Preparing for Your Career Acceleration Session with F4S as an Educator
We’re so excited you’ve booked a Career Acceleration Session with F4S!
Together, we’re working to inspire young people everywhere and show them the full range of career possibilities available to them. We can’t wait for your students to meet our incredible volunteers and be inspired by their stories.
Before your session, we’ve put together a quick briefing to help you feel confident and prepared. It includes everything you need to know to make the most of your session.
Once a volunteer has accepted your request for a session!
Head to your dashboard, https://f4s.organisation.digitalboost.org.uk/dashboard
On your Dashboard, you’ll now see your session under ‘Mentoring’. It will show you the date, time, and volunteer for your session as well as the all-important ‘join session button’ – but you won’t need to use that until the day!
How to best prepare your students for a Career Acceleration Session?
At F4S, we’re committed to helping you deliver high-quality, impactful employer encounters that truly benefit your students.
With the upcoming changes to the Gatsby Benchmarks taking effect from September 2025, there will be a renewed focus on the quality of these experiences. In line with Benchmark 5: Encounters with Employers and Employees, educators will need to place greater emphasis on what makes an encounter meaningful—including the importance of variety, student preparation, and fostering a real understanding of the world of work.
We’re here to support you every step of the way to ensure your employer encounters are not only compliant, but truly transformative for your students.
Before the session, there are a few simple but important steps you can take to help your students get the most out of the experience:
- Set the context and purpose
Explain why you’ve organised the Career Acceleration Session. This could be in response to specific questions your students have asked about career pathways, a way to connect curriculum learning to real-world applications, or to show how your subject links to a wide range of future careers. - Introduce the volunteer
Give students a brief overview of who they’ll be meeting. Share a little about the volunteer’s background, their career journey, and what they’ll be discussing. This helps students feel more prepared and engaged. - Encourage questions
Ask students to think in advance about what they might want to ask. Prompt them to consider what they’re curious about—whether it’s the speaker’s role, career path, industry, or skills required.
By taking a few minutes to prepare students beforehand, you’ll help ensure the session is meaningful, engaging, and impactful.
What Will Volunteers Cover in a Career Acceleration Session?
Each Career Acceleration Session is unique—our volunteers will tailor their talk based on the information you provided when booking, as well as the interests and questions of your students. However, there are a few key areas we encourage all volunteers to cover to ensure a rich and engaging experience:
- Their current role – what it involves and why they chose it
- What they enjoy most about their job
- Their career journey – how they got to where they are today
- Challenges they’ve faced – and how they’ve overcome them
- What they thought they’d be doing when they were 12
- How a particular school subject has helped them succeed in their career
Volunteers will also make sure to respond to any student questions submitted in advance, and every session ends with a live Q&A to give students the chance to ask anything else they’re curious about.
These sessions are designed to inspire, inform, and help students see the real-world possibilities ahead of them.
How to Make the Most of Your Career Acceleration Session
To ensure your session runs smoothly and has the biggest impact, here are a few quick tips to help you prepare:
- Add the session to your calendar
Click the calendar icon when you receive your session confirmation and select your preferred online calendar to add it automatically. - Reach out to your volunteer in advance
We recommend sending a quick message to introduce yourself before the session. This is a great opportunity to:- Share any specific topics you’d like them to cover
- Let them know about any additional needs or context about your students
- Ask any questions you or your students might already have
- Get your tech ready
If your session is virtual, make sure your setup allows the volunteer to be seen and heard by all students. Test your equipment and connection in advance so everything runs smoothly on the day. - Prepare for in-person visits
If your session is happening in-person, be sure to provide the volunteer with:- Clear instructions on where to go when they arrive
- Details of what they may need to bring
- Contact information in case they need help finding the location
- Encourage questions!
These sessions are a fantastic opportunity for students to hear directly from someone in the world of work. Encourage them to ask questions—they’ll get more from the session, and it helps make the experience more interactive and meaningful.
By taking a few simple steps in advance, you’ll help create a memorable and inspiring session for your students.
After Your Session…
Take time to reflect with your students
Once your session with the volunteer has finished, it’s important to give students the chance to reflect on what they’ve learned. We recommend setting aside 15–20 minutes during your next lesson or tutorial for this. You can guide the reflection using some of the following questions:
- What’s one thing you learned today that surprised you?
- What did you find most interesting about the volunteer’s career or journey?
- What skills or qualities did the speaker have that seemed important in their role?
- What could you start doing now to explore a career like the one discussed?
- What transferable skills (e.g. communication, problem-solving, teamwork) did the speaker use?
- Has this session changed your thinking about your future? If so, how?
- What would you like to learn more about after this session?
Leave feedback for your volunteer
Feedback helps our volunteers continue to improve and ensures future sessions are even more impactful. Don’t forget to take a few minutes to share your thoughts after the session.
Want to connect again?
If your students found the session particularly inspiring, feel free to message the volunteer to request a follow-up session.
Book another session!
There’s no limit to the number of volunteers you can connect with. Explore our platform and book another session to keep the inspiration going.
