BEAUTY therapy students at Bracknell and Wokingham College were pitted against each other in an initiative in the style of the TV show The ‘Apprentice’ style.

In the employability day, they were put into groups and asked to mock up a business plan, a mood board to show visually what their firm would focus on; and a covering letter explaining why they should win the job and what skills they could bring to the ‘business’.

After their preparation, the students had to present their proposal and answer an interviewer’s probing questions.

Claire Killick, managing director of the Truly Scrum-ptious Beauty salon chain, and Carly John, owner of the Body N Soul beauty salon and training centre, were the interviewers for this task.

Claire told the students in a feedback session: “Some of the answers given here in the group interviews, were better than those I’ve recently had from professionals in real interviews.” Carly added: “The students came across confidently and showed that they know how to answer questions in a way that the employer would want to hear.” Hilary Tully, beauty therapy lecturer at the college, organised the challenging day for the students.

She said: “At first the students were quite nervous, but as the day progressed they really embraced what we were asking them to do.

“They put a lot of effort into the tasks and worked well together trying to win the ‘job’.” Employability days are organised by college course lecturers to challenge their students and encourage skills of teamwork, problem solving, commitment and motivation, and even numeracy, English language skills and computer literacy.