Council approves permanent guaranteed interview scheme for care experienced young people
30 September 2020
Aberdeen City Council yesterday (Tuesday 29 September) agreed to make permanent the authority’s guaranteed interview scheme for care experienced young people.
The Staff Governance Committee agreed to extend the scheme which, since July 2019 guaranteed care experienced young people an interview for apprenticeship roles across the Council, to include all Council roles on a permanent basis.
The Committee also noted the additional developments, which won the Council an Investors in Young People Gold Standard Award in March 2020. being undertaken to support young people, including care experienced young people, who are already part of the authority’s workforce or who are considering the Council as a potential employer.
The work represents a partnership approach internally within the Council between the specialist Youth Team, within the Council’s Integrated Children and Family Services, which supports 120 care experienced young people as part of a commitment as set out in the Local Outcome Improvement Plan (LOIP) as corporate parents, the People and Organisational Development team which supports young people in employment through a range of accredited initiatives and the Employability Team. The work is further supported and endorsed by Council partners across the city.
Support mechanisms being developed include an information portal, co-designed by young people which provides access to advice on internships, apprenticeships, jobs and careers advice, education, volunteering, wellbeing and support to complete job applications or CVs as well as interview skills.
Committee Convener, Councillor Yvonne Allan, said: “I am delighted that we have agreed to make guaranteed interviews a permanent feature of our commitment to care experienced young people, strengthening our offering as corporate parents and helping ensure that the young people in our care are not disadvantaged when it comes to employment opportunities.
“I would also like to commend all staff involved in these developments for all their hard work in providing care experienced young people with invaluable and easily-accessible resources to help them in entering or continuing in the job market”.
Other support initiatives in place for young people across the city include a Modern Apprenticeship programme established within the Council providing ‘learn as they earn’ opportunities which provide skills, knowledge and a formal qualification.
A mentoring, coaching and ‘buddying’ scheme is also in place for Modern Apprentices with 45 young people currently benefiting from Council staff experience.
The Council has also established a Young Employee Network comprising employees from across the local authority – including care experienced young people – aged between 16 and 24. The network allows young people to share and gather views on their employment experience and involve them in the creation of new initiatives.