STEMNET is a fantastic organisation to help young people get an insight in to the enormous number of possible careers that can come from the STEM subjects.

About STEMNET

They can explain it better than me so I’m quoting from their own website –

STEMNET (the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Network) creates opportunities to inspire young people in STEM.

We do this by working with thousands of schools, colleges and STEM employers, to enable young people of all backgrounds and abilities to meet inspiring role models, understand real world applications of STEM subjects and experience hands-on STEM activities that motivate, inspire and bring learning and career opportunities to life.

All the events they organise are free of charge.

Ambassadors

One of the key parts of STEMNET is getting people who work in STEM industries to sign up as ambassadors to volunteer and take part in different events to try and help kids understand what their job entails. The types of events vary greatly, it can be anything from giving a careers talk, putting on a demonstration, doing mock interviews or “speed networking” where ambassadors sit at a table and have groups of young people ask them any questions about their job for a few minutes before moving to the next table.

My Experiences

I am a registered ambassador and have taken part in a few events. All the ones with pupils have been scary beforehand! They can be exhausting and several times my throat has hurt at the end of it, but they’ve all been fantastic experiences. There are some kids who are totally uninterested and it’s a challenge to get them talking, but I’ve found asking them to think of jobs that don’t use some form of IT can be a good start as they always want to catch you out. When you get someone in to it and interested you can see it switch on their faces and it’s a great feeling, they’ll then start to ask proper questions as they want to know what path to follow to get in to the industry.

I’ve also done two events with teachers that were interesting, they were pretty much helping them understand what information and advice they should be passing on, it’s a very different thing but still good to do as you are effectively reaching more people.

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