually level about this particular tool that I was using. It was a very engaging conversation.”

Rather than just listening to employers talk about what they do, students were beginning to take the conversations in directions they were most curious about.

Letting students lead the way

Having previously been involved in engagement activities with younger students, Hell was particularly struck by the autonomy students were given at Discover Tech.

“I think there’s something that’s really empowering for them about treating them like adults as far as is possible, where giving them the kind of autonomy to get as much out of it as they want.”

Instead of prescribing every interaction, the programme gave students opportunities and encouragement before then trusting them to take the next step by“Actually giving them that freedom to do it at their own pace, I think they really got on with that.”

The difference professional facilitation makes

One of the biggest things Hell took away from Discover Tech was the role of Connectr Early Engagement’s professional facilitators. While employers brought their industry expertise, the facilitators focused on creating an environment where young people felt comfortable getting involved.

“I think the facilitation was amazing […] there was a group of professional facilitators basically who made this day happen.”

In the main auditorium, techniques including call and response, hands-up questions and the option to submit questions anonymously helped students participate in different ways.

Hell was struck by the response and noticed female students contributing just as readily to conversations about technology. “I felt like the young girls spoke up just as much, which I thought was really nice… it felt like everyone was willing to speak up and put their hands up and ask questions.”

But the facilitators’ role went beyond keeping the energy up. They also helped remove some of the intimidation that can exist when a young person is suddenly surrounded by experienced professionals. “It’s their job to kind of break that barrier…that was something I’ve never seen before and I thought it was really effective.”

For Hell, it reinforced that industry expertise and facilitation expertise aren't necessarily the same thing.

“Just because you know about tech or early career pathways doesn’t mean you can facilitate a workshop. It’s like a whole job…It’s a very skilled thing to do, especially with a group of young people who don’t know each other as well. It was quite impressive really.”

Investing in regional talent

As someone who lives and works in Manchester, Hell also valued seeing an initiative like Discover Tech taking place outside London.

With technology roles increasingly spread across the UK, she sees a need for employers to invest in the talent pipelines around their regional operations too. “A lot of tech jobs used to always be in London, but I think a lot of stuff is a bit more remote now or a bit more regional. And so we can’t just be recruiting. There needs to be investment in the talent pipelines in the regions if that’s going to continue to happen.”

For organisations with a regional presence, there is a practical benefit too.

“If your company is regional, it pays to invest regionally, to recruit regionally and to keep talent regional.”

Making technology careers easier to understand

Ultimately, Hell sees Discover Tech as an opportunity for employers to make careers that can seem abstract from outside the industry easier for young people to understand.Students may know an organisation without knowing about what people’s jobs actually involve or the different routes that can take them there. Meeting those people gives them an opportunity to find out for themselves.

‍“It’s an opportunity to really communicate what you do for a living with a bunch of quite engaged young people and to help them understand the abstractions of the industry that you work in.”

For employers, Discover Tech provides the access. But Hell’s experience in Manchester also showed the importance of what happens around those interactions. It gave young people the encouragement and professional support to make the most of them.

Could your organisation benefit from Discover Tech?

Discover Tech is the adaptable, low-resource way to help shape the future of tech talent.

Get in touch with Rachel Morar to explore how Discover Tech can help your organisation build its own talent pipeline.

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