BizAcademy kicks off in Dublin, Ireland!

Jobs4You(th) Team

Twelve teenagers from St Dominic's Secondary School, Ballyfermot, aged 17 - 19, participated in the first BizAcademy in Ireland. The girls were very keen and motivated and all twelve arrived at 8:30am on Monday morning to begin a 3-day course which was designed to both challenge and inspire participants.

Fergus Gloster, SVP Corporate Sales EMEA, launced BizAcademy, and opened with a session that kept the students both in awe and simultaneously eager to tackle the challenge competitively. The students faced a challenge: to act as a Youth Employment Agency, and pitch their company, as a supplier, into two large corporations. They needed to win the recruitment contract.

Over the course of BizAcademy they received training in prospecting, the role of PR, objection handling, communicating effectively plus influencing through questioning, and how to close a deal. All sessions were hands-on and interactive, and delivered by a massive number of salesforce employees - over 30 people participated in developing and presenting the sessions. BizAdublin1 A number of friends of salesforce - partners and customers also contributed to the program. Ronan McNamara from Cumara gave a very impressive session on Effective Communication Skills, and Cathy Riordan introduced the complex role of Public Relations to a company.

The two teams, titled, 'Jobs4You(th)'and 'Yeah!' presented their company pitches to two corporate panels - Corporate Giants and the Really Big Clothing Company Inc. The boards were comprised of some volunteers external to salesforce.com - Anne Kinsella, from the National Federation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) Ireland, Aine Denn (The TAS Group), Colm Mulcahy and Frank McCracken (SaasPoint) and John Brierty and Erika Woodcock from salesforce.com.

The two teams gave outstanding performances which resulted in a tie-breaker! John Brierty was particularly tough in his approach to grilling the prospective Employment Agencies earning him the nickname 'Simon Cowell' for the day. But somebody had to win, and after a two hour debate between all panel members, a winning team was selected. Student presenting her Company to Board membersJobs4You(th) were the winners. But that was not to be announced until the students had completed a full afternoon on how to pitch themselves, an innovative approach to career development delivered by Eilis O'Shea, salesforce.com Ireland Recruitment Manager. Sessions were kept lively with individual mentoring plus 'speed interviewing' sessions.

As the final evening came to a close, Stephanie (18) announced "It's only been three days - and I feel like a different person!" Tracy, a 5th year student said, "I just want to get out there and put everything I've learned into action!" Dublin's Lord Mayor Clr Vincent Jackson kindly hosted the Award Ceremony for BizAcademy graduates. John Brierty thanks a studentParents, teachers and salesforce volunteers all celebrated along with the girls.

As Kieran Carrick, SVP Professional Services and head of the winning team asked, "volunteering on BizAcademy is the best fun I've had in years - when is the next one?" Well, the next BizAcademy takes place in London. Salesforce volunteers, feel free to join in! Yeah! Team It was our pleasure to work with such bright-minded and enthusiastic young students. Congratulations to all the BizAcademy graduates!