Dragons’ Den businessman tells Deele College pupils how to make their millions

Peter Casey from Dragons’ Den made a special visit to Deele College Raphoe this week to give a talk to business studies students about life in business and creating new ideas.

The successful businessman, who has close links with Donegal, spoke to second and sixth year students on Wednesday about his own life in business and encouraged everyone to follow their dream and to take chances to get to the top.

The visit is in conjunction with the implementation of the new Junior Cycle business studies programme, where students now have to apply their theoretical skills to real-life situations. As part of the new Junior Cert, students will have to research different enterprises and use their initiative to create ideas for mini-companies.

The sixth year students, who are currently studying for their Leaving Cert were also in attendance. Mr Casey spoke to them about motivation and setting targets for themselves for not just this year, but for the rest of their lives. He also gave them helpful tips on interview skills and how to create a positive first impression.

Casey is the founder and Executive Chairman of Claddagh Resources, a global recruitment company, which is based in America. He also appears on Dragons’ Den, where he helps budding entrepreneurs to transform ideas into profit-making enterprises.

He told students how he made his first million by twenty-eight, but lost it all by thirty-three, made ten million, which he also lost and then got it all back again. This rollercoaster ride shows that everyone can come back, no matter what the circumstances are.

As the executive of a leading recruitment company, Casey was able to give students excellent advice on preparing for interviews. He explained the importance of preparation to the students. “Preparation is the key to any successful interview. You can never know enough about the company that are interviewing you.”

He also explained how important the initial hand-shake is and how first impressions can make a big impact on the outcome of the interview. “Ten seconds will be normally the time-frame it takes for people to make a judgement. Those ten seconds won’t get you the job, but they could lose you the job. From your hand-shake, to the way you present yourself and the way you speak, people will have judged you.”

Junior-Cert student, Callum Doherty, got the opportunity to use his marketing skills on Mr Casey, as he tried to sell him a new phone. This type of practise is at the centre of the new Junior-Cert and gives the opportunity to students to use their practical skills in each of their subjects. In this regard, Deele College are leading the way with innovative teaching techniques, which encourage students to be more creative.

School principal, Mr Joe Boyle said that the visit was a great opportunity for students to interact with someone who is at the top of his chosen field and gives students the incentive to strive for greatness in their own areas of interest.

“I think it is a great honour for the school to welcome a man of Peter Casey’s standing to the school. The students were amazed at his story and his drive to get to the top and it’s important that students see people who have worked hard to get to where they want to be. This illustrates what it takes to be successful and hopefully that can inspire our students to strive for greatness.”

 

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