YWF Employability Workshop Insights

YWF Employability Workshop

13^th September 2018, Landsec

Objectives:

• Share knowledge on best practice of employability and sector focussed careers initiatives for young people in Westminster
• Identify any gaps in provision and barriers for young people
• Establish the drivers for businesses in engaging local young people through employability initiatives
• Identify what makes employability initiatives attractive, interesting and relevant for young people
• Shape the YWF’s emerging strategy and specifically our Employability Pilot including structure, activities and potential partners
• Provide an opportunity for networking and forming new partnerships

 

Attendees:

Representatives from:

• Westminster youth clubs
• Young People
• Westminster City Council
• Westminster Business Sector

Insight:

• What career and employability schemes exist currently in Westminster?
• Hostels at Cardinal Hume
• City West Home generally has young engagement employability – through Amberley and Churchill Gardens youth clubs
• Westminster Employment Service
• Paddington Development Trust
• Vodafone, Capital Arches provide programmes for teenagers to give them a career path à but need more awareness of such schemes

 

What does good practice look like?

• Trustful relationship built between children and people giving advice.
• Benchmarking
• Informed but not strict
• In order to effectively engage young people need to understand their motivation for working, skills or financial?
• If there’s progression in the work, and it can outcome into other opportunities.
• Need earlier engagement with young age groups in schools

 

2.) What are the drivers for businesses in engaging local young people through employability initiatives?

• Engaging young people in the range of career options available
• Future talent
• Increasing diversity and social mobility
• Staff retention
• Local opportunities for businesses to get into schools
• Volunteering
• Recruitment, but many recruitment models are outdated and don’t target future skills
• Global youth unemployment – 30%
• Skills gap – as children aren’t being taught to adjust to the future and aren’t being prepared it à changing perceptions, helping figure out the “how” we connect generation to teach knowledge and the needs of the workforce
• Increasing local community opportunities to make them more inclusive and local people for local jobs
• Focus on development of skills rather than aptitude – life -long learners

 

• What makes employability initiatives attractive, interesting and relevant for young people?

 

• Diverse employers/sector so young people feel represented within an industry. Often feel they ‘can’t see themselves’ in that working environment and hence never apply
• Young people as brand ambassador to represent the brand
• Wages – especially for apprenticeships. Financial reward is a huge motivator, more than skills, for some young people
• Emphasise the long-term benefits/ transferable skills which are included in the job
• Guarantee they will receive reference and feedback
• Paid part time work
• Word of mouth from other friends or people they’re comfortable with
• Engagement à speak their language and not using jargon
• Recognition/ certificate to verify the skills they have obtained from experiences/workshops
• Understanding that success is not out of their reach, especially for people from disadvantaged backgrounds

 

• What are the barriers for young people in engaging with a wide range of employment industries and careers?

 

• Getting out of their comfort zone
• CV might not be up to the standard – start building it from earlier years
• Confidence
• Fear of not fitting in
• Not understanding jargon/ways of working
• Schools à only measure success through grades and not any other skills
• Need to normalise barriers to cope, everyone feels anxious at some point in their career
• Taking their own time out to get involved
• Parental pressure/anxiety can be a barrier to young people taking advantage of certain opportunities
• Lack of perseverance/ skills
• Apprentices have a specific age bracket
• Young people feel they don’t know which opportunities exist for them and can’t decide which ones are right for them

 

• What is missing? Where are the gaps in provisions in Westminster?

 

• Youth Provisions – support for young people
• Conferences
• Referral systems
• Career guidance – understanding of the local labour market
• Knowledge of actual jobs (narrow awareness)
• Work experience isn’t coordinated e.g. businesses don’t offer the same time period available to schools and drop in provision from One EBP
• Insight days for business visits to give information to students
• Funding in schools to facilitate more employability training
• Showing how to support young people to find their passion
• No one is explaining what is out there
• Not knowing the different roles within each industry à within each company
• Tracking NEETs who don’t meet high threshold

 

• YWF Employability Pilot – YWF has funding to support an employability pilot in Westminster youth clubs. What ideas do you have to make this project a success?

 

• Give employment advice, but through the Young ambassadors so young people can relate to their experiences, especially Apprentices
• Create a website/catalogue of opportunities that are available to young people à apprentices, universities
• Open days – case studies to challenge misconceptions of big brands.
• Careers fairs – modern version to make it more interactive and a variation of sectors (science/music/art)
• Targeting young people most at risk of becoming NEETs
• Soft skills/ personal development – building confidence so young people feel able to succeed in new unfamiliar working environments
• Marketing strategies to recruit young people
• Be transparent with young people
• Sharing experiences and success/ struggle stories
• Let young people go into the office, breaking down barriers