A new course named to upskill women who want to return to work in the agri-food industry after a career break is available in Cork this September. Run over nine days, the Rejuvenate programme is free and will be conducted in small groups.
The course has three pillars:
Technical skills – refreshing your CV and LinkedIn profile.Trends – updating your knowledge of trends in the food industry currently.Confidence building – reflecting on experience. “After a break your confidence can be knocked,” says course co-ordinator Joanne Fearon. “Sometimes women forget about the experience they previously gained in their working lives, or gained being on a parent-teacher committee during their career break. That all counts.”
The course will be delivered at Workbench, Bank of Ireland, St Patrick’s Street in Cork city. The idea is that the venue would be less intimidating than UCC and has good transport links. However, the programme is run by UCC and funded by Skillnet.
We did some work with Skillnet, which said it’s conscious of this as well. So the programme is fully funded
“My own background is graduate training. We noticed there is a gender imbalance in the Irish agri-food sector. In the academic space there is a leaking pipeline the higher up you go,” said Joanne. “We did some work with Skillnet, which said it’s conscious of this as well. So the programme is fully funded.”
Classes start on 9 September and will be delivered over three days per week (Monday to Wednesday), for three weeks. For this year, only 20 places are available.
“The value of this is creating a new network for these women. We’ll review it afterwards and also see if there is demand for men.”
While the programme aims to get people into the agri-food industry, it does not matter if your background is in something else. Joanne says there are a number of agri-food companies interested in taking on course participants for work experience. If a participant secures a job at the end of the course they are not required to take part in the work experience module.
“There is an application form, but in the first instance if people want to email me that would be fine. If we have too many the selection process will be on the basis of the application form section that asks why you are interested in it. We have had a few people apply already, but there are still some places available.”
Course topics
Self-assessment and training needs analysis, professional motivation.Strategies to build confidence, resilience and assertiveness.Professional network development, mentoring and active career management.Key job-searching skills – CVs, cover letters, understanding job listings, working with agencies.Digital skills – Sharepoint, LinkedIn, social media management.Working in a team and balancing work and life.Work placement. For further information contact Joanne Fearon by emailing J.Fearon@ucc.ie
A new course named to upskill women who want to return to work in the agri-food industry after a career break is available in Cork this September. Run over nine days, the Rejuvenate programme is free and will be conducted in small groups.
The course has three pillars:
Technical skills – refreshing your CV and LinkedIn profile.Trends – updating your knowledge of trends in the food industry currently.Confidence building – reflecting on experience. “After a break your confidence can be knocked,” says course co-ordinator Joanne Fearon. “Sometimes women forget about the experience they previously gained in their working lives, or gained being on a parent-teacher committee during their career break. That all counts.”
The course will be delivered at Workbench, Bank of Ireland, St Patrick’s Street in Cork city. The idea is that the venue would be less intimidating than UCC and has good transport links. However, the programme is run by UCC and funded by Skillnet.
We did some work with Skillnet, which said it’s conscious of this as well. So the programme is fully funded
“My own background is graduate training. We noticed there is a gender imbalance in the Irish agri-food sector. In the academic space there is a leaking pipeline the higher up you go,” said Joanne. “We did some work with Skillnet, which said it’s conscious of this as well. So the programme is fully funded.”
Classes start on 9 September and will be delivered over three days per week (Monday to Wednesday), for three weeks. For this year, only 20 places are available.
“The value of this is creating a new network for these women. We’ll review it afterwards and also see if there is demand for men.”
While the programme aims to get people into the agri-food industry, it does not matter if your background is in something else. Joanne says there are a number of agri-food companies interested in taking on course participants for work experience. If a participant secures a job at the end of the course they are not required to take part in the work experience module.
“There is an application form, but in the first instance if people want to email me that would be fine. If we have too many the selection process will be on the basis of the application form section that asks why you are interested in it. We have had a few people apply already, but there are still some places available.”
Course topics
Self-assessment and training needs analysis, professional motivation.Strategies to build confidence, resilience and assertiveness.Professional network development, mentoring and active career management.Key job-searching skills – CVs, cover letters, understanding job listings, working with agencies.Digital skills – Sharepoint, LinkedIn, social media management.Working in a team and balancing work and life.Work placement. For further information contact Joanne Fearon by emailing J.Fearon@ucc.ie
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