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Breaking Employment Barriers
On April 7th 2025, Amberjack attended the Next Gen Talent Experience in Birmingham. An event set up by TG Consulting, Amberjack partnered with CEO, Tonia Galati, and the TG team to help deliver a day of celebrating difference and sharing opportunities for students with no work experience and those facing employment barriers.
TG Consulting’s vision is simple: creating safe, empowering spaces where students can be themselves, while receiving useful experiences and opportunities for growth. Amberjack is proud to partner with TG Consulting.
We’re dedicated to helping organisations improve their diversity, including social mobility, and hiring for potential rather than past experience – the Next Gen Talent Experience was an opportunity for our team to see the critical impact that initiatives like this can have.
A Day of Opportunities
Students from all over the UK were invited to Birmingham to take part in the day.
Starting with an introductory session, Tonia spoke candidly; the day was designed for them, it’s a safe space, now is the time to make the most of the opportunities laid out in front of you. This was the very topic for the first employer panel of the day.
Amberjack’s Senior Marketing Executive, Jasmine Barrett, facilitated this panel. Asking representatives from Specsavers, Ziggurat XYZ, L’Oreal, and JLR about how to make the most of opportunities, their experiences of impostor syndrome, how to feel confident, and more.
Over the course of the day, this is exactly what we saw. Students were coming out of their shells and engaging with employers, networking, and the experiences provided.
“To be somebody who had no voice, confidence, self-esteem and so much anxiety, to coming and celebrating that who I am is enough, I couldn’t be more proud.”
Student Feedback
One of the ways Amberjack wanted to get involved in this, was by providing interactive Growth Mindset sessions on Impostor Syndrome. Hosted by our Learning and Development Delivery Manager, Neave Taylor, these sessions explored types of Impostor Syndrome, identifying it, and techniques to help combat it.
We interviewed students who had attended our Growth Mindset sessions what stood out to them.
The session was insightful, informing me on the different types of imposter syndrome and what they mean in the day-to-day world. I had discovered my own imposter mindset syndrome to be ‘self-doubt and inadequacy’ and now recognising this has led me to follow a journey of self-improvement to build my confidence and belief within myself.
Thierry Davis, Birmingham City University
The Growth Mindset and Imposter Syndrome session by Amberjack was profoundly transformative. It offered practical strategies to reframe self-doubt into opportunities for personal and professional growth, equipping me with actionable tools to cultivate genuine confidence. I appreciated how the session normalized imposter feelings and emphasized that embracing a growth mindset empowers us to turn challenges into catalysts for development. I left feeling inspired, self-assured, and ready to tackle new opportunities with renewed optimism and resilience.
Zainab Vora, University of Northampton
Amberjack weren’t the only employers offering on-the-day experiences to students. JLR, Publicis Groupe, Ziggurat XYZ, and L’Oreal, also got involved in ‘Sprints’ across the day. (No, not running actual races, though my money is on L’Oreal in a 100-metre dash).
These ‘sprints’ were a chance for the employers to show students what a day-in-the-life at their organisation is like, providing briefs around a relevant topic and facilitating group discussion. At the end of these sessions, the students presented back their ideas. Topics ranged from AI ethics and sustainability to social impact strategy and reimagining vehicle features; it really was a day full of variety.
Dancing for Donuts
To finish off the day, students were welcomed back to the conference room for the second employer panel of the day. On their way in, students (and team members) showed off their moves – with giant signs encouraging them to ‘dance for donuts’, some light-hearted fun injected into the afternoon.
This was followed by student stories – getting up on stage and sharing why you celebrate yourself is hard. For some of the individuals at the Next Gen Talent Experience, it felt impossible.
However, they didn’t let this stop them. After a day of opportunity and celebration, we watched as students volunteered themselves to go up on stage and share why they celebrate themselves. (I won’t name names, but one or two Amberjack team members were moved to tears by the amazing stories the students had to share). Not only did we get to see these students celebrate themselves, but we listened as they shared the adversity they had overcome to get up on that stage.
This is what the Next Gen Talent Experience is about – not just listening to these students but providing the platform for them to be heard.
