More young people in Oldham given opportunity to ‘Get a Job’
The young people of Oldham are a step closer to finding work, further education or training as the “Get A Job” scheme rolls out across six Youth Zones thanks to funding from Accenture and AO Smile Foundation.
The project, which is now in its second year, originally saw OnSide Youth Zones; Manchester (The Factory), Wigan and Oldham (Mahdlo) pilot the course with 209 young people. Due to its success, where 82% of these members moved onto employment, education or training, the project is now being rolled out to include the three remaining Youth Zones; Blackburn, Carlisle and Bolton Lads and Girls Club.
‘Get a Job’ is a six-week employability course, which aims to help young people aged 16-19 to develop the right skills to secure employment.
Delivered over the next 12 months, the project will support young people to enhance their skills, increase their prospects and get on the path towards employment. The accredited course supports Youth Zone members to take part in mock interviews, enterprise projects, teamwork skills and develop their CV writing techniques.
Mahdlo will work with 70 young people who, through a combined grant of £257,000 from Accenture UK Foundation and the AO Smile Foundation, will all receive training to help them gain the skills needed to compete in the modern job market.
Joe Chadwick, 18, (Mahdlo Youth Zone) was recently recruited by Primeseal thanks to the programme, he said:
“It’s great to be out of the house and in full-time work. The programme has taught me a lot of things including, the tools I need to be successful as well as teaching me respect.”
Steve Reynolds, Managing Director of Primeseal is delighted that the programme has allowed him to recruit Joe, he commented:
“We wanted to help our local community as well as recruit someone who could provide us with that extra helping hand and Joe has been able to do that. Young people are our future so it’s important we give them these opportunities. If we can get more young people involved it’s going to benefit everyone. The project has really opened my eyes up to the recruitment of young people and we will now look to do the same again with Mahdlo in the future.”
Watch a video of Joe and Steve talking about the Get A Job programme:
“The funding we are providing will help many young people in the region to develop the skills they need to find a job which brings them, their families and their local communities more financial independence,” said Fiona Gibson, managing director for Accenture in the North West. “We are equipping more than 700,000 people around the world with the skills to get a job or build a business through our Skills to Succeed initiative and this is another important step towards achieving that goal.”
Karen Dudleston, Foundation Manager at AO Smile Foundation said: “Too many young people in the UK, lack the confidence, motivation or skills to find a job which they feel passionately about and see a future in. At the AO Smile Foundation we truly believe this must be put this right. It makes financial and economic sense to encourage these young people to become invested in their own futures and the chance to find work; so eventually they can make a positive contribution to their society. We are thrilled to support the Get A Job scheme, and provide the opportunity for young people to move ahead in a positive way.”
With the project now being rolled out across the entire OnSide Youth Zone Network, the aim is to continue its success from year one and increase the positive outcomes for more young people.
Managing the project at OnSide Youth Zones, Fiona Norcross said: “The fact all our Youth Zones in the North West will now be able to benefit from this project is fantastic news. Not only will this impact upon a huge number of young people, but local businesses and the local communities will also reap the rewards. Young people are our future and thanks to the funding from Accenture and AO Smile Foundation we can give them more opportunities to progress.”
For more information on Mahdlo’s Get A Job programme, contact Will Preston on Will.Preston@mahdloyz.org or 0161 785 3865.