Minister launches youth-led employability project

Minister for Business, Fair Work and Skills Jamie Hepburn MSP joined Young Scot and young people from across Scotland to launch a new national youth-led employability project WORK: Working, Opportunities, Rights, and Knowledge.

The project will see young people designing content and information resources for both young people and employers about youth employability. This will involve several collaborative events and workshops with regional Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) groups from around Scotland.

WORK will build on the work already being done at a national and regional level by the DYW board. It will require the involvement and recruitment of young people aged 11-25 who will be involved in every step of the process of designing and delivering the project, with the assistance of Young Scot.

This project will support and inform businesses in their approach to recruiting and engaging with young people in the workplace, and provide crucial information to young people about their rights in the workplace.

Minister for Business, Fair Work and Skills, Jamie Hepburn, said: “The WORK project is an exciting chance to elevate the voices of young people on the employment issues that impact them.

“By listening to young people, and working with them, we will deliver fairer opportunities and ensure that our workforce flourishes.”

Louise Macdonald, Chief Executive of Young Scot, said: “Entering the world of work can be daunting, and having young people who are experts by experience advising on how to make this transition easier can only be of benefit to business, and to their future employees.

“By putting young people at the very heart of this project, we hope to produce content and information that will be relevant for them and presented in a way that they will find engaging.”

Find out more by following #YSWork on Twitter.