Collaboration for a Resilient Generation

Businesses say they want young people with confidence and life skills, if that is the case, we need to lead by example and help them achieve this.

This week has been ‘work discovery week’, a week where schools and businesses in the North East come together to give young people real insight into the world of work to prepare them for their futures. I only just found out about work discovery week today, through the Mussel Club. I attended a breakfast panel this morning at the Stadium of Light where the panel were head teachers and the audience, mostly business representatives. 

This was unlike many other events I have attended through the Mussel Club or indeed any networking organisation in the North East, where some events struggle to engage audiences, this one could have gone on for hours. As is so often the case, I was unsure as to whether the 8-10am session would be worth my time but I can safely say I think all 75 attendees will agree that it was. So much so, that I had to take the time to get my thoughts on business and school collaboration on paper to share with my network.

Although it is difficult to summarise the event, which included so many opinions, suggestions and ideas, I feel very strongly that this should be the first of many discussions. North East businesses and schools can collaborate for mutual benefit at limited cost to create a better future for our region. The main messages I took from today were.

• Schools want to work with businesses but businesses have concerns about the ability of young people to add value to justify the time and effort put into work experience, placements or internships.
• Schools and businesses alike agree that the current curriculum is not suitable for business, with a lack of emphasis on core skills required in the work place. Basic digital skills, confidence and life skills were highlighted as the top areas of concern.
• The decisions about how to educate our young people are not always made by the right people.

These are big sweeping statements but the majority of people in the room today agreed. Ultimately something has to change. Why are young people being educated just to tick boxes and achieve results that have little bearing on employability? Why are they feeling disheartened by “tales of doom and gloom” as one lecturer said. It is our responsibility as employers in the region to focus on the positives of business in the North East, this is a message constantly made by members and leaders of organisations such as the Chamber of Commerce, the Entrepreneurs Forum and the Mussel Club. The North East is home to many inspirational business leaders. Sir Peter Vardy spoke at the Entrepreneurs Forum conference this year and was incredibly inspiring and optimistic. There are so many more stories of success, Paul Callaghan, Bob Paton, Lucy Armstrong, I could go on.

Young people need access to businesses and their leaders to encourage them to be creative, confident, push boundaries and find their place in a thriving work place. I run a very small organisation, 2 full time and 2 part time staff. We see 10 to 15 volunteers through our doors each year, many of whom are young people with a skill set to grow our business. I recently took on a 15 year old young lady for her week’s work experience, mainly as a favour to her Father who is a big supporter of the charity I run. I knew I would have to take some time to come up with an idea suitable for her skill set and interests but I wanted to make it mutually beneficial. A CV and a 20 minute chat was all it took to work out that this 15 year old could add value to my business through her knowledge of social media platforms. I grabbed the opportunity to task her with producing a report and presentation on how we can better utilise social media to grow our business. I will be taking her presentation to my board next week.

Businesses say they want young people with confidence and life skills, if that is the case, we need to lead by example and help them achieve this. Let’s work together to help schools to create a resilient generation of employable young people in the North East and make time for what could be a great asset to your business.

It would be remiss of me not to put forward the voice of a young person, so here is a paragraph from our 15 year old work experience student from the blog I asked her to write as part of her experience…

“When I was looking for my work experience placement I didn’t want to do what everyone else was doing. I wanted to do something I found interesting and I would benefit from in the future, not just making teas for people and sitting around doing nothing, I wanted to be productive. I have taken a lot from my time here at COCO. What I have achieved and learnt has made me think that I would enjoy working with a charity or working in social media.

I am really thankful that I was allowed to complete my work experience at COCO as I had such a fabulous time I don’t want to go back to school anymore next week because it will be really boring compared to COCO”.