The Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has launched a new campaign called Give an Hour, calling on businesses in the local area to give up just 60 minutes of their time to help young people ready themselves for the ever-evolving and fast-paced world of work.
The scheme is being run jointly by The Careers & Enterprise Company and the LEP, revealing that in just one hour companies can help to transform someone’s future by presenting them with different career opportunities and showing them what skills they’ll need to be ready for work and successful in the workplace.
It emphasises the importance of making the most of the skills, knowledge and career opportunities that businesses have to offer, with activities including mentoring, working with a teacher or interview practice.
“This is a great opportunity for local business to help support our young people to establish their career path, prepare them for the world of work and raise their aspirations. Having local businesses directly involved in careers education lessons brings local job opportunities to life and exposes career options they may have not otherwise considered,” careers hub lead at the LEP Sally Beevers said.
Chief executive of The Careers & Enterprise Company Claudia Harris added there are all sorts of ways that firms can make a big difference to someone’s future and spending time with companies can help show young people more about what the world of work is like and reveal careers that they didn’t even know existed.
As the organisers of the campaign note, it’s not just young people can benefit from this kind of scheme, however. Signing up to the scheme is an excellent way of giving back to the local community, while igniting your own team at the same time.
So how could you get involved? The Give an Hour website has a series of careers activities that could prove inspiring in this regard, such as sharing your own personal career stories to help students understand the reality of going to work and motivating them about jobs that they may not have thought of before.
Speed networking was also suggested, which involves speaking to students on a one-on-one basis or in a small group for a short amount of time, giving students the chance to ask questions about your career and the skills you use on a daily basis, which will help them gain deeper understanding about a wider range of potential careers.
Director of Hopkins Longworth Sarah Hopkins discussed how much she has enjoyed being part of the scheme, saying that she enjoys running personal brand, interview skills and CV writing workshops with young people as it gives her an “amazing feeling of giving back” and the feedback she receives is “truly uplifting and invigorating”.
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