By Joanne Kviring

Employment programs that work with employers are the best way to ensure youth have in-demand skills and experience to succeed in the job market

We can all relate to the difficulties landing your first job. But for at-risk and homeless youth who often lack experience, skills and connections, it’s even harder. Virgin Mobile RE*Generation launched in 2008 to empower a generation to help its own, and focused on investing in shelter and crisis services for at-risk and homeless youth. With approximately 225,000 Canadian youth out of work or not in school[1] and more than 6,000 youth sleeping on the streets[2] on any given night, it became clear there was a need to invest in solutions to help break the cycle of youth homelessness. Getting a job that provides a steady income gives at-risk and homeless youth the stability they need to emerge from the cycle. Recognizing the barriers to finding jobs, in 2014 Virgin Mobile RE*Generation shifted its focus to helping youth gain the necessary skills and experience to get jobs by engaging employers.

A 2015 study commissioned by Virgin Unite and Virgin Mobile Canada with Innovation Curation, found that over half of Canadian youth surveyed (53%) agree that it is difficult to find their first job. A total of 42% believed they landed a position through connections and admitted that if they hadn’t received a few key breaks as a youth, they could have been in a much worse situation. Ensuring that youth have access to opportunities requires employer engagement.

Why should employers get involved?

The paper “Working Together” by Deloitte and Social Capital Partners points to how businesses struggle to find candidates that have the skills they need for available jobs and explains why employment programs should involve employers to help people who face barriers to employment.[3] These findings make it clear there is a need for employment programs to provide more than just job search support. When Virgin Mobile RE*Generation talked to charities delivering employment programs for youth, the most successful programs helped employers understand how to make sure youth gained the necessary skills, experience and connections to fill the jobs they have open. Virgin Mobile RE*Generation is focusing its investment in the charities with these demand-led programs. This approach views both employers and youth as the clients. Youth need a job. Employers need employees who will help their business succeed. The first step to connect them is to examine what skills are needed for in-demand job opportunities and to consider different ways of working with employers and industry associations.

Making the case: Youth getting jobs

NPower Canada, a Virgin Mobile RE*Generation partner, is providing young adults facing multiple barriers to employment with the opportunity and technical skills to help them achieve their potential. Their wrap-around program includes 15 weeks of free technical classes mixed with mentoring from business leaders, paid internships and career development workshops at leading corporations and non-profits, industry-recognized certifications as well as employment and alumni services. From the perspective of potential employers, NPower Canada candidates are fully trained and ready to hit the ground running in IT support roles.

“Our program is unique because it is comprehensive, holistic and, most importantly, employer-driven,” states Julia Blackburn, Executive Director, NPower Canada.  “We listen to the business community and craft our curriculum accordingly.  We must meet the employer’s needs if we are going to successfully launch these deserving young adults into meaningful careers.”

The inaugural cohort of NPower Canada students graduated in May 2015 with 24 young adults. Within six months after graduation, 88% of NPower Canada graduates have secured IT-related employment and/or enrolled in post-secondary education. Of the 44 youth in NPower’s second class, 100% were immediately placed into paid internships with leading employers or directly into jobs.

Threshold School of Building in Hamilton, another Virgin Mobile RE*Generation partner, works with the construction trade sector. Its 12-week “Ready to Work” program offers training and work experience to help at-risk and homeless youth develop the necessary skills, knowledge, attitudes and routines to impress any employer looking for an entry-level labourer. The program also provides an opportunity for some graduates to get paid work experience through Threshold’s social enterprise – Threshold Construction, which provides custom deck, fence and shed construction.

Threshold teaches youth the skills they need to qualify for jobs and supports them through their job search. With an investment from Virgin Mobile RE*Generation, Threshold added a job developer to its staff. Along with supporting youth, the job developer reaches out and works directly with employers to source job opportunities. Career service professionals, such as job developers, add necessary expertise to make this type of program even more successful. “The additional support of the job developer was a key reason why we increased the number of youth completing the training, as well as improving our graduate employment rate to 75%,” says John Grant, Executive Director of Threshold School of Building.

How can you use this model in your organization and with your clients?

NPower Canada and Threshold School of Building are only two examples of Virgin Mobile RE*Generation partners who are working with employers to help youth gain the skills, experience and connections they need to get and keep a job.

So how can your organization and employment program help more people find jobs by working with employers and industry? We suggest starting with these questions:

• How are you working with industry and employer partners early and throughout program delivery? How can you enhance these working relationships to strive for win-win outcomes?
• How does your organization stay in the know about job vacancies in the local labour market, including what skills are in demand?
• How do the youth in your program gain hands-on learning experience of in-demand job skills? How are you partnering to provide youth with the wrap-around supports to meet housing, health, mental health, addictions and other complex needs? Who are you partnering with?
• How are you helping youth grow their connections and networks as well as develop relationships with positive role models and mentors in their job field?

Engaging with employers helps ensure youth develop the skills as well as confidence to be successful in their job search. This approach is also good for employers who have vacant positions they need to fill for their business to succeed, which benefits society in the longterm.

Call out Box: About Virgin Mobile RE*Generation

In 2008, Virgin Mobile RE*Generation was created as a partnership of Virgin Unite Canada and Virgin Mobile Canada to empower a generation to help its own and support at-risk and homeless youth. This initiative gives Virgin Mobile members and Canadians a chance to help at-risk and homeless youth gain skills to get jobs. The goal is to help 450 youth get jobs by 2017 – and that’s just the start.

 

Joanne Kviring has over 15 years of community investment experience across sectors and causes. Passionate about social justice and smart disruptions, Kviring is currently the Strategic Program Manager – Canada for Virgin Unite, the charitable foundation of the Virgin Group which connects people and entrepreneurial ideas to catalyze a better way of doing business for the well-being of people and planet.

[1] CIBC, Dimensions of Youth Employment in Canada, June 2013.
[2] The Homeless Hub, The State of Homelessness in Canada 2013.
[3] Monitor Deloitte and Social Capital Partners, Working Together: Implementing a Demand-Led Employment and Training System, May 2014.