Work Aware – Business opportunity to support young people

We are delighted to announce that Glasgow Chamber of Commerce’s innovative employer-led ‘Work Aware’ initiative in partnership with DYW Glasgow, Glasgow City Council, FARE Scotland and Inspiring Scotland has now been awarded an SCQF level 3 credit rating by the SQA!

The purpose of the Work Aware project is to provide young people with different employer visits over the course of 12 weeks, and use ‘Glasgow as a Classroom’ by providing young people the opportunity to visit different areas of the city and understand different entry-level positions that could be available to them.

So far, this project has engaged 150 pupils at risk of disengagement from school. Participating employers represent a wide range of industries, including McDonald’s, CCG, Glasgow Airport, the King’s Theatre, and many others in between.

Recruitment for next year’s visits are now open for employers who would like to host insight sessions and workplace visits for our S4 pupils across the academic term. Employers will participate in a minimum of one and a maximum of 3 visits per cohort with two cohorts currently recruiting. Each visit will include 2 hours of employer activity and 2 hours of hosting the employability skills session supported by FARE Scotland.

Feedback from pupils:

“I can’t believe I managed to do full days on Tuesdays. I am surprised I actually stuck at something and even learned new things. I am proud of myself.”

“It has made a difference to me because I only attend school in the morning. I have become more confident and tried to push myself and listen to everything.  I think being on the course has made me become more mature and take a step away from listening to what others say and try to believe in myself.” 

Programme highlights so far:

• Increased engagement of young people from under 25% to over 80%
• An average of 30 qualifications per cohort
• Increased demand from the employer network for participation and development

Employer benefits:

• Early inspiration and guidance for young people around available roles and pathways to begin process of solving skills gaps
• Enabling CPD of staff to add value to recruitment and development processes
• Identifying and nurturing talent and providing direct pathways to employment from school
• Closer links with Colleges and Universities
• Effective partnership working with other organisations to pool time and resources to solve common problems

To discover more, please contact us here.