By Kerry Mc Cabe, Business Network Manager, NE1 Ltd
September signals the start of a new academic year, and at NE1, our NE1 CAN programme is gearing up for a busy term ahead as we double the number of events we’re delivering, with a minimum of 25 events planned from September to December.
We are tremendously excited and ready for the upcoming Autumn programme, one of three we will deliver across the academic year. Bringing together cross-sector businesses, education and youth providers from across the region, we provide real-life and meaningful career insight events to help young people make informed decisions about their futures while supporting businesses to tackle recruitment, retention and diversification issues.
Businesses are operating within a challenging recruitment landscape and our NE1 CAN programme has been tailored to reflect this targeting the individual needs of the businesses we work with.
Since NE1 CAN was launched over seven years ago, we have delivered hundreds of events helping bridge the gap between businesses and young people across the North East. With a strong network of education and youth providers referring young people to our events, we provide relevant links between employers and the workforce of the future. The success of our programme hinges on the way we engage with young people. Creating inclusive environments allows us to break down barriers between businesses and young people, fostering a culture of confidence where attendees are happy to engage with businesses and delivery partners.
Over the next four months, we have a minimum of 25 events booked including sessions with The National Trust, Esh Group and The Environment Agency. Due to the overwhelming demand for spaces at existing events with Newcastle Hospitals Trust, we are working in close partnership with them to host ‘The Big One’, an event for 500 young people examining the varied careers available across the trust. As a mark of how important recruitment is for the trust, its Chief Executive, Sir James Mackey will be opening the sessions. We are thrilled to have him join us and outline the huge range of employment opportunities within the trust and the NHS.
We work closely with businesses to establish their objectives and align with their recruitment and outreach strategy, what does the individual company or organisation need the event to deliver, and which issues must be addressed? Once this has been established we create the event, knowing what will work for young people.
UNW, the Newcastle-based independent chartered accountancy and business advisory firm, recently sought our support with recruitment for its award-winning apprenticeship programme. The company engaged with NE1 CAN to help spread the message about the available finance apprenticeship opportunities to a wider and more diverse audience.
Once we established the challenges faced by the firm with attracting applications for the programme, we organised an event for 30 interested students from several education providers that UNW had not previously partnered with. The result was that UNW received a number of high-quality applications from young people of all backgrounds. The firm ultimately made an offer to one of those applicants who subsequently accepted and is starting their career at the firm in September 2024.
We had similar success with Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums, TWAM, helping them widen access to their work experience provision. Through our network of 220 youth and education providers, we were able to promote opportunities among people who wouldn’t normally have exposure to careers in this sector. We also facilitated long-term working partnerships with SEND providers to improve the work experience offered and create a more inclusive provision.
NE1 CAN’s trusted reputation has grown, and due to NE1’s strong ties with businesses, more people want to work with the project. Businesses like UNW and TWAM are coming to us after learning about our engagement and outreach work. Peer-to-peer networks have done a great job of sharing our successes and encouraging other companies to partner with us.
They know and trust that we have established contacts with a network of education and youth partners and can deliver events that will provide a platform to meet and engage with young people, the workforce of the future and their potential recruits.
In the year ahead we are working with a large number of partners and have gone to great lengths to talk to them about their individual recruitment and retention needs. Our programme has been shaped to create specific opportunities for meaningful engagement with the workforce of the future and to create longer-term, strategic relationships.
We have a strong programme packed with a record number of events and we can’t wait to get started.
If you want to partner on an event relevant to your business please get in touch Kerry.mccabe@newcastlene1ltd.com