Young people Build Connections to employment

Young people are being offered the chance to boost their employability at a series of workshops in West Yorkshire.

The Yorkshire Asian Business Community Action group is hosting the Building Connections workshops to build young people’s employability skills and boost their chances of landing a job.

The first session, at Unity Enterprise’s Leeds Media Centre, saw Satvir Meen, project leader with YABCA, lead discussions about the importance of first impressions, confidence and having the right mindset.

A YABCA spokesman said: “Throughout the session, Satvir imparted expert knowledge and dedicated herself into nurturing essential skills and techniques vital for the participants’ career progression.

“These workshops not only served to boost confidence, but also equipped them with employability skills essential for embarking on a rewarding and successful career journey.

“Our commitment to empowering young individuals remains steadfast as we strive to provide them with the tools necessary for their personal and professional development.”

Further sessions have covered subjects such as CV writing and interview skills.

Satvir said: “The course is for young people where we talk about employability and transferable skills and we’re really happy to have the support of UK Youth.

“We’re looking at confidence. We’re looking some things that are quite standard, like CV writing and cover letters, but we’re also talking about resilience, about AI, hopefully giving young people a whole suite of skills they can use when looking for work.

“We hope the young people find it worthwhile and take something away that can help them in the future. And even if they don’t realise it now, but somewhere down the line, something we talk to them about its going to resonate with them.

“Were also asking employers to come in and talk at these sessions as well, which is better for young people so they can understand the job market more and see what people are looking for.”

Building Connections, a partnership between Coca-Cola Europacific Partners and national youth work charity UK Youth, supported by insurance giant Direct Line, is an investment in youth work to create stronger pathways to employment for young people.

UK Youth is a leading charity with a vision that all young people are equipped to thrive and empowered to contribute at every stage of their lives. With an open network of more than 8,000 youth organisations and nation partners; UK Youth is focused on unlocking youth work as the catalyst of change needed now more than ever. To find out more, visit ukyouth.org 

UK Youth is involved in a range of programmes designed to help young people thrive, such as outdoor learning, physical literacy, social action and employability, including Hatch, a youth employability programme run in partnership with KFC. For more on UK Youth’s programmes, see ukyouth.org/what-we-do/programmes