Member Article

Leeds Businessman Prepare Pupils For Life After School

The owner of a Leeds IT company has returned to his former school to offer students “real world advice” for preparing for life after school.

Mark Fletcher was inspired to make contact again with Fulneck School after being “taken aback” by the lack of preparation by candidates – both graduate and lower entry level - seeking jobs at his firm, Pitchero.

Mr Fletcher told a room of Year 11 pupils what employers look for in a CV, what they want to hear and see from a candidate, and his views on university and training.

And, speaking to a group of students with dyslexia, he added: “Fulneck School’s Learning Support Unit is a fantastic resource, and I recommend all of you to use it. I didn’t. I hid!

“I have dyslexia and my challenge was English and remembering names and dates. At university I studied economics and politics and started experimenting with ways in which to remember facts and figures.

“I started to really learn by ‘presenting’ my work, by treating it as a pitch. I would walk around my room pretending I was presenting to people. This was the way I learned, and, had I done this for my GCSEs and A-Levels, then I know I would have done a lot better.”

Fulneck School Principal Deborah Newman said: “It’s always wonderful to welcome former pupils back to Fulneck, and when Mark wrote to us asking if he could speak to current pupils, we seized the opportunity.

“Mark is proof that dyslexia needn’t hold you back in life. He runs a successful business that employs dozens of people.

“His advice to the pupils has been invaluable, and I hope he will come back on a regular basis to help prepare our pupils for the next stage of their lives, that of future employment.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Mark Watts .