Young people in Kirklees with personal experience of long-term unemployment have been giving up their time to help local employers understand some of the serious barriers faced by some young people in getting and keeping a job, and what employers can do to help.
Our ‘Outside the Box’ project, supported by the iWill Fund and One Community in Kirklees, gathers the unique insights of young people into the needs and issues they face in finding work while dealing with complex and difficult personal life issues and aims to help employers better support young people in situations like theirs.
Phase one of the process is now complete, with 26 young people taking part in a series of focus groups to identify what they see as young people’s responsibilities in terms of finding solutions and where they felt employers could help more. We are now supporting two young volunteers to take their findings to local community-spirited employers where they will discuss realistic solutions to the identified barriers from the employer’s point of view.
Later this year we will publish our ‘Outside the Box’ findings and a new tool for employers who want to help young people facing the steepest climb to getting and holding down a job.
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