Career advice gave Charly a renewed energy for her future
Teen Charly Simpson thought her future was floundering until help from her school careers adviser led to a dream career in engineering.
Today, the 18 year old is on the road to success and working in renewable energy as part of the effort to create a greener Scotland.
Advice at school
When Charly started S4 at Bertha Park High school in Perth she was finding it difficult to study. A talk from the school’s careers adviser, Maxine Scott, gave her the motivation to get help.
Charly said: “I had completely given up on school when I started S4. The teachers were great, but I was struggling.
“Coming back into school after Covid, I was still getting used to learning. I wasn’t really looking into the future at this point. I had a job in a café in Pitlochry and thought that would be something I could do when I left school.
“Maxine joined a school assembly meeting to speak to my year about the help she can give pupils and I spoke to her after that.”
Discovering options
Maxine wanted to find out more about Charly and what she loved to do. It was clear from the meeting that Charly had interests outside of school that she could turn into a career.
Maxine explained: “We spent a lot of time together working out what Charly wanted to do in the future. I could see that she took inspiration from her dad, who worked in forestry, and she also loved to help him fix and refurbish old cars.
“Charly spoke about how she enjoyed doing practical things and she couldn’t see herself working in an office.”
Maxine suggested that Charly investigate apprenticeships as an option, which offer the chance to get into a job that provides hands on experience whilst working up to a qualification.
Keeping in touch
Charly said: “I hadn’t thought about apprenticeships as an option before, but when Maxine explained them to me they sounded great and we started to look at tons of them.
“I was only 15 at that point so needed to wait a bit and stay on in school, so I used that time to work with Maxine to get me ready for interviews.
“We would meet once a week and check any new opportunities that came up to see what they were looking for from candidates.”
Maxine added: “We started to explore Charly’s options together, speaking to people, looking at the support she needed and seeing what’s out there. We started to look at apprenticeships and went along to careers events.”
Interview support
It was at one of the careers fairs that Charly spoke to people at energy company SSE Renewables.
Charly was keen and applied for some of the company’s apprenticeships. She said: “The apprenticeships at SSE Renewables sounded great, because of my interests in the environment and engineering.”
When Charly made it through to the rigorous interview process, Maxine was there to support her every step of the way with coaching and support through each of the five stages.
Maxine said: “Charly was confident that this was what she wanted to do and was really excited about the prospect of getting the job.
“She was great to work with as she was keen to explore her skills and strengths and understand how this related to transferring into getting an apprenticeship.”
A drive to learn
Charly’s determination paid off and she started a Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Modern Apprenticeship in August 2023, which takes up to four years to complete.
The first 18 months of the apprenticeship are spent training at Rosyth dockyard with Fife College. Charly also spent the summer getting experience on site at Clunie Power Station in Pitlochry, where she’ll be based at the start of the year.
Charly says: “Three days of work in the workshop and then two days learning was a lot to manage at first, but I think my work ethic has really changed, which I think is because I have the drive for it and get a lot more stuck into what I am doing.
“I love my apprenticeship because there is a lot to learn and renewables progress every day. Seeing all the turbines at the power station is really interesting.”
Careers coaching
Maxine said: “Charly is an inspiring young person who was open to explore the opportunities and along the way, with her careers coaching, she built up her confidence which enabled her to find a career she didn’t know existed.
“With a bit of careers coaching, anyone can start to take control of their career path and feel confident with their decisions in setting goals and making plans. As a careers adviser, it’s my role to support and coach but our customers have the hard work, as they need to be able to do the rest.”
Charly ended: “I didn’t expect the kind of help I got from Maxine but she was amazing. I wouldn’t be here in my dream job if it wasn’t for Maxine. She made me get out of my shell and look forward to the rest of my life.”
The support given to Charly by Maxine is part of the free expert advice from SDS available to anyone looking for help to make learning and career decisions.
SDS delivers career information, advice and guidance services in schools, in SDS centres and in community venues across Scotland, through its freephone helpline 0800 917 8000, and online at My World of Work.