For the first time, eight youth charities work together to reach 4 million diverse young people

For the first time, eight national youth organisations are collaborating on one campaign to reach millions of young people across the UK with a new approach to work opportunities.

GetMyFirstJob, National Citizen Service, The Sutton Trust, the MOBO Trust, The Living Wage Foundation, UK Youth and Movement to Work – representing a community of over five million young people aged 14-24 – are teaming up this summer. The campaign, everyone.work, will connect young people from diverse backgrounds to inclusive employers, apprenticeship, traineeship and work experience opportunities.

As part of the campaign, by using a free psychometric quiz tool, People-Fit, young people can understand more about their strengths in the workplace, and employers can identify hidden talent that fits their organisation, without having to rely on the traditional approach using academic achievements which excludes – either directly or indirectly - many young people.

In the second half of the campaign, GetMyFirstJob, National Citizen Service and the Living Wage Foundation will be co-creating and running a national survey of young people to find out what they want from a great first experience of work. The findings will be published in the Autumn.

James Canvin, extension manager at NCS, said: “NCS was established to help build a more cohesive, mobile and engaged society. By bringing together young people from different backgrounds for a unique shared experience, NCS helps them to become better individuals and gives them the confidence to define their own paths and achieve things they never thought possible. “We believe it’s important to provide NCS graduates with opportunities to continually grow and learn beyond the programme itself; being a part of the Everyone Work campaign is a great example of this.”

Quote from GetMyFirstJob CEO, David Allison
“We are passionate about engaging 16-24 year olds from all backgrounds with great work opportunities, and delighted to partner with some wonderful organisations changing the lives of millions of young people every year.”

Through the campaign, young people can get to understand more about their strengths through People-Fit, about great employers looking for diverse talent, and they can search and apply for opportunities in apprenticeships, work experience and paid internships. The People-Fit report is free to generate and can be used alongside a CV or on it's own, for those young people who find it difficult to follow the normal academic path into work.

The campaign will take many forms, from distributing information to 3000 schools, to social media posts and emails to reach over 1 million young people directly, and another 5 million indirectly through youth organisations and clubs.

Everyone.work will run from 9th July to the end of September.

Dr Lee Elliot Major, CEO of the Sutton Trust, said:
“Apprenticeships have the potential to be important vehicles for social mobility, however our research shows disadvantaged young people are significantly less likely than their better off peers to take up the best apprenticeships.

“Boosting diversity in the workplace is fundamental to improving social mobility. We’re pleased to support the ‘Everyone Work’ campaign and hope it will help young people across the country be better informed about their potential beyond academic qualifications.”

Why should employers embrace diversity?

• Marginalised groups, if combined, make up 20% of the UK’s population (and if you include women, over 60%!)
• Productivity improvements: teams with rich and diverse perspectives to draw from improves problem solving abilities as well as finding innovative solutions.
• Racially Diverse Teams Outperform Non-diverse Ones by 35% – MIT Research Study
• Teams Where Men and Women are Equal Earn 41% More Revenue – GALLUP Research

Creating a future-proof, diverse and inclusive workforce is not only good for business; it's an urgent and ongoing priority for the future of a vibrant economy where people, businesses and communities can thrive. Successful businesses – now and in the post-Brexit world – need diverse talent and diversity of thought to seize opportunities for growth.

www.everyone.work

About GetMyFirstJob

GetMyFirstJob is a social enterprise and talent matching platform that helps young people to connect with employers and colleges to find work opportunities, particularly apprenticeships. helped place over 30,000 young people into apprenticeships in 2017. Over 400,000 young people have registered on GetMyFirstJob.co.uk in the last few years.

About NCS

NCS exists to help tackle some of the biggest social challenges in our country: Social Cohesion, Social Mobility and Social Engagement. To bring our country together by building stronger, more integrated communities and fostering understanding To build essential skills for life and work, investing in our country’s future talent.

About Movement to Work

Movement to Work is a coalition of the UK’s largest employers, such as Accenture, BAE Systems, BT, Centrica, Diageo and M&S, our members offer high-quality work-experience placements to unemployed individuals, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, struggling to identify and take advantage of employment opportunities.

About MOBO Awards / MOBO Trust

The MOBO Awards and the MOBO Trust, has a mission to provide life changing opportunities to talent within the creative industries, and has launched a programme of paid internships for diverse talent across the UK.

About The Living Wage Foundation

The foundation campaigns for the idea that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay. They celebrate and recognise the leadership of responsible employers who choose to go further and pay a real Living Wage based on the cost of living, not just the government minimum.

About The Sutton Trust

The Trust is a foundation which improves social mobility in the UK through evidence-based programmes, research and policy advocacy. From early years’ through school, college and university to the workplace, they work to combat educational inequality and prevent the subsequent waste of talent. The Trust are concerned with breaking the link between educational opportunities and family background, so that young people are given the chance to fulfil their potential.

About Young Professionals UK

Young Professionals UK, via schools engagement and a ground breaking app are on a mission to connect 5 million youngsters to purposeful opportunities by 2022 by upskilling and providing them with the resources and inspiration to land their dream job

About UK Youth:

Founded in 1911, UK Youth provides young people aged 9-25 with high quality services, delivered through a network of locally accessible youth organisations across the UK. Together we offer support, advice and training to over four million young people to equip them with vital life skills and help them engage in education, volunteering and employment. Our mission is to provide access to appropriate, high quality services for young people in every community so that all young people are empowered to build bright futures, regardless of their background or circumstances.

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For interview requests or more details about the campaign please contact marketing@gmfj.co.uk or call James Bridgman on 07976891911