Fresh Futures launches new Employability Programme for 18 – 26 year olds 

The youth unemployment rate has increased, and young people experience many barriers when looking for a job. From their work with young adults, Fresh Futures have learnt low confidence and self-esteem, social anxiety, emotional issues and mental health challenges prevent young people from accessing work.

Fresh Futures have developed their innovative Employability Programme to help young people get employment ready and equip them with the skills, experience and understanding to feel confident applying for jobs.

Over the course of one week, the Programme will empower young people to build their skill set and feel confident about searching for job opportunities.

The mornings will focus on building core employability skills, e.g., CV writing, interview techniques and how to research for jobs. Fresh Futures will also provide a free lunch to each young adult attending the Programme.

In the afternoons, the focus will shift towards working with the young people to provide useful experiences to overcome the barriers they face on their journey into employment. This might include trips out, visiting guest speakers or learning new, creative skills such as photography or video editing.

After completing the Programme, the young people will be given the opportunity to undertake 10 hours of voluntary work within an employer from across Kirklees to help build their experience and bolster their CV. Placements will be tailored to young adults’ personal career goals for the future.

Christine Rhodes, Community Connections Services Manager, says: “This new programme is an exciting opportunity for young people to gain valuable knowledge about how to access employment as well as gaining experience of the workplace. We’re keen to offer placements for young people in a variety of different industries across Kirklees and if this is something your business could accommodate, we’d urge you to get in touch today to find out more.”

Fresh Futures have a wealth of experience working with different organisations across the region to support young people through a range of projects. Over the last four months, they have been working with Youth Social to produce a podcast series promoting the benefits of youth volunteering. You can listen to Omar, the Sustainability Volunteer and Freya, a Young Adult Volunteer at Fresh Futures on Episode 5, Part 2. Daisy Whitby, the Volunteer Support Officer at Fresh Futures, also features on Episode 6, where she shares her insights on the volunteering opportunities Fresh Futures offers young adults.

These podcasts are now available on all the main podcast platforms including Spotify and Apple Podcasts – Search ‘Youth Social Podcast’, click the following links:

Apple http://tiny.cc/5mrwxz Spotify: http://tiny.cc/cmrwxz

If you’re struggling to find a career path, or don’t know how to progress into employment, Fresh Futures can help you!

Contact the Community Connections team to find out more about Fresh Futures’ Employability Programme email [email protected] or call 01484 415465.