My name is Archie Bircham and, for the past three days, I have been doing my work experience at Greater Manchester Chamber. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here. I go to a school in Stockport and I enjoy subjects such as History and Business. I found that I was not offered the correct support to find a placement. Luckily my good friend Wayne Jones OBE (Board director, Chair of the Manufacturing and Engineering Group at the Chamber and founder of Improbus Consulting) recommended me to come to Greater Manchester Chamber and it has been an absolute pleasure.
My favourite parts of the Chamber so far have been the Events and Marketing. This is due to the interest I have in the way the Chamber publishes its marketing and the vast variety of dates and subjects of the events and the work behind the scenes to plan them. I have also enjoyed shadowing calls discussing new membership and how that comes to a deal between the sales managers and the company. The calls gave me an idea of what it takes to sell the membership to companies.
I believe that schools and other businesses should offer more work experience opportunities and a wider range of activities, instead of the average primary school or nursery placements. If it wasn’t for Wayne Jones I would not have been given this brilliant opportunity and I hope to inspire other businesses to offer work experience and ensure that high school students like me get an educational but interesting experience to ensure that teenagers learn what life at work is actually like and not just given simple tasks and not learn anything from their work experience. I hope other businesses read this and understand my urge to push forward the amount of real work experience opportunities available.