EveryYouth’s Michelle Blackburn spoke to young people in Aberdeen about their roadmap to employment: 

Having worked with various youth organisations over the last few years, I felt that I had a good grasp of the challenges disadvantaged young people faced when trying to gain meaningful fulltime employment. However, joining EveryYouth last July has made me realise that there are so many more barriers that we need to break down in order for a young person to thrive. 

I had the pleasure of running an employability workshop with Tev Warrander at Aberdeen Foyer, one of EveryYouth’s Delivery Partners. During the session young people opened up about their hopes and aspirations for the future and possible roadblocks they may face along the way to fulfilling their dreams.

Their ideas were captured beautifully by Scottish artist Rosie Cunningham at Illustration etc in the illustration above. We were later joined by Prince William and Diary of a CEO podcast host Stephen Bartlett who were both interested to hear the young people’s views. 

It was obvious that we, as professionals working to support disadvantaged young people, can only do so much. We can help to guide them, upskill them, provide access to bursaries but ultimately, employers need to play their part. Employers must provide access to meaningful jobs and look at the young person’s potential, not just at their qualifications or experience. They need to be given a fair chance at interview and most importantly, they need feedback. 

“How can we ever expect young people to learn from their experiences, increase their resilience, and successfully gain employment if no feedback is given?”

It was heartbreaking to see how despondent one young person was when she explained to me how she had attended several interviews but had heard nothing afterwards. Nothing. Not even a ‘thank you very much for attending but you have been unsuccessful this time’. She said it made her feel worthless. How can we ever expect young people to learn from their experiences, increase their resilience, and successfully gain employment if no feedback is given?  

Employers need to be more understanding. Project Flourish, in collaboration with Hays, is helping employers do just that. With ongoing pilots across the UK we are starting to see young people fulfil their dreams of gaining a meaningful job. Full wraparound support is provided – from courses to upskill their CVs and interview skills training, bursaries for essentials such as workwear and equipment and eventually a rent deposit, a workplace mentor and full pastoral support, the project is ensuring young people can truly ‘flourish’. 

The Royal Foundation’s Homewards programme announced recruitment agency Hays as its latest ‘Activator’ in Aberdeen on March 27. Homewards also announced the expansion of Project Flourish – an employability scheme for young people at risk or experiencing homelessness created by Hays and EveryYouth.