Amy Lavin - Careers Lead

I am Careers lead at St Thomas Aquinas Catholic school along with responsibility for Personal Development including our PSHE/ Virtues curriculum and the Aquinas Experience. As a Geography teacher teaching all key stages with over 20 years experience, I understand the value and importance of supporting young people through their secondary school journey towards a happy and healthy future that they want. I am passionate that all young people at STACS deserve the opportunities to develop and explore their personal interests and strengths, as well as developing the skills that will help them to be successful in the future world of work and for whatever lies ahead of them.

Amy Lavin
Careers Lead

Samantha Caherty - SLT Link

Daniel Tehan - External Careers Advisor

I am a qualified Careers Adviser with a Postgraduate qualifications in Careers Education and Guidance. I qualified in 2002, I then worked for Birmingham Careers Service until 2012 when I decided to work as an independent careers adviser based in school. I have achieved the Matrix Standard Award for the service we provide in school.

I am in school every Tuesday, I can support students with their future options by providing information on Further Education, Higher Education and apprenticeships. I am available during break times and after school.

Daniel Tehan
External Careers Advisor

Michelle Whittle - Enterprise Advisor

Michelle Whittle – Enterprise Advisor, a brief introduction to who I am and what I currently do
Who am I?

Hi I am Michelle Whittle, Recruitment Partner for Housing 21. Housing 21 is a not-for-profit provider of Extra Care and Retirement Living for older people.

I have always been fortunate to enjoy the roles I have had but over the last 2 years, I have never been prouder of working here, of the work we do and of the important roles, our front-line employees play daily for our residents.

My role was based from our Birmingham office, but for almost 2 years now, I have been based from home while working full time and will continue with this way of working going forward.

As a Care provider, we never stopped even during the national lockdowns, we continued to be busy recruiting throughout the Pandemic and continue to recruit to our key roles within the business.
How did I get to where I am now?

Having studied at Sixth Form College for what used to be known as an advanced GNVQ in Business, I was successful in gaining a place at university to study for a BSc (Hons) Management.
I chose a local University, which meant I stayed at home and continued to study for the next 3 years.

While at sixth Form College and University, I managed my studies, alongside a number of retail jobs.

I have no doubt that the work experience I had gained, alongside my studying prepared me well for the future, as well as a nice small income to enjoy student life also.

After finishing University and completing my degree, I was not quite sure what I wanted to do next. I had found Marketing and HR to be two of the business areas I enjoyed most but was not quite sure which direction I wanted to go at that point.

I increased my hours in my retail job while looking and applying for a number of Graduate schemes, some I managed to get quite far through the selection process. Unfortunately, due to the competiveness of these schemes I was unsuccessful until I finally managed (after a fairly lengthy interview and assessment process) to be offered a role on a Graduate Management scheme.
Sadly, after a few months I found the scheme was not for me and I took the decision to return to my retail position while I reviewed my options again.

After a couple of months of looking for work, I attended a Recruitment open day at Solihull Hospital where I had an opportunity to go along, meet some of the Managers and pass around my CV.

This for me is where my career started in HR and Recruitment over 16 years ago, it was my first step on my career ladder and I am thankful I took those 2 hours out to go along and meet what then became my manager.

To date, I have worked as an Administrator in both HR and Recruitment, a Co-ordinator, Advisor, Team Leader, Manager and now a Partner.

I have also gained further qualifications with a CIPD and I am currently studying for my Level 4 diploma in Recruitment Management, supported by my employer. My learning continues as my roles have changed too.

There are so many more opportunities today for our children so it’s important that we take the time to look into these opportunities with them and look to prepare them as much as we can through the careers programmes that now take place within school.

I am excited about the role of Enterprise Advisor and what I can bring to it from my experience of work and business, but also as a Parent of two young boys, I am keen to understand what support young people need these days to prepare them for the world of work.

Michelle
Enterprise Advisor