North Shropshire College Visits Aico

Aico recently welcomed Business Studies and Travel & Tourism students from North Shropshire College for an educational workshop. Students were introduced to the world of work, as well as the various careers and apprenticeship options available.

The students received a tour of Aico’s headquarters, enabling them to interact with various departments and the facilities, before participating in a range of activities in Aico’s Centre of Excellence.

Their first challenge was in the style of an escape room aimed at team-building, which saw students work in groups to solve the four digit combination to a safe. Students then took part in a customer service workshop, where they had to decide how best to handle a difficult customer, ensuring to resolve their query as best they can, whilst keeping the situation calm. They got the chance to act out these scenarios, so that they could get real experience of customer-company communication.

The final workshop of the day focused on marketing. In this workshop the students were asked to design and create their own exhibition stand; they developed some innovative ideas, including a walk-in-wardrobe stand for a clothes brand, as well as a stand that focused on sustainability and the environment.

All activities were led by Aico colleagues, who volunteered their time. Imogen Bickford from Internal Sales comments, “This was the first educational workshop that I have been involved in since joining Aico last year. It was great to be able to talk to students about my job role and share my experiences in Customer Service. Hopefully the students found it useful in helping them decide their next steps.”

The day was a great success with one student commenting, “It was very good to do the team building activities and I know I actually gained something from the whole experience.”

Louise Evans,  Lecturer of Business and Health and Social Care from North Shropshire College says of the workshop, “Thank you for today, we really appreciated it and the students enjoyed themselves. It is important for them to take part in practical activities which are linked to the working environment, and they have been able to use today as evidence towards their respective courses.”

These workshops are just one of many ways Aico supports education. Aico has developed a range of initiatives to support students in their local communities, from work experience placements, delivering educational sessions and offering careers advice and guidance.

Find out more about Aico in the Community.