Cheltenham Town's under-18s squad have been finding out more about career paths outside of football with a visit to Cheltenham based global clothing company Superdry.
The scholars spent a whole day at Superdry's headquarters on the Kingsditch Industrial Estate as part of the Superdry Academy, learning about how it operates as one of the UK's leading clothing labels and the jobs it provides for hundreds of people in the town.
Forming part of the scholars extended learning in their time as part of the under-18s set-up, the visit was designed to open their eyes to different career options outside of football.
"A big focus for us as a HR function is to spot local talent of all ages that we can bring in to the business to support us to continue to drive the brand forward, this could be for entry level roles, such as our Apprentice roles, or even more senior roles," said Aled James, who works as Superdry's Global Learning & Development Manager.
"We know that as one of a number of big employers in Gloucestershire, that we need to be active in having conversations as early as possible with these talented individuals, especially given that there are a lot of other big employers around here and we're all fishing in the same pond.
"If we can spot the talent early and get people engaged in the brand then, then we’re on to a winner."
The scholars were offered a unique insight into the daily operations of Superdry.
They spent time understanding the strategy of the business, hearing from some of its employees and worked with their videography and photography department to create images and videos featuring themselves in Cheltenham Town kit.
"The first hour is an induction so we do the slides from the main company induction to give the group a good understanding of our history, values and strategy," Aled continued.
"They've been taken on a tour because until you get in and see it, it's very hard to understand how a big global brand like this operates. When you go into design and technical quality areas there's product everywhere and it's quite a special place to work. With the tour we're looking to inspire.
"Four guest speakers came in who are all junior members of the business - one from the videography team, one from HR who is a graphic designer, a HR admin who is on an apprenticeship and someone from IT as well. It's just to make them more aware of the things you have to do to get into those roles. Unless you speak to people how would you know?
"They went into the studio with our videography and photography teams to get a real feel for what it’s like to work in such a creative space.
"They also had a careers session to talk about CVs, to help them understand what a good CV looks like, what needs to be in there, how they write it and then we introduced them to LinkedIn as well and just getting them to be aware of it.
"It’s common knowledge now that recruiters go there to find people. If football still works out then great, they can still use it to get commercial jobs, but if it doesn't work out, they can start marketing themselves on there."