The best way to strengthen your local community? Invest in young people.
Businesses have a powerful opportunity to drive meaningful change by collaborating with young people in their local communities. Initiatives such as insight days and work experience programmes provide accessible and impactful ways for companies to connect with and support local youth, fostering both social and economic progress. This provides invaluable exposure to industries and professional environments that may otherwise feel out of reach for young people from LSEB. These experiences lay the groundwork for young people to build skills, confidence, and aspirations, ultimately contributing to their long-term success.
Insight Days: Building Awareness and Aspiration
"Businesses cannot be successful when the society around them fails" (Paul Polman)
Insight days are an excellent starting point for young people, particularly those from underrepresented or disadvantaged backgrounds, to gain exposure to professional environments. These one-day sessions can introduce students to various industries, job roles, and workplace dynamics, helping demystify corporate life.
By hosting insight days, companies can:
- Inspire Ambition: Young people from underserved communities and LSEB often lack the informal networks of those in professional careers. Insight days can spark interest and motivate students to consider paths they hadn’t previously imagined.
- Provide Practical Guidance: Through workshops on CV writing, interview preparation, and career pathways, companies equip students with skills that immediately increase their employability.
- Foster Connections: Meeting employees from diverse backgrounds allows students to build networks and see relatable success stories.
Work Experience: Turning Inspiration Into Action
"Give young people a chance to express their talents and watch the world change" (Desmond Tutu)
While insight days provide a snapshot, work experience offers deeper engagement. By inviting young people to spend a week or more in their offices, businesses can provide invaluable hands-on learning opportunities.
Work experience programmes can:
- Develop Skills: Young people gain practical experience in communication, teamwork, and problem-solving – skills that are transferable across industries.
- Bridge the Gap: For those from disadvantaged backgrounds, experiencing a professional workplace can plant a seed of aspiration and provide tangible career pathways that students may not have considered or knew existed.
- Build Confidence: Completing tasks and contributing meaningfully to projects shows young people they can succeed in spaces they might have perceived as inaccessible.
Positive Impacts for Businesses and Communities
Engaging with local youth isn’t just about fulfilling corporate social responsibility; it generates tangible benefits for businesses and communities alike.
- A Catalyst for Social Mobility: These initiatives address a core challenge of social mobility: opportunity. By opening doors to professional environments, they empower students to envision and pursue careers that align with their potential, breaking the cycle of limited opportunities and setting a trajectory toward upward mobility.
- Engagement with your Local Community: Providing accessible work experience opportunities for your local community creates a direct and meaningful connection between your organisation and its surrounding communities. By focusing on underserved schools in your local community, you are empowering young people to reach their potential – this approach positions the organisation as a key partner in the community’s growth and development.
- Access to Untapped Talent: Expanding beyond traditional recruitment channels, allows you to gain access to highly skilled individuals who may have been overlooked due to systemic barriers. By formalising these opportunities it may allow students from your Work Experience Programmes to have formal opportunities within your organisation in the future. This approach allows businesses to tap into the potential that might otherwise remain untapped. In competitive markets, casting a wider net helps fill critical skills gaps, particularly in industries facing shortages of specialised or high-demand skills
Insight days and work experience programmes are more than just initiatives; they are investments in the future of local communities. By opening their doors to young people, businesses can play a pivotal role in breaking down barriers to opportunity and creating a fairer, more inclusive society. In return, they gain fresh perspectives, build stronger talent pipelines, and enhance their role as community leaders. In the fight for social mobility, collaboration with young people isn’t just good ethics, it’s good business.
