Youth Employment UKA youth employment magazine for everyone

www.yeuk.org.uk

What is the youth unemployment landscape?

What’s the best way to write a CV?

A simple guide to apprenticeships

Why the Chilled Food sector is the place to work

MARCH 2013

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Contents3 Editor’s Note4 London Evening Standard and City Gateway launch “Ladder for London” scheme4 Samuel-James Wilson Interview6 Apprenticeships made simple7 Chilled Food Association Interview9 Third annual National Careers Week launches to inspire young people and schools with planning for the future 11 Barclays Retail Development programme12 Survey12 Youth Employment UK - Video Competition14 Aspire Sports: Why we joined Youth Employment UK14 Interview with Petroc College16 Free Coaching from Your Career Mentor17 Upcoming Events18 Why we need employers to work in schools and why they should19 Unemployment is not the fault of the unemployed19 Q: Not sure if it’s the right career for you? A: Get out there and FIND OUT20 Unemployed Geology Graduate Defeats Government’s Workfare Scheme21 Bringing it all together

To contact Youth Employment UK CICBusiness & School membership: ljr@yeuk.org.ukVolunteer Youth Ambassadors: info@yeuk.org.ukEditorial, Advertising & Magazine Content: info@yeuk.org.uk

Visit: www.yeuk.org.ukor Call: 08444 143101

The information contained in this e-Magazine is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by Youth Employment UK CIC and guest editors/blog producers and while we endeavour to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the e-Magazine or the in-formation, products, services, or related graphics contained in the magazine for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.Any views expressed here are not necessarily endorsed by Youth Employment UK CIC, Youth Employment News, Inspire2Exceed, Advertisers, Webmaster or any individuals or organisations.Links outside of Youth Employment UK (external links) are provided for user convenience and do not consti-tute or imply endorsement, recommendation, or favouring by Youth Employment UK.All articles on our site are copyrighted material by the authors to include any graphics that are included with them. Photographs are also copyrighted. If you, the reader, have any grievances with any material that is posted on this site, you are responsible for con-tacting the author in question.This disclaimer is subject to change without notice.

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Editor’s NoteI am really excited about the potential of the Youth Employment Magazine; the idea behind its creation was to provide a single platform where the two most important players in youth unem-ployment could come together; Young People and Employers.

This magazine will hopefully inspire organisations to become more youth friendly by reading the amazing contributions from young people and reading their stories we also hope, it will encourage, support and inspire young people to see that in the main UK employers are trying to invest in youth employment and that there are opportunities and pathways accessible.

For me youth unemployment is an issue for every single Briton, with 1 in 5 young people un-employed it is likely that we all know someone who will be affected by it and we all want I am sure, to live in a vibrant and successful economy, these two things alone should unite us to sup-port youth employment.

Our Positive Youth Charter asks every business, school and young person to sign up to say that they will do their bit to fight youth unemployment, for Youth Employment UK CIC its time to see a wave of change from all of us.

I hope you will enjoy our first issue of Youth Employment Magazine and will take some time out to share it with your network so that the tide can start to turn.

All the best,Laura-Jane Rawlings

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London Evening Standard and City Gateway launch “Ladder for London” scheme

By Joe Lo – Youth Ambassador

London’s biggest daily newspaper is publicis-ing a scheme, aiming to “help unemployed young adults into work through paid appren-ticeships”. On its website it points out what it rightly calls the “shocking facts” of youth unemployment. These make grim reading: 25% of young people unemployed, a 100% in-crease since the general election and less than half these unemployed youngsters managing to claim JSA.

The Evening Standard argues that “the biggest obstacle [to young people gaining employ-ment] is their lack of work experience” so their response has been to encourage London’s employers to offer apprenticeships and to hook up with social enterprise City Gateway to train and provide the young apprentices. The deal for companies is that they take on an apprentice for one year, have them work at least 30 hours a week and pay them at least £2.65 an hour (although the Standard encour-ages the London Living Wage of £8.55 and claims that most of the apprentice placements pay this). In addition most participating busi-nesses get £1,500 a year from the taxpayer as a “sweetener”.

So far, 627 apprentices have been enrolled in London as part of the scheme with Metro Bank (150), Sainsburys (50) and British Gas (32) the biggest participants.

The scheme is clearly seeing some excellent results from The Evening Standard’s initiative. Is this the type of programme that the UK needs to see more of to reduce youth unem-

ployment? What other initiatives can be in-spired from Ladder of London across the UK?

Interested businesses can get involved here:www.standard.co.uk/staticpage/londonladder

Young people can find out more here:www.citygateway.org.uk/apprenticeships/become-an-apprentice

Samuel-James Wilson Interview

Youth Employment UK had the pleasure of in-terviewing a really inspiring young apprentice named Samuel-James Wilson who is a Brick-layer/Builder/Blogger from North Yorkshire. Talk about inspiriational!

Tell us a bit about your blog and what in-spired you to start writing it?It all started one sunny day in a village just outside of Harrogate, North Yorkshire where I was working, I was outside laying my first pa-tio thinking I should be really taking pictures of this so I can look back in years to come at what I have done. A month or so later The Apprentice-Ship was born.

It started just as I thought it would as an on-line diary and it just spiralled from there I am now reaching two thousands hits a month from all over the world it really is crazy to think that many people are interested in my work and my rambles!

I have now just surpassed my two year an-niversary and it’s still going strong, in my recent website update I have included a new page ‘Apprenticeships’ where I now advertise construction apprenticeships all over the U.K. I also include various references from former employers and clients so it has just evolved from a diary to a kind of online C.V/Blog.

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How many apprenticeships have you done? Where have you done them? What was your favourite? I have now just finished my third! I started out as a plumber and completed a two year course and a NVQ L2 in the subject. Then I began my career as a Bricklayer and achieved a NVQ L2 & 3 and I have now just finished my latest apprenticeship with The Prince’s Foundation gaining a Heritage Brickwork NVQ L3.

Both my plumbing and Bricklaying appren-ticeships were done in and around Harrogate. My Heritage Brickwork took part all over the country where I got to work on some amazing buildings and projects including Lincoln Ca-thedral and York Minster which are all docu-mented on the Blog.

I would have to say my favourite was my origi-nal Bricklaying apprenticeship. At this point I had finally found something I had enjoyed and something that I wanted to really progress in.

What are the pros and cons of apprentice-ships and are you a supporter of them and why?I am a HUGE supporter of apprenticeships they gave me the opportunity to make some-thing of myself and my life at a time where I was looking at nothing but the job centre. I am so thankful for all the opportunities I have been given over the years.

I would like to see the colleges improving the way they teach people now. Too much empha-sis is on funding and reaching targets rather than producing great craftsman which is disappointing. In my final year at college I was told this first hand by a tutor.

How do apprenticeships work? Are you paid? At what rate? How long do you do them for?The pay isn’t great. I was on £100 a week when I started and I was working my socks off. I

was determined though. The only way you can learn a trade properly is via an apprenticeship and you have to start off small and then one day hopefully make it big. All trades have vari-ous lengths of apprenticeships. Architects have to spend over five years, it just depends.

Have you ever felt that as an apprentice you are doing work that would usually be done by a fully-paid employee?Absolutely. I am of the mind-set though you have to do the hard and complicated jobs so you fully understand what you’re doing and why.

What do you hope to do in the future?Spreading The Apprentice-Ship love world-wide! I am planning my next adventure al-ready (announcement will be on my Blog soon). In the future I am planning to travel to Africa to help those less fortunate than myself. I have spent my time learning about building and studying techniques and I now feel it’s time to teach those who don’t get the opportu-nities that I have.

Have you any advice for young people look-ing for work?Persistence. Try and try again. If you can’t get work and you know you really want to do it ask if you can work for free for a week or so to prove yourself, volunteer in local projects. Anything you do that can set you apart from the other applicants is worth doing.

You say that you were doing jobs usually done by fully-paid employees for “not great pay” and encourage people to work for free if they can’t get a job. What would you say to people who say that by working for less than a minimum wage you are undermining wage rates in the industry or perhaps putting other bricklayers out of work by doing their jobs for cheaper?It is becoming harder and harder to get no-ticed in the industry due to the amount of

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‘cowboys’ that are more than happy to turn up do a rubbish job, get paid and go home. This is leading to company’s being far more careful of who they employ and rightly so. The only way you can beat this is by showing initiative, network with local people on volunteer proj-ects and yes offer to work for a free.

I understand that some people might argue wage rates etc. but at the end of the day you have to look after yourself and your family, I am in no way implying people should go out there and work for free for the rest of their life’s I am only suggesting it as a good method to get noticed. I can’t see how this would lead to bricklayers being put out of work, if the said bricklayer is good at their job who in the right mind would sack them.

How can our readers get in touch with you and follow what you’re up to?Firstly and most obviously my Blog: www.Apprentice-Ship.com

I am also all over the social media websites:Twitter @SamuelShipFacebook www.facebook.com/TheApprenticeShip

If you need advice on apprenticeships please get in touch I would be more than happy to help anyone.

Apprenticeships made simpleBy Peter Stone from Apprenticeships Life

Apprenticeships have been around for hun-dreds of years now, possibly more. Over the years the process has changed and now the ‘Modern apprenticeships’ involve the appren-tice; the employer; and a training provider. An apprentice is an employee and benefits from

the right to claim unfair dismissal and protec-tion against discrimination. Apprentices are entitled to full employment rights including holidays, rest periods and sick pay.

Before you can take on an apprentice you must first agree the key terms, such as the duration, pay, training aspects and any other general policies that are applicable. Basic rates of pay are set by the government on an annual basis which at the minute stands at £2.65 per hour rising with age; however, employers can pay more and many do.

An Apprenticeship will typically be for a fixed duration. This can range from 12 months to several years, depending on the time reason-ably needed to acquire the skills or qualifica-tion in question. After all, you couldn’t expect a new brick layer to build a house in his/her first month. I always advise employers to offer a work experience period to ensure that both parties are suitable before taking someone on as an apprentice, whether part time or not.

The process:• Determine what recruitment opportunities

you have and if an apprentice could fulfil the vacancy

• Talk to your local college and/or train-ing provider about your requirements, job description, person specification

• The provider will advise on the type of ap-prenticeships programmes available to fill the role and submit suitable applicants to you for interview/assessment

• Select a suitable candidate from the appli-cants

• Support the apprentice within your or-ganisation to learn the skills and gain the experience to successfully complete their apprenticeship

For further information about recruiting ap-prentices you can visit Peter’s website:www.apprenticeshipslife.org.uk

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Chilled Food AssociationInterviewWhen we hear so regularly that there are no jobs available, we thought it would be good to showcase an industry that is recruiting and investing in youth engagement to support its growing staff needs.

What is the chilled food industry?The chilled food industry is one of the UK’s largest growing food sectors. It’s dynamic, fast moving, ever changing and currently worth £14.4bn. It set standards and implements practices like no other country – in short chilled food in the UK leads the world!

Some 25 major companies work across more than one hundred UK production sites giv-ing us over 12,000 different chilled foods. But in this constantly innovating environment many will be changed within a year, thanks to new product development. Chilled food con-tains no artificial preservatives. It is kept fresh and tasty by chilling, in the fridge at between 0-5°C. It includes prepared foods such as ready meals, fresh soups and sandwiches and pizza and raw foods such as leafy salads, stir fry kits and vegetables.

The chilled food industry in the UK is rep-resented by the Chilled Food Association (CFA). CFA was formed in 1989 to establish, continuously improve and promote best hy-gienic practice standards in the production of retailed chilled prepared food. CFA represents many of the leading names in UK chilled pre-pared food production, predominantly sup-plying the retail trade. www.chilledfood.org

What sort of companies are chilled food com-panies?CFA members range from large scale busi-nesses with many different sites, such as Samworth Brothers and Greencore to smaller

operations with just one or two sites such as Natures Way. They are predominantly based in the East of England close to the growers who supply the fresh vegetables and fruit used in the products. They produce own-label food for the leading supermarkets as well as brand-ed products.

What sort of careers are in the sector?There are 60,000 employees in the sector, including 1,750 science degree-requiring technical roles. Food science graduates can chose from a diverse range of opportunities: technical staff ensure quality and standards of production are maintained; microbiological teams deal with food safety and new product developers keep the industry alive with new tastes and ideas. And for non-science gradu-ates there are opportunities across all business divisions from HR to IT and finance.

What sort of qualifications and skills are needed?You’ll need science A and or AS levels, maths and, for graduate entry, a food science or other biological science degree. Academic qualifications are crucial but a passion for the subject helps! Once inside a company if you work hard you’re likely to get the chance to move around and experience a variety of roles.

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So a flexible outlook is vital.

What is the recruitment market like?It’s very good! The chilled food industry is desperate for good food science graduates. Currently one in six vacancies that need a degree are left unfilled. Which is surprising given starting salaries for graduates can be around £25k.

Why is it a good sector to work in?Everyone needs food! Sounds obvious but it’s true. And chilled food is a growing industry with a future. It’s challenging, but hard work brings rewards. The sector offers excellent careers prospects and progression there’s the opportunity to earn around £150k as a group technical director. There are other benefits too – including the opportunity to travel and, even more importantly you’ll be playing a part in keeping the UK fed.

What is the future like for the sector in terms of employment, opportunities and challenges?The biggest problem at the moment is the lack of graduates coming into the industry. This is mainly due to an image problem – there’s a misconception that working in food is poorly paid or is only about catering or cooking – not true, as we’ve talked about earlier. Opportunities will continue to expand and with each new product comes new challenges – from the ingredients to the packaging. And as the public taste changes so must the prod-ucts. So the hunger for fresh ideas is as big as the need for fresh ingredients! Can you tell us a little more about Chilled Education?The CFA realised that the industry is facing a skills shortage, with fewer science graduates coming into the industry. So, in September 2011 it launched Chilled Education, a project designed to tackle the problem at source – in the classroom.

CFA worked with teachers and food industry experts to develop a unique set of web-based resources to be used in the classroom. From lesson plans to fun activities these are all de-signed to inspire and enthuse young people. The resources are also practical and hands-on. The once-seen-never forgotten Glo-Germ kits are popular with teachers to show the impor-tance of proper handwashing and our fridge thermometers help take the chilled message home.

Chilled Education also bring experts out to schools to share their knowledge and experi-ences and take teachers into CFA member fac-tories to witness food production in action. It is now working with over 300 “Cool Schools” and is keen to get more. The team regularly visit science careers fairs and open days to talk to teachers, students and careers advisors. To find out more visit www.chillededucation.org How can our readers find out more about the sector or the work it is doing to support ca-reers in schools?For information on the CFA and the sector visit www.chilledfood.org and to find out more about inspiring and enthusing young people visit www.chillededucation.org

Lastly can you tell us why you are a supporter of Youth Employment UK CIC?I am personally and professionally very con-cerned that graduates are not coming into the chilled food sector. I would not want to work in another other industry but not everyone is aware of the benefits it offers. So if more in-formation becomes readily available through such initiatives then this can only be a good thing.

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Third annual National Careers Week launches to inspire young people and schools with planning for the future

Careers guidance for young people has never been more im-portant, with nearly one million young people unemployed in the UK[1] and businesses vocal about the skills gap they face when recruiting at entry level[2]. To help schools and young people ac-cess the support and information they need to improve their skills, the third annual National Careers Week (NCW) took place from 4 to the 8 March 2013, organised by Careersinfo in partnership with Barclays and supported by the National Apprenticeship Service and The Department for Work and Pensions.

NCW is a UK-wide celebration of careers information, advice and guidance, developed to encourage education providers to bring to-gether students, local employers and advisers to provide careers activities. It aims to inspire schools, academies and colleges to offer ca-reers advice and guidance, highlighting the free resources and support available, while at the same time, inspiring employers to connect with young people.

During the week over 1,500 schools, acad-emies and colleges signed up to provide more than 1.1 million students the support they need to make informed choices about their first step on the career ladder. It is estimated that 25,000 free NCW resources were down-

loaded during the week including videos, case studies and information about the world of work.

Ashok Vaswani, Chief Executive of Barclays Retail and Business Banking, said:

“It has never been more important for young people, particularly those who are vulner-able, to be able to access the help and support they need to learn the future career oppor-tunities available to them. This is why we’re so pleased to be supporting National Careers Week and give schools, academies and col-leges access to the resources they need to help young people achieve their aspiration for the future.“

Noah Konig, Head of Digital at Careersinfo and the founder of National Careers Week, said:

“This year’s Careers Week has been sensa-tional and provided a real impetus for edu-cators to deliver quality careers guidance to young people in ways that capture their imag-ination and interest like never before.”

Noah believes the secret behind the success of NCW is that the week was initiated out of a demand within schools to focus part of the ac-ademic calendar on developing their students’ futures. “National Careers Week was created in response to a growing desire from teach-

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ers to be able to offer their students quality career guidance at a time when budgets were being tightened. There are lots of initiatives created at the top of government and indus-try that don’t make the desired impact down on the ground, in schools. National Careers Week puts the power in the hands of the educators and the students; creating focus, materials and excitement for them to tailor a week of activity to the needs of their students. It is a real down-on-the-ground success story, which we’re so proud to be part of.”

Activities during the week in participating schools included special guest speakers, day trips out to local employers, ‘build-a-career’ workshops, CV writing exercises, and even fashion shows demonstrating ‘what and what not to wear at job interviews’.

Malet Lambert School in Hull was one of the most active during National Careers Week 2013 with over 30 careers activities for stu-dents to participate in across a variety of subjects.

Stephan Logan is the Head of Careers at Malet Lambert and a big supporter of NCW. He said, “National Careers Week is a hugely ex-citing week of inspiration, motivation, em-ployability and enterprise with so many dif-ferent activities that will engage students and really get them thinking about their future.”

Stephan also thinks that the activities schools provide during NCW could help them meet their Ofsted requirements to provide impar-tial, independent and external careers guid-ance for their students, and says that prepar-ing young people for employment is vital in schools. “Students need to know what is available to them when they leave education and be best prepared to achieve their full po-tential. Careers Week not only gives students the opportunity to find out about future ca-reer paths but it also creates a real buzz and excitement which encourages them to think more positively about their futures.”

National Careers Week will take place next year between 3 to the 7 March 2014.

To register for more information visit the website www.nationalcareersweek.com

[1] www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/sn05871[2] www.manpowergroup.us/campaigns/talent-short-age-2012/pdf/2012_Talent_Shortage_Survey_Results_

US_FINALFINAL.pdf

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Barclays Retail Develop-ment programme

Considering a career in Leadership and Management? Want to start your career and continue studying? The Barclays Retail Development programme offers the best of both Worlds.

Here at Barclays, we have created a unique and innovative development programme in close conjunction with the Lord Ashcroft In-ternational Business School at Anglia Ruskin University.

It’s a sponsored degree, so all your tuition fees will be paid for, and you’ll be able to enjoy a university education without incurring any debt. At the same time, it offers you paid work in our retail banking business, as you follow a fast-track route into a leadership role.

The Retail Development Programme really does offer you the best of both worlds. Over the course of three years, you’ll be able to secure yourself a degree while also developing the skills and experience you need to become a branch manager or leader within the Bank.

Along the way, you’ll enjoy the support of a wide range of people, including tutors, an academic mentor, your line manager, the pro-gramme manager and your assigned buddy, all of whom can help ensure you achieve your full potential.

You’ll complete a three-year BA (Hons) in Management and Leadership, but will be work-based and employed by Barclays from day one. There will be three two-week study blocks for you to attend in your first year, and two two-week study blocks in each of your second and third years.

During your studies, you’ll cover a number of modular topics including Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Realities, Career Management and Development and Contemporary Issues for Leadership and Innovation.

At work, meanwhile, you’ll gain experience through a number of structured placements, designed to help establish you as a business professional and develop your leadership skills.

We will pay you a salary from the start, as well as covering your university fees for the three years.

We are currently accepting applications for the programme to start in September 2013.

To read more, and to apply, please visithttp://www.seemore-bemore.com/pro-grammes/school-leaver-programme

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Survey

We recently asked 16-24 year olds what annoys them the most when you are job hunting – here are the results:

To have your opinion heard keep an eye out for future polls on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/YouthEmploymentUK

Youth Employment UK - Video CompetitionWith the number of 16-24 year olds not in education, employment or training our mission is to showcase to businesses the benefits of hiring young people and prove that young people can add value to the world of work and bring a range of skills that can have a positive impact to their employers.

We would like to invite young people to enter a competition to cre-ate a 120 second video which demonstrates that young people (you in particular) are employable and why UK employers should be more “Youth Friendly”The best of the videos will be made into a montage for the Youth Employment UK Site and shown at events all over the UK.

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Winning videos will receive a money can’t buy gift of an amazing work experience opportunity with some of the leading business men and women in the UK.

Video Title “Take a chance on me”Brief Create a two minute video which describes/demon-

strates why you are employable and what you have done in addition to your education to make yourself “work ready”.

Type of Media Any media can be used – 3D, Animation, Cartoon, live action, the video can be as artistic as your imagination allows as long as it is in keeping with the title and brief.

File submission is a maximum of 100MB with a mini-mum resolution of 320x240pixels in MPEG Format.

Who can enter? The competition is open to anyone living in the UK who is aged 16-24 years old.

How to enter You must first be a member of Youth Employment UK: www.yeuk.org.uk/young-people

Submit your film to info@yeuk.org.uk before the 28.03.2013

By submitting your film you are agreeing to our com-petition rules, see www.yeuk.org.uk for more informa-tion.

ntries submitted after midnight on the 28.03.2013 will not be accepted. Entries must NOT be obscene, illegal or infringe on any third party intellectual property rights.

Judging Judging will be conducted by the Youth Employment UK Advisory Board and a specialist film producer, winners announced on the 5th of April 2013.

Judges decision is final.

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Aspire Sports: Why we joined Youth Employment UKLast month it was reported that British youth unemployment is rising faster than any other G8 country since the start of the recession.

The study undertaken by the Work Founda-tion explained that the problem cannot be attributed just to the recession and the Gov-ernment has been urged to follow the lead of other European countries by taking measures including more apprenticeships and increased training opportunities (source: Daily Mail).

Young people in the UK get a lot of bad press, wrongly so in our opinion. Aspire Sports cur-rently has a team of 35 full time employees. 85% of our team is operations based deliver-ing sports and physical activity programmes into a variety of settings including schools and the NHS.

The average age of our operations team is 23. Two members of this team are apprentices both just turned 20 years of age. Both individ-uals have been with Aspire Sports since March 2012 and have completed their NVQ Level 2 in Activity Leadership. They have both pro-gressed onto a Level 3.

They have been mentored by people who have developed with Aspire Sports after joining us at the age of 23 and 24. Not even a year into their employment and both have developed an array of new qualities and skills. Their con-fidence has grown, they have become more than just ‘assistants’ and are close to being competent ‘Educators’ who will eventually lead sessions on their own. Young people are at the heart and soul of our business. They should be at the heart and soul of every busi-ness.

We have heard too many stories about busi-nesses taking apprentices on as a ‘tick box’ exercise. As a means of cheap labour and of in effect, making money for their organisations. This is wrong, misleading and completely un-fair to those young people who see apprentice-ships as a way into the real world.

Young people need a chance. Work with them and help them blossom into people who make a difference! We did and we will continue to do so!

This is why we have recently become members of Youth Employment UK. A national cam-paign that aims to help increase the number of young people in employment in the UK. If you are a young person or a business, check them out!

For more information on Aspire Sports please visit www.aspire-sports.co.uk

Interview with Petroc CollegePetroc College has recently joined Youth Em-ployment UK as an Education Ambassador, we think they are a great example of how edu-cation can support it learners post education. Here is our interview with Louise Laing.

So your role at Petroc College is The Job Shop Coordinator, can you tell us a little about The Job Shop and what you do?The Job Shop is a free service being offered to Petroc students and local employers to help bridge the gap between college and em-ployment. Our students are given advice on

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employability, constructing their CV and interview techniques as well as being put in touch with local organisations looking for employees. We invite employers to post their vacancies with us be that for paid employ-ment, work experience, trainee programme, apprenticeships or volunteer opportunities, all either part-time or full-time.

My role is to drive the whole concept forward, managing all areas of its development and maintenance, developing relationships with key colleagues, partners, employers, students, the community and schools to examine and achieve the best employment outcomes for our learners.

Is supporting students post education and into employment important to the college? Extremely. In our 16-18 young learners strat-egy we state that in our aims we will ensure that our young people achieve outstanding results in vocational courses and progress into high quality jobs and that we will work with businesses to develop apprenticeships, em-ployment and work experience opportunities.

Do you think Petroc stands out as an “em-ployability” college. Whilst this is a fairly new initiative for us, we recognise the importance of developing em-ployability skills for our learners and we will continue to develop this in every way possible. It is important that our student programmes incorporate pathways for our learners to fol-low in order that they fulfil their aspirations and achieve their goals.

Tell us a little about your event that is coming up, what is it about, what will happen and what outcomes are you looking for?“Be Inspired, Get Hired. The Job Shop Em-ployability Week”. We are holding an event over four days (18-21 March) on our main site campus at Barnstaple. One of the primary aims of the event is to facilitate face to face

contact between local employers and employ-ees of the future. Additionally, we are focus-sing on delivering sessions on employability skills, i.e. mock interviews, interview tech-niques, the importance of a good CV, confi-dence building and personal presentation. We hope that as many of our students as possible can be involved and by participating gain some invaluable information and knowledge that will inspire them and give them greater confidence for their journey into employment.

What are the youth unemployment rates like in Barnstable and Devon in general?Youth unemployment rates in North Devon are generally falling at a faster rate than na-tionally, however seasonal employment op-portunities which are often more accessible for younger people will impact upon rates falling at certain times of the year.

What are the most common barriers to work for your students? Living in a rural area presents its own chal-lenges to our students in terms of availability and frequency of transportation. A recent survey we did with our students certainly highlighted this as well as the high levels of competition they face and being able to break the cycle of “how do you get work experience when employers want you to have experience to take you on”. A significant number of stu-dents also believe that employers don’t want to employ young people.

What are your concerns for the future for young people?One of my biggest concerns is our young people losing hope in terms of their future employment prospects.

You have become the first Education Ambas-sador for Youth Employment UK can you tell us why you have joined and what you are looking forward to in working with us?

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Having just conducted our own student sur-vey, it was heartening to see that our findings virtually mirrored the unemployment chal-lenges that Youth Employment UK have iden-tified. The idea of young people being able to access one sensible place with zones for dif-ferent pathways, explaining the how, the what and the why, very much fits with my vision for The Job Shop. I am delighted to become part of this inspirational organisation in order to champion our young people.

Have you got any ideas how you will promote your new membership to students and col-leagues?We will use every resource available to us here to raise the profile within Petroc of our membership to Youth Employment UK. We are working on a regular employer newsletter and this will undoubtedly be one of our major news stories.

www.petroc.ac.uk

Free Coaching from Your Career MentorYour Career Mentor (YCM) is offering free coaching for a limited number of young un-employed people for a limited period.

What is coaching?Coaching is a conversation between two people: the coach and the client/coachee (you). In simple terms, the role of the coach is to support you in identifying and achiev-ing your goals by using a variety of tools and techniques.

The coach will help you to move from where you are now to where you want to be much quicker than if you are working on your own.For example: if you don’t know what your ideal career is, YCM will help you to identify

it; If you do know what your ideal career is but are struggling to make it happen, YCM will help you to make progress towards it.

Success is not guaranteed and is ultimately down to you and the actions that you take. Coaching empowers you with the awareness and responsibility to change your life for the better.

Free coachingFor a limited period YCM is offering free coaching to a limited number of unemployed young people on a first come first served basis.Coaching can take place via telephone, Skype or face-to-face dependent upon your prefer-ence and location.

For further information please email Pete Knight, the Principal and Lead Coach, at peter.knight@yourcareer-mentor.com with “Free Coaching” as the subject.

Alternatively go to www.yourcareer-mentor.com and leave a reply on the “Free Coaching” page including your email address. Please note that your reply will not be published.

What are you waiting for?Take a positive step towards changing your life for the better today.

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Upcoming EventsRunning an event that aims to support youth unemployment? Let us know and we will share it here.

When What Who How

14th March Berkshire Apprentice-ship Adventure

Businesses and Young People

www.learningtowork.org.uk/media/44650/apprentice-ship%20advert.pdf

18th – 22nd March

Petroc College – Job Shop Week

Students and Businesses jobshop@petroc.ac.uk

20th MarchIn the Know – Youth Employment UK Em-ployability Workshop

16-24 year olds http://intheknow.eventbrite.co.uk

6th April Under the Radar – Isle of Wight 16–24 year olds

http://young-collective.tum-blr.com/post/43220441210/event-under-the-radar

16th April Deloitte Insights Event 16-24 year olds http://mycareer.deloitte.

com/uk/en/schools/events

18th April The Future of Work – The Student Voice

Businesses and Young People

www.brightfutures.co.uk/home/events/national-conferences/employability-conference.html

23rd AprilYouth Employment UK - Employability Excellence Workshop

Schools, Businesses and Providers info@yeuk.org.uk

8th – 9th May Youth Employment Convention Businesses

www.cesi.org.uk/events/youth-employment-conven-tion

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Why we need employers to work in schools and why they shouldBy InspireEducation

To drive our economy we need to ensure that our young people have the relevant skills and aspirations to contribute successfully to the world of work whilst the onus is on education to provide an academic grounding, the need for business to support employability skills grows daily.

According to a recent UKCES study 29% of employers citied work experience as critical, 45% saying its significant when considering applications from young people.

This is causing a worrying “Catch 22” situ-ation for young people; schools are finding it more and more difficult to provide work experience opportunities for their pupils leav-ing many young people without the chance of gaining some experience before trying to enter the world of work.

It may seem a little daunting the idea of pro-viding some work experience to a 16 year old, the red tape might be off putting. But this is why Youth Employment UK developed a Posi-tive Youth Charter that just asks us all to do a little more, it does not have to be a big gesture because Youth Employment UK knows that if we can get UK employers to do just one more thing to make ourselves “Youth Friendly” then the youth unemployment landscape would be very different.

So what can be done by UK employers?

• A careers talk in a school• Attending a careers fair or event• Support enterprise challenges• Work experience• Mentoring• Work shadowing • Support Mock Interviews• Site visits• CPD events for teachers

From a one hour commitment once a year to offering work experience, there are so many different ways we can all do a little something extra that will have a really positive impact on our young people.

Positive Youth Charter for Employers

By signing this charter I agree to the contin-ued development of mine and my organisa-tion’s skills, attitudes and behaviours in respect of the recruitment, support and engagement of young people.

Can you agree to supporting young people? Are you already doing it? Then maybe you should sign up to the Positive Youth Charter and help us fight youth unemployment.

InspireEducation is a specialist Careers and Employability company, working with schools and businesses across the UK www.i2e-education.co.uk

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Unemployment is not the fault of the unemployedBy Joe Lo

For me, one of the most infuriating and de-pressing things about being unemployed is the way society looks down upon you. Politi-cians and their media allies have tried to shift the blame for unemployment away from their failed economic policies and towards the un-employed themselves.

The most shocking embodiment of this argu-ment was the sympathy in some newspapers in May 2012 for those who committed an arson attack on the Phillpot family in which six children died. Some right-wing commen-tators, such as Carol Malone, argued that the Phillpot family had effectively brought it upon themselves by being a family of seventeen who relied on social security . This is an extreme example but is indicative of a growing cam-paign to demonise those on benefits, particu-larly unemployment benefit.

There are many reasons this rhetoric makes no sense but I’ll focus on just one here. The simple fact is that in any capitalist society there are more people looking for work than there are jobs. This is particularly the case in a country like ours which is close to experi-encing a triple-dip recession and has imple-mented austerity measures where there are 2.5 million people unemployed and only 480,000 vacancies.

This unfortunate reality means that we need 2 million people to be unemployed. Unem-ployment is a tough, boring, demoralising and thankless task but someone (2 million some-ones in this case) has to do it and as a reward get only £50 a week if you’re young. On top of that, you have to put up with smug disap-proval from those fortunate enough to be in

work who resent having “their taxes” spent on keeping you alive (despite the fact that only 0.00002% of public spending goes on jobseek-ers allowance). If these people think being unemployed is such a great life then why don’t they volunteer to do it? So, unemployed people keep your head up. You’re taking on a tough, vital role in austerity Britain and doing it for little reward. Here’s hoping you don’t have to do it for long.

[1] http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commenta-tors/owen-jones-hatred-of-those-on-benefits-is-dan-gerously-out-of-control-7763793.html

Q: Not sure if it’s the right career for you?A: Get out there and FIND OUTBy Keshav Bhatt - Youth Employment Ambassador

I graduated in July 2011 from Reading Universi-ty with a BA in English Literature. Like most graduates entering the ‘real world’ of employment, I had completed 3 years of academic study and was entering a phase of uncertainty and curiosity.

Having worked really hard in my final year, after graduating (quite literally - immediately after my ceremony!) I hopped on a plane to Australia to visit family for the summer.

However, I’ve always been the type of person who hates not having something to do, or some purpose to fulfil and I decided to trans-form my supposed ‘holiday’ into an opportu-nity to get some work experience abroad. I

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had so many questions about my future that I knew I needed to answer, and to do this pretty soon so I set upon searching for those answers. I still got to enjoy myself and have a great time with my family, but I also got to start preparing for the life I would be going back to.

Like many other English graduates, teaching seemed like an obvious fit for me as a career. I had volunteered throughout university life as a teaching assistant, a student mentor, and as an ambassador of the university for Aim-Higher. As a result, I wanted to step up a little, and really experience it for myself. I wanted to know every detail of what I was entering: how much lesson planning is it? What are the worst days like? What are the best days like? What are the things I need to know from the people who know it?

So what happened? I had a great time working in a local school for a few weeks and got some experience in teaching in the classroom at as many different age levels as possible - from nursery, all the way up to secondary. I spent my lunch breaks asking as many questions to as many different teachers, all with vast amounts of knowledge and experience to find out if this was really the right option for me.

I came back with a) experience of teaching abroad and b) a really clear idea of what to expect if I chose teaching.

If you’re not sure what to do, or if it’s the right career for you, get yourself out there and start asking the people who have done it questions. Those teachers were like potential future Kes-hav Bhatt’s. And even though I didn’t choose teaching as a career, I still have the experience of working in another country to add to my CV and the skills I gained from doing it too.

Go for it! You have nothing to lose!!

Keshav is the founder of the brilliant Revolution Hive, inspiring and supporting young people to be the best they can be http://revolutionhive.comKeep an eye out for his video blogs!

Unemployed Geology Graduate Defeats Govern-ment’s Workfare SchemeBy Joe Lo

Cait Reilly is 24-years old. After study-ing geology at Birmingham University she hoped to work in a museum so found herself a placement in one. Initially she worked for the minimum wage then she worked unpaid and signed on to survive. After two months of unemployment she was informed of an open day for people interested in jobs in the retail sector. She was told by her adviser that the scheme was a week training followed by a guaranteed job interview. After two months of unemployment she claims she was happy to go along as “like more than a million young people today, [she found] living on £53 a week extremely difficult, and would be delighted to find any paid work”.

However at the open day she was shocked to discover that the “one-week training” was in fact up to six-weeks. As she was already on work experience (in the museum) and already had retail experience she told her advisor the scheme was not for her only to be told that she had no choice but to take part. Reilly characterised the scheme as “not training, but two weeks’ unpaid work stacking shelves and cleaning floors. I came out with nothing; Poundland gained considerably”.

This feeling of injustice, impotent anger and disillusionment is common to many victims of

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workfare. Unlike many others though, Reilly decided to do something about it and took the government to court and the scheme was de-clared “unlawful” primarily as the participants were not given enough information about it or lied to by the Jobcentre.

Boycott Workfare is reporting that after this ruling, Jobcentre staff are wrongly telling claimants that “nothing has changed” when in fact it has. Any sanctions resulting from the unlawful scheme should have been lifted im-mediately and put back to first-tier sanctions. There is no longer a requirement to participate in any of the schemes and anyone who has been sanctioned for refusing to attend should appeal against this as soon as possible.

More information about the ruling and how it affects you can be found at the link below but the moral of this story is what can be achieved when unemployed people refuse to be bullied and stick up for their rights. Well done Cait Reilly!

www.boycottworkfare.org

Bringing it all togetherBy Danielle McDonald Colour Your Success

Youth Employment UK is an incredible or-ganisation with a clear and effective aim to get young people into em-ployment. Laura-Jane’s vision is one which I support and believe in. As someone who works with young people and an advocate for helping to tackle youth unemployment the decision to become a member and supporter was a no brainer!

What I love about Youth Employment UK and makes it stand out is it’s not about reinvent-ing the wheel or duplicating what’s already out there. It’s about creating a platform which brings together young people, schools, busi-nesses and youth organisations in one place.

I’m also an HR professional working with new and growing businesses. I’ve seen first-hand what 16 to 24 year olds can offer companies out there. Young people within our com-munities throughout the UK have so much to give to a business from creative ideas, new skills and creating a talent pipeline for the future. There is much talk in the press of the need for business involvement to tackle youth unemployment. We need more businesses to step up and sign up to the YEUK Positive Youth Charter and show their support for being positive about employing young people and providing opportunities.

Youth organisations also have a key role to play. Forget competition. Let’s collaborate for a greater cause with one aim - to get young people into employment.

Talking only gets us so far, we need to work together and take action.

“A choir is made up of many voices, including yours and mine. If one by one all go silent then all that will be left are the soloists.

Don’t let a loud few determine the nature of the sound. It makes for poor harmony and dimin-ishes the song.” - Vera Nazarian

Danielle McDonald, Founder and Director at Colour Your Success www.colouryoursuccess.com and Vibrant People www.vibrantpeople.co.uk

Twitter: @ColourURSuccess | @vibrantpeople

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