ICT Career Exposure Experience Week 2018-2019

• November 1, 2018
• admin

The eSkills Malta Foundation together with the Education Psycho-Social services Section within the Ministry for Education and Employment will be collaborating with the industry and public entities to organise a week-long opportunity for selected Year 10 (Form 4) students to witness the different occupations within the ICT industry.

The ICT Career Exposure Experience Week helps to give students real-world knowledge of how the ICT sector works. Run by the eSkills Malta Foundation the ICT Career Exposure Experience Week targets students aged between 14 and 15 offering them a taste of what it would be like to be part of a vibrant ICT sector. On the other hand, this career exposure experience could help transform Malta’s ICT Industry.

This is a unique opportunity for ICT firms to fulfill a Corporate Social Responsibility by offering to help attract young people to join the next generation of ICT practitioners.

What is the ICT Career Exposure Experience Week?

The students, aged 14 – 15 years, hail from state schools and are studying Computer Studies at ‘O’ Level standard or as a vocational subject (VET). The Career Exposure Experience Week will enable young and potentially talented individuals to:

• Observe the daily routines of ICT professionals and increase their understanding of ICT and ICT-related careers;
• Begin to identify career interests in one or more ICT-related fields;
• Be introduced of the attitude and approach needed at the place of work in an ICT environment;
• Gain awareness of the academic, technical, inter-personal and other employability skills that are usually required in the ICT and related professions;
• Develop an understanding of the critical connections between school and work, particularly the relevance of their ‘Computer Studies’ as an option subject.

How could your company fit in?

If you are an ICT related company or ICT provider department, then we would like to invite you on board to form part of this exciting programme. We hope that by means of this Career Exposure Experience Week we can encourage more young people to pursue post-secondary studies that could lead them towards a future as ICT professionals.

This initiative also hopes to meet the challenges that the local ICT industry is facing when it comes to human resources and eSkills.

Students enrolled in the programme will get to spend a week at one of the participating company’s premises learning more about ICT by observing competent workers. Through mentoring and the Reflective Journal, a logbook the students are expected to fill in during the week, they will also be able to understand and appreciate more about the way ICT and ICT related industries work, observe how technology is applied and make the connection between their studies and their future socio-economic independence.

The success of this initiative depends on the companies that sign up. eSkills Malta Foundation looks forward to hearing from as many enterprises as possible and to working with them on the development and expansion of Malta’s future ICT and ICT related workforce.

Why participate?

This is an opportunity where each employer is perceived as a leading socially responsible ICT employer, by directly helping the eSkills Malta Foundation to:

• Strengthen its collaboration with the National School Support Services (NSSS), Department of Education, DES, Ministry for Education and Employment (MEDE)
• Improve the perceptions of young students, their parents and the teaching profession, towards ICT (and related) career(s) as well as related technical subjects;
• Encourage more young people to pursue post-secondary studies that potentially lead to them becoming ICT professionals;
• Provide first-hand information and experiences to students who aspire to join the ICT sector in the future
• Raise awareness of the skills profiles required by the industry;
• Enrich the school experience and help in the formation of these young individuals;
• Each participating company will be promoted in the media channels utilised by the eSkills Malta Foundation in its communication with the general public and targeted audiences.

What does it take?

Participating companies need to ensure that students:

• Spend one week on the company’s premises
• Observe the company’s policies with regards to attendance, health & safety, security etc.;
• Provide the opportunity to the Student through mentoring to:
  Understand a typical day in ICT and ICT-related roles;
• Appreciate the technology services and products provided by ICT-producing or media-producing companies;
• Observe how technology is applied at the workplace by both ICT-producing or ICT-using companies;
• Observe career opportunities and the competences required for ICT-related roles;
• Make the connection between their school curriculum and the resulting competences that are required in the workplace.
• Follow the company’s prepared 1-week programme to ensure overview of company sectors and services and entice students’ interest

The success of the Career Exposure Experience Week, for both the sponsoring company and the participating student, depends on having mentors – either line managers or people from the HR Department – ensuring that their experience is positive and fruitful.

At Student ‘Bio’ or Europass CV of the Student will be sent to the participating organisation, and the shore organisation may meet the Student before the Placement starts. However, this meeting is intended to get to know the Student and not intended to accept or reject a student.

The students will have the necessary signed parental consent forms giving them permission to attend the Career Exposure Experience Week.

Personnel from the Career Guidance Services, National School Support Services, and the Colleges, will visit the students on site at least twice during the Career Exposure Experience week.

The hosting ICT company will enter into an agreement with the respective College outlining the responsibilities of both the Employer and the College/School.

Best Practices during the Student’s Placement

Different organisations achieve the above aims in various ways. Our experience has shown us that the best placements tend to be those when:

• The organisations prepare a programme for the whole week of the Student Placement;
• The Student is given an introduction to highlight the organisation’s objectives, sector, and the different sections and their inter-relations;
• Assign someone specific from the organisation to be responsible to monitor the Student’s stay;
• Have a daily discussion with the student to see what observations were made, and possibly what was learned, and provides answers to any queries;
• Reviews the student’s reflective logbook on a daily basis. The student is required to compile this as a requirement;
• Although the student can be assigned in one section (e.g. software development, support, etc.), the best Placement is that where a student experiences more than one section.
  
  

Presentation of Participation Certificates

At the end of the Scheme, which will be sometime in May, the eSkills Malta Foundation, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the involved organisations, will present the Student Participation Certificate in an official event.

How to apply for the ICT Career Exposure Experience Week?

In order to become a partner of the eSkills Malta Foundation in this Career Exposure Experience Week, simply send an email to info.eskills@eskills.org.mt and specify the number of students that your company is willing to take (we respectfully ask for a minimum of 2 placements).

The eSkills Malta Foundation will then be in touch to explain all the necessary logistics. Assistance required during the Career Exposure Week, where possible, will be provided to participating companies.

Deadline for submissions of interest by companies is Friday 7th September 2018.

Suggested programme for Career Exposure week ICT Sector 2028-2019