Youth employment and the support available to businesses that employ young people will be the focus of a lunch-and-learn event open to Aberdeen employers later this month.
The Employer Session will give employers an opportunity to listen to a number of speakers talk about apprenticeships, work experience, possible funding available and supporting young people into work. There will also be a chance to network.
ABZWorks, Aberdeen City Council’s Employability and Skills service, has organised the event, the second in a series of employer sessions aimed at making Aberdeen a more inclusive city in terms of recruitment and employment terms, and making jobs more accessible for people with barriers to work.
Aberdeen City Council Co-Leader Councillor Christian Allard said: “Employers play a key role in creating opportunities for young people as they prepare to take their first steps into the world of work. The benefits to employers mean they can build a workforce with the right skills and experience.
“Young people bring fresh insights to businesses and have a lot of positives to offer employers, and there is a broad range of support, including funding incentives available to secure sustained and fair employment for them.
“Providing real employment opportunities for our young people makes good business sense. It will help us to attract and retain young people to our city, which all helps to make Aberdeen a better place for people to live, work and raise a family.”
Speakers include representatives from bp, Skills Development Scotland, and the ABZWorks team.
City employers can sign up to this free event, which is being held from 12noon until 2pm on Wednesday 29 November at Aberdeen Beach Ballroom.
ABZWorks offers a broad range of support for businesses including seed funding for business start-up in partnership with Business Gateway, an Employer Recruitment Incentive Scheme and paid work experience schemes.
Anyone living in Aberdeen seeking employability support can contact ABZWorks by calling the helpline on 01224 346100, emailing abzworks@aberdeencity.gov.uk or by completing the self-referral form https://forms.office.com/r/s4eXcZ0Xz8.
Further information about ABZWorks is available at https://abzworks.co.uk/employability-support.
Future sessions will include employing people with convictions; people with disabilities; and displaced people and refugees.