On the 6th September we attended the DYW All Staff Conference at the Village Hotel in Glasgow.

This was a brilliant opportunity to meet other DYW regions, as well as hearing from a variety of speakers – including members of the Young Scot Leadership panel, individuals from education, and the Minister for Higher Education and Further Education, Youth Employment and Training – and engaged in a number of group discussions.

What a great day had all round and we can't wait for the next one!

It’s a team effort to support young people to prepare for the world of work.

At DYW we have seen the positive impact of when businesses are involved in providing inspirational opportunities for young people to help them understand and develop the skills they need to succeed.

For employers, engagement in schools and colleges provides access to a diverse pool of future talent and enables industry to take a lead role in inspiring young people and shaping the future workforce. This engagement helps to build young people skills for both work and life, adds relevance to their academic work and raises the career aspirations amongst Scotland’s future workforce. 

This free training workshop will increase your confidence to discuss your industry to a young audience and provide you with top tips to plan and deliver activities in school or college.

This workshop is designed to support individuals who currently engage with or would like to engage with young people in schools and colleges.

Find out more and access future dates https://bit.ly/3cyFtl3  

DYW Scotland has launched their national Skills Academy programme.

The DYW Skills Academy provides young people with the insight, knowledge and skills they need to build their confidence and prepare for the world of work.

Through a blend of online Digital Resources, interactive Employer Sessions and One to One Support young people can explore key themes on the world of work, engage with a range of employers and apply their learning to develop their employability skills.

The programme is aimed at young people in senior phase, in particular those preparing to leave school, and includes three core elements:-

Digital Resources: Developed by industry experts, these digital resources can be accessed by young people at any time and explore key employability skills and pathways to jobs and careers.

Employer Sessions: Invite employers into the classroom to deliver interactive sessions exploring key themes bringing the world of work to life.

One to One Support: Young people can put their learning into practice and access one to one employer support by inviting employers to get involved in CV Checks and Mock Interviews.

Employers have a vital role in the programme and through their involvement take a leading role in inspiring young people and shaping the future workforce.

We are reaching out to ask for employer support in the DYW Skills Academy in the West Region.

• Share your experiences of the workplace and help prepare young people for the world of work by delivering interactive Employer-led Sessions in the classroom.
• Offer One to One Support and share your expertise by reviewing a young Person’s CV or participating in mock interviews

To find out more visit DYW Skills Academy

Work placements provide young people with an invaluable experience of the world of work to inform their career decisions, develop skills and confidence in the workplace and build their networks.

For employers, work experience placements provide access to future talent, easing your skills gaps and recruitment pressures and connecting with a diverse range of young people who can bring wider life experiences, new ideas and skills. It’s also a great way of motivating your existing team through wider development opportunities.

This training will provide you with support in the delivery of meaningful work placements for young people that offer the best value to your business. The session will provide valuable advice, guidance and a best practice toolkit.

The training is designed to support individuals who supervise and manage work placements within their organisations or would like to find out how to.

Find out more and access future dates https://bit.ly/3PVDYvR

We wanted to write to you in our role as Scotland’s business leaders and on behalf of our networks of thousands of Scottish employers to reassure you of our commitment and support no matter what path you follow.

 As employers we recognise the challenges you have faced over the last two years and take great confidence in the ingenuity and resilience shown to overcome them.

We want to reassure you that we recognise and value your qualifications as much as any other year and that the skills you have developed, and will continue to develop, will play a crucial role in ensuring a bright future for businesses in Scotland and our economy.

 We are committed to creating job opportunities for you so that you can have a positive future. Scotland is fortunate in having a wide range of industries offering many exciting jobs for you to consider for your future career. There are lots of industries continuing to grow and new ones emerging which offer opportunities across all of Scotland. Employers will continue to need young people with fresh ideas and experience to get involved and work together with us.

We recognise there are many different high quality pathways available as you take your next steps and we stand ready to help you take advantage of opportunities to help realise your full potential. We encourage you to be curious, explore all available opportunities, look at different sectors and what they can offer and take the time needed to consider the decisions that will support your future careers.

Signed

Sandy Begbie CBE, CEO, Scottish Financial Enterprise

Marc Crothall, CEO, Scottish Tourism Alliance

Damien Yeates, CEO, Skills Development Scotland

James Withers, CEO, Scotland Food and Drink

Dr Liz Barron-Majerik, Director, LANTRA

Lee Ann Panglea, Head of CIPD Scotland and Northern Ireland, CIPD

Tracy Black, Director Scotland, CBI

Fiona Hodgson, CEO, SNIPEF Training Services

David Lonsdale, Director, Scottish Retail Consortium

Mark Kent, CEO, Scotch Whisky Association

Martin Crewe, Director, Barnardo’s

Liz Cameron, CEO, Scottish Chambers of Commerce

Sara Thiam, CEO, Scottish Council for Development and Industry

Paul Carberry, Director for Scotland, Action for Children

Iain MacRitchie, Founder and Chair, MCR Pathways

Anne Wexelstein, Director for Scotland, Career Ready

Celia Tennant, Chief Executive, Inspiring Scotland

 We all support the ambition of the Young Person’s Guarantee and its commitment to support every young person aged between 16 and 24, will have the opportunity of a job, apprenticeship, further or higher education, training programme or volunteering.

 Wishing you the very best of luck with your next steps.

 The School Leavers Toolkit, an information resource to support young people as they transition into the post-school world, is now live.

The Young Person’s Guarantee School Leavers Toolkit supports young people as they start out in their transition to the post-school world.

There’s lots of information available and we know from that it can be challenging for young people to find the practical life advice they need, when they need it.

The Toolkit covers a range of topics including mental well-being, work and pay, finances, moving out and housing options, community engagement and young people’s rights.

Find it at www.myworldofwork.co.uk/schoolleaverstoolkit
 

Results? Your career service is here to help

Whatever your results are, you have options!

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) delivers Scotland’s career service. SDS results support will provide help and advice to learners, their parents and carers at what could be an uncertain time. The SDS Results Helpline number is 0808 100 8000. This helpline goes live at 8am on results day, Tuesday 9 August.

SDS's expert advisers will have access to information on course vacancies at UK colleges and universities, Confirmation and Clearing, advice about Foundation, Modern and Graduate Apprenticeships and jobs, volunteering or staying on at school. SDS's expert advisers are at the end of the phone to help young people and their parents and carers.

There's lots of support on Scotland's career website, My World of Work – it’s packed with advice, information and resources for both young people and their parents and carers. If you'd prefer to speak to someone in person, you can visit an SDS centre to speak to an adviser about your results and next steps. Find your nearest one at myworldofwork.co.uk/centres.

If you cannot use a telephone and need a different way to contact SDS, you can send them a direct message on Facebook. This may help if you: • are deaf, or have hearing loss • use British Sign Language (BSL) • have a speech, language or communication need • have difficulty using the telephone.

BSL users can also use Contact Scotland BSL. You can use their app to sign with an interpreter who will make the phone call for you. Visit contactscotland-bsl.

STEM West is back!

Our flagship 2022 STEM West event will return on 21st-22nd November at West College Scotland, Clydebank campus.

This event is there to help to inspire young people to choose STEM subjects at school and have employers showcase their industry. When we last held this physically back in 2019, we had over 500 young people attend across the 2 days from schools across our 4 Local Authority areas.

If you are an employer who is interested in showcasing your company and can bring along something interactive or hands on for S3-S4 pupils to engage with over the 2 days then please let us know. Even if you can only attend one of the days, it would be great to still have you come!

Interested in showcasing at STEM West 2022? Email us at info@dywwest.co.uk by 26^th August 2022 

We were delighted to host, in partnership with Howden, an in-person event to celebrate International Women in Engineering Day 2022! 

This event was designed and planned with Howden’s ‘Bright Futures’ initiative which was created to champion diversity, fairness and equality of opportunity and build a positive and enduring legacy in the communities local to their site, encouraging more young women and girls to take up engineering careers

During the event, the young females had the opportunity to hear from Howden’s female engineers, as well as taking a tour of their manufacturing factory and got involved in some interactive STEM activities.

We recently supported West College Scotland’s Hair, Beauty & Make Up Artistry team plan and host an event across all 3 campuses which had a focus on the Hair, Beauty & Make Up Artistry industry to inspire young people to think about subject choices/ future career options within that sector. The young people learned skills such as Beauty which covered Nail Art and Hand Massage Techniques, Make up Artistry which involved Specialist Make up Effects for Film and TV and Hair skills which covered many different styling skills.

This went out to all S1 pupils within our area where we had 72 young people in total attend the events at our Paisley and Clydebank campus' with another 36 due to attend the final event at our Greenock campus in the new term.

Many of the pupils left with a new positive outlook of the industry with the hope to attend college in the future.

Thank you to all of the college staff and students who hosted the brilliant sessions!