St Brigid’s College celebrating 50th birthday by receiving Young Enterprise’s Enterprising School award

Derry’s St Brigid’s College is celebrating its 50th anniversary in style.

On top of receiving the Enterprising School award from Young Enterprise NI, St Brigid’s College has introduced PeopleHawk, an AI-enhanced Careers Platform for its pupils - the first school in Derry to do so.

Speaking to The Derry News, Joseph Scanlon, who is head of St Brigid’s Careers Department said the Enterprising School award was recognition of the school’s “commitment to education and careers for the provision of young enterprise”.

“At St Brigid’s we support our pupils to set up enterprising businesses and make informed decisions. These could be social action projects, something they think is going to do good within their communities,” he added.

“We have enjoyed some success in previous years. When my colleague, Fiona McAlinden, was in charge of Young Enterprise, we had businesses such as the Tick Tock Learning Clock and the Study Buddy, which would have been very educational.

“Our pupils also came up with a type of toothbrush invention which helped young children to time themselves when they brushed their teeth, to ensure they were doing it properly.

“We were absolutely delighted to receive the Enterprising School award. It illustrates St Brigids’ commitment to careers education particularly, where we give young people the opportunity to explore the different types of careers available and how they can set up businesses themselves and become self-employed,” said Mr Scanlon.

He added: “There is an expression I heard a couple of years ago, ‘If you can’t see something, you can’t be something’. So, At St Brigid’s we try to give young people as many opportunities as possible through the careers delivery in the school and Young Enterprise is a small aspect of that, where the pupils can take part in many different types of programmes - interactive and otherwise.”

"And that’s why we wanted to have PeopleHawk in our school! Because it's not just a Careers Platform, but a Personal Development Platform also.

It is an absolute game-changer in what it can do for our young people.

“I first came across PeopleHawk in November 2022 when I met Paul Kinney. the Founder and CEO. He was delivering a presentation at the annual Northern Ireland Schools and Colleges Careers Association (NISCA) Conference, and demonstrating what the platform could do for young people in terms of their skills and personal development”, said Mr Scanlon.

“We have just implemented PeopleHawk with our Year 13s and Year 14s because there are so many aspects of the platform that help them with their university applications and career pathways.

“Using a series of assessments and its proprietary AI, the platform is able to unearth each pupil's values, interests, personality and skills, the scientifically proven way to determine matching careers and ideal courses for any young person. Pupils are then directed to the platform’s Career Explorer, where over 1,000 careers can be explored, including “day-in-the-life-of” videos.

"Even better, each career is mapped to multiple pathways, which means pupils of any ability can find a pathway that suits them, including courses at both University and FE College, as well as traineeships and apprenticeships. And to top it all off the platform has an integrated live job board, with over 10,000 jobs every day - every work placement, internship, apprenticeship and graduate job in the UK and Ireland - for pupils to access.”

“But the platform doesn’t stop there”, Mr Scanlon adds. "PeopleHawk then provides the practical support for pupils to apply to over 45,000 courses, including all University and College courses in the UK and Ireland, as well as mock tests for pupils to practice the exams typically used by Universities to select pupils for medical courses, for example.

"It even has a mock interview app, with AI performance feedback for pupils to perfect their interview skills as so many University courses now use online video interviewing as part of their admissions process. Now our pupils can get on top of all that process, like never before."

“More broadly, the platform has a Skills Development module, with over 128 bite size learning activities across 8 Essential Skills, skills every young person or career changer needs for any job, skills such as Listening, Speaking, Problem Solving and Leadership”, said Mr Scanlon.

“Most importantly, it is something our pupils can continue to use after they finish at St Brigid’s College. By paying a small subscription fee pupils can save their digital career profile data for life and use the platform throughout university, college and their early careers, as they continue to build their skills, find new jobs and prepare for interviews using the interview app."

“One can even generate a digital CV using the platform’s CV Builder, which includes a QR code that takes any prospective employer straight to their profile on the platform. Employers are then able to get a much more rounded picture of each person, fast tracking decision making.”

Mr Scanlon concludes: “I have no doubt that PeopleHawk will inspire St Brigid’s pupils to push themselves further throughout their careers."