VW goes back to school

The Volkswagen Group is showcasing the industry to a more diverse audience through its Executive Job Shadowing programme, which recently saw three school girls from Milton Keynes spend a week on site, learning more about the sector and the career opportunities it presents.

At the company’s head office in Milton Keynes, they learnt about the different roles available within the organisation and had the chance to really see what it’s really like to work in the Group. They also visited the Group’s National Learning Centre in Milton Keynes, Customer Services Centre in Leeds, the Audi Centre in Wakefield and a marketing agency to see how these enterprises work together with head office.

The girls were chosen by members of the board of management, which visited Ousedale School, St Paul’s Catholic School and the Milton Keynes Academy in June. Human resources director Penny Burnett said, ‘Talking to the girls at Ousedale was a fantastic experience. It was very different to the audiences I’m used to talking to in my everyday work, but I was delighted to see how engaged and interested they were. The questions they posed demonstrated there is no lack of passion for careers in the automotive sector; they just need to understand the variety of roles available and what that career path looks like.’

These visits were arranged as part of a collaboration between the Automotive 30% Club, a voluntary group of MDs and CEOs working to achieve a gender balanced workforce within the automotive industry, and Speakers for Schools.

Penny said, ‘I’m really proud to be supporting the Automotive 30% Club and Speakers for Schools through our presentations and job shadowing programme. Inspiring and finding new talent for the future is a really big part of our Driven Women project and this is a great place to start.’

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