Young people in Scotland given an opportunity to hone their business skills during Accenture workshops

IntoUniversity students in Edinburgh and Glasgow were given a unique opportunity to put their business skills to the test in realistic surroundings, as Accenture’s Edinburgh and Glasgow offices opened their doors for a set of workshops designed to familiarise the young people with the corporate setting, build an understanding of different careers and test themselves in realistic business scenarios.

Accenture is a leading global professional services company that helps the world’s leading businesses, governments and other organisations build their digital core, optimise their operations, accelerate revenue growth and enhance citizen services—creating tangible value at speed and scale. The company has a significant presence in Scotland, with offices in both Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Accenture has been a pivotal partner to IntoUniversity since we began planning our expansion into Scotland, providing strategic insight, crucial funding and exceptional experiences of the world of work for our young people, but February was a particularly busy month as they welcomed students for not one but two sessions in their offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

During the half term, Accenture in Glasgow hosted 19 students for a day of insight into careers at the firm, learning about the many different pathways open to them and the 900 global locations that they could work from! Students met current apprentices on the graduate apprenticeship scheme who shared their experiences, and took part in a Q&A session. After lunch students were asked to consider ‘How might we use innovative technologies to improve the lives of young people?’

Students worked in teams to consider some of the challenges that young people face, before developing one concept and feeding back to the group. The winning concept was ‘How to use AI to stop mental cruelty’. Students shared ideas on how AI could stop online bullying by
monitoring chats and blocking users.

Students reported improving their ‘teamwork, innovation, and tech knowledge’, as well as their ‘communication and creative thinking’ thanks to attending this Accenture Insight Day. One student shared that the best thing about the day was ‘hearing people talk about their experience because it gave me confirmation that you don’t have to be an expert to start’ – a really important message for our young people to take away from crucial experiences of the world of work!

Last week was the turn of Accenture’s Edinburgh office, hosting an IntoUniversity Business in FOCUS workshop with volunteers supporting a class of S3 students with the fast-paced, high impact business simulation. Accenture colleagues gave students an insight into a professional environment and supported them in the development of key soft skills, while guiding the teams through the simulation and acting as ‘trustees’ on the advisory panel, giving students feedback on their pitches and presentations. One student shared that they learnt ‘leadership and organisation, to manage high workloads and to improvise. To be a good leader & divide workloads’. Another shared that ‘the best thing about this programme was the implementation of life skills to education because it makes it so much more fun to learn’.

Recent research commissioned by Accenture has revealed that young people, inspired by the advent of AI, are increasingly interested in careers in creative industries like design and media, business development, marketing and STEM subjects. During the workshops with IntoUniversity students, the Accenture team focused on opportunities to pursue careers in these emerging sectors, and the young people had the opportunity to meet Accenture staff who play a vital role in utilising this technology on a day to day basis.

Hannah Margetts, Head of Fundraising at IntoUniversity commented:

“We are so grateful for everything Accenture does for IntoUniversity and the young people we serve! Workshops like this are such an important part of our programme, offering young people to experience corporate environments they would otherwise rarely have access to, and to build confidence, as well as increasing their understanding of the world of work and the many different pathways that exist for them. Getting the chance to work directly with volunteers from Accenture who work in a variety of different roles is extremely helpful and
inspiring. Thank you so much to Accenture and all of the volunteers who made these sessions possible!”

Find out more about programmes at IntoUniversity here.