News

Coyle Personnel host a day of CV and interview coaching for local students

Last Wednesday, Coyle Personnel opened the doors of our Broadgate Tower head office to 23 Year 12 students from Swanlea School in Whitechapel, as part of a collaborative workplace experience organised in partnership with The Switch.

Accompanied by three teachers and two facilitators, the students spent a full day with our team getting a real taste of the professional world, from CV writing and interview technique to an insider look at what a career in recruitment, education, and healthcare can look like.

About The Switch

The Switch is a registered charity that has been connecting young people with the world of work for 30 years. With strong ties to schools and businesses across Tower Hamlets, their mission is to raise aspirations and improve career prospects for young people in the local community, and we were proud to be a part of that.

How the day unfolded

After arriving at the 18th floor of Broadgate Tower and getting settled in, students were welcomed with an introduction to the Greencastle Group of companies, including Coyle Personnel, Magisters Education, and Direct Healthcare, giving them an early sense of the breadth of sectors and career paths our volunteers represent.

The morning kicked off with a CV workshop led by Senior Marketing Executive, Eric Smith, who opened up the session by sharing one of his own early CVs and inviting the students to critique it. It was an intriguing, honest conversation that quickly got everyone talking, and once the feedback was in, students broke into small groups to have a go at drafting their own CVs with support from volunteers on hand to guide them.

After a tour of the office, including a detour to the empty 17th floor below which offered 360-degree panoramic views across London, the group reconvened for an interview tips panel session. Volunteers shared their honest advice on how to prepare, how to structure answers, and how to carry yourself on the day. Eric Smith and Rail Manager, Nick Markwell, then took to the floor for an interview role play, deliberately showcasing both strong and weak technique and inviting students to call out the difference. It made for one of the most engaging moments of the day.

Lunch gave everyone a chance to relax and chat informally before the afternoon's Careers Carousel, where students rotated through short one-to-one conversations with each volunteer. They heard about different career journeys, university and college experiences, and the various routes into recruitment, rail, marketing, education, and healthcare. A Q&A session rounded things off before the group came back together for feedback and a close.

Our volunteers on the day

A huge thank you to everyone at Coyle Personnel and across the Greencastle Group who gave their time to make the day such a success:

Zara Woodman, Social Value Lead, who led the organisation of the event from our side. Nick Markwell, Rail Manager, and Eric Smith, Senior Marketing Executive, for leading the interview role play. David Moran, Director of Alternative Provision at Magisters Education, and Tomas Gelezinis, Recruitment Manager at Direct Healthcare, for their support in sharing CV tips and opening up on their individual career journeys.

"It was fantastic to welcome the students from Swanlea School into our Broadgate Tower office last week. From the moment they arrived, the energy in the room was brilliant. They threw themselves into every activity with real enthusiasm and confidence, whether that was critiquing CVs, taking part in the interview role play, or sitting down for one-to-one conversations during the Careers Carousel. It was genuinely inspiring to see. A big thank you to Leanne and Alex from The Switch for organising such a well-structured and rewarding day. We hope it's the first of many."

— Eric Smith, Senior Marketing Executive, Coyle Personnel

And a special thank you to Leanne Wenham and Alex Cawthron from The Switch for coordinating the partnership and bringing such an enthusiastic group of students through our doors.

Looking ahead

Events like this are exactly why social value matters to us. Giving young people from our local community the chance to step into a professional environment, ask real questions, and leave with practical skills they can use, that is something we want to keep doing.

We look forward to welcoming The Switch back again in the future and send our very best wishes to all of the students from Swanlea School for their future career paths.