Company leaders at Charles Owen encourage staff from all levels and areas to help with events.
Charles Owen, a manufacturer of leading riding helmets, supports schools in Wrexham. Lesley Lloyd, business engagement adviser at Careers Wales, first put them in touch with local school, Ysgol y Grango.
Working with schools
Staff from HR, marketing, accounts and the shop floor have supported Ysgol y Grango with varied careers activities including:
- A year 10 apprenticeship talk
- Progress and mentoring interviews with year 9 pupils
- Year 11 mock interviews
- Careers and enterprise day
- Employer speed networking event
More recently, the company has signed up to become a School Valued Partner. This will help strengthen the partnership between Charles Owen and Ysgol Y Grango.
Charles Owen also provides careers support to other schools within Wrexham. They have provided year 11 mock interviews to Ysgol Rhiwabon, Ysgol Clywedog and The Maelor School.
Best Newcomer
Charles Owen were presented with a Valued Partner Award by Careers Wales in 2022. They were awarded ‘Best Newcomer’.
Anna Phillips, Head of HR at Charles Owen, said: “We’re really pleased to win the award. We really wanted to reach out to our community and help the younger generation.
“We really enjoyed doing the mock interviews and the apprentice talks. We are working currently on getting young people into our factories so they can have more of an insight themselves.
“There are more roles in manufacturing than just in the factory and it’s nice for young people to see all the other opportunities available to them.
“We’re looking forward to continuing our work with Careers Wales.”
Making a difference
Lesley said: “It’s been a pleasure to work with Charles Owen and see how quickly they’ve made a positive impact with pupils within the area of Wrexham.
“In a short space of time, they’ve already supported a huge number of young people with their careers learning.”