Kickstart is about supporting young people, first and foremost

Kickstart is an attractive scheme: a free resource for your company for 6 months, fully funded by the government. And on top of that, there is also the £1,500 training grant awarded to your company. Why is the government doing this? To help young people become more employable. It’s important that this always stays front and centre when you think about your Kickstart placements.

Key employability learning will happen on the job, and will be provided by your organisation
Without doubt, the most important employability learning moments the young person will experience on your placement, will happen on the job. Key learning will happen through working on their assigned tasks; by interacting with your team, possibly with customers; through mentorship and feedback from line-managers and colleagues; from shadowing their work.

If the placement provides the bulk of the learning, why do we need to focus on employability?
Most of the above skills development is implicit learning. Being able to articulate what you’ve learned, and then turn this into a ‘marketable pitch’ to get the next job and ultimately turn that into a career, are two very different things. Employability skills not only describe a set of expected skills around time management, organisation skills, teamworking skills, etc that nearly all employers are looking for, they also include learnable skills around career readiness that allow young people to successfully forge their own path in the long run.

Can’t we cover employability skills ourselves?

Absolutely you can. However, the vast majority of organisations will find it far less costly and time-consuming to work with a specialist provider around this. Instead of spending your time preparing employability learning materials, or becoming a career advisor, let experts take care of the employability aspect. Remember there is a £1,500 training grant that has been put in place specifically to help your company with this. Drawing down on these funds and working with a specialist provider frees you up to focus on more important areas: running your core business and providing a great placement experience.

Why should I pick one of your Employability Support Packages?

Quality

Yes, our programmes meet Kickstart requirements. Importantly though, we have a much longer history of excellence in providing these services to young people in colleges and universities. Our employability programmes include top online learning AND 1:1 feedback sessions with professional mentors. Because online only isn’t good enough to build up confidence, and a human element makes all the difference. The mentors we work with all have a professional career advisor background. It’s a best practice programme, and great value for money.

Digital skills

Our employability training is an investment into productivity. We offer your young person the opportunity to enhance and upskill their digital skills, and then bring their new skills into your company. This includes free training from top partners including Salesforce and Microsoft.

Accreditation

Our Elevate employability support package also includes a review of the work portfolio, and a formal Certificate of Completion at the end of the programme from the Henley Careers Centre, at Henley Business School. This unique partnership further adds to the high quality of your placement. If you want to attract the best young talent, show them that you care by investing in their personal development.

Supporting Classof2020

Using our Employability Support Packages directly supports the Classof2020.org.uk initiative. Classof2020 is a volunteer-run organisation whose mission is to help as many young people as possible back into employment. By working with us, you will not only be supporting your young person on their next step on the career ladder but you will also be directly supporting the thousands of young people who benefit from our free training offering at my.potential.ly. The positive impact we are making has recently featured on BBC and the Guardian.