Networking for Employability
There is an increasing awareness that employers are looking for more than just formal qualifications when recruiting new staff. What young people do and achieve outside of formal education is as important, if not more so, in shaping the attitudes and aptitudes that they bring to the world of work.
Youth Work Awards
The Awards Network captures a wide range of non-formal learning awards available to young people in Scotland. The Award Finder will help you to identify and better understand these Awards and the skills that youth work awards can demonstrate in the people that you are considering employing. Skills that they gain are particularly relevant and transferable to their employment potential. Awareness of these awards can support your recruitment decisions.
Many of the awards can also offer experiences, skills and opportunities for developing confidence and self-worth in your existing workforce too.
Why is non-formal learning important?
Regardless of where young people are on the attainment spectrum, they all need to demonstrate that ‘something extra’ to stand out from the crowd at the shortlisting stage and at the job interview.
From the Business Sector, CBI Scotland, tells us…
Business is clear – we need an education system which develops rigorous, rounded and grounded young people. This means a system which focuses as much on the development of key attitudes and attributes – such as confidence, resilience, enterprise, ambition – as on academic progression and attainment.
– Delivering Excellence- a new approach for Schools in Scotland, 2015, CBI Scotland
From the Education Sector, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education found through an Aspect Review of youth awards that:
Young people gain a wide range of skills such as confidence, interpersonal, team working, leadership and employability through participation in youth awards.
Youth awards support young people in their learning and to progress to further and higher education, training and employment on leaving school.
– A Review of Youth Awards in Scotland, 2015, HMIe Education Scotland
Any job requires a set of technical skills, but employees also need a range of ‘soft skills’. These are the skills that enable people to work together effectively. Recognising the breadth of opportunities offered by youth work awards will help employers better understand the way in which young people’s extra-curricular activities build up their ‘soft skills’, and make them more effective employees in the workplace.
Provider: Ramblers Scotland
The free Out There Award is a development programme for 18-26 year olds that teaches basic skills to enable them to enjoy the outdoors and introduces… more
Provider: YouthLink Scotland
The Participative Democracy Certificate (PDC) is an award that provides accreditation to young people actively involved in decision-making in groups. It gives… more
Provider: Trinity College London
Arts Award is a range of unique qualifications that supports anyone aged up to 25 to grow as artists and arts leaders, inspiring them… more
Provider: Girlguiding Scotland
The Guide gold award is a really special achievement. It gives you the opportunity to put everything you’ve learned through the Guide programme into practice… more
What can you do?
Jake has volunteered with the British Red Cross for just over 18 months. Jake is from Elgin and is part of the local Emergency Response team. Whilst volunteering for the British Red Cross Jake has helped to deliver food parcels and care packages as part of the winter weather response, sometimes driving up to 100 miles in a shift to deliver packages to a small number of people.
Jake was also deployed to assist when the town of Keith found itself without gas in early 2021. With the temperature falling and large numbers of households needing assistance Jake worked helping the community turn off gas supplies for safety, offering advice and practical support.
Jake has now completed all of the training required to become an Operational Team Leader and is waiting for the opportunity to put his skills to the test! The RED programmes skills self-assessment has helped Jake to identify the skills he has gained whilst volunteering. The clear breakdown of what skills build into each competency was a real help.
The RED programme is a three tier accreditation scheme, designed with the help of young volunteers to encourage, retain and develop skills in young volunteers. Initially a certificate to Recognise the achievement of volunteering the scheme moves on to Empower young volunteers by assisting them to identify and measure competencies, skills and knowledge they have gained through volunteering. The final stage is designed to Develop young volunteers ethical leadership skills. The scheme is open to all young volunteers within the organisation.
Read More"I'm Stephanie and I'm from Glasgow."
Stephanie is a carer for her housebound Mum. Introduced to Outward Bound Trust by her Carer Centre's youth work programme, she undertook the demanding and challenging Skills for Life Award.
Reflecting on her experience of this residential programme, Stephanie said: "I changed more in 19 days than over the course of my 18 years....I never thought that someone could develop and grow as quickly as on one of these courses....It wasn't until I took a step back that I realised what I'd achieved and what had changed."
Commenting on the benefits of youth award programmes such as the Skills for Life Award, Stephanie remarks: "They teach you so many life lessons that you can apply to everyday life"
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