I write this morning’s blog from a very steamy bus on a wet and cold morning here in Leicester. Winter is so on the way and sadly there's only 7 weeks left of the campaign... however, we're more determined than ever! With the ear of the Employment Minister and our new found partnership with JobCentre Plus, we are currently very busy trying to setup our work experience program.
Last week we had the privilege of meeting with Ronojoy from Nike. We won a meeting with him after passing all our tasks at the Underage Festival when we filmed our T4 programme, and the day finally arrived last Friday! It was a really inspirational meeting and we were fascinated to meet with Ronojoy.
He truly understood what we are trying to achieve. He is a big fan of work experience having had some really extensive and varying experiences himself. He told us that he had done work placements everywhere from restaurants to advertising companies.
Eventually he had found his place and has a prestigious position within Nike's global marketing team! It’s a massively exciting and interesting job, and he told us that if it wasn’t for doing work placements, trying things out and learning, he would never be where he is today. Amazing!!!
We asked Ronojoy whether Nike might be able to offer some work placements as part of our scheme. He seemed really keen, so we’ll have to see what the people in the other departments at Nike think, and we’ll report back to you as soon as we have news – exciting!
Last week we also trained as Future You mentors! Future You is a brilliant organization that offers support to young people by being a place that young people can go to chat online and get support from trained mentors – like me and Hafsah!! You can watch the uploaded video of us on the day on our YouTube, learning about ways to approach and help other young people with their problems.
It’s not like being a counselor – more like giving practical advice on things like jobs and education, and giving people a boost when they need it. It’s a seriously good service – so log on and take a look. You never know, one day soon Hafsah and I may be on the other end of the conversation!
Please help us by spreading the word of our campaign as we're desperate to hit 2000 supporters and thanks to everyone for their amazing support! Even more importantly, we are currently signing up businesses to take part in our scheme and offer a work experience placement to a young person. If you are unemployed but there is a specific company or industry that you would like to work in then let us know… we might be able to sort it out for you! Post on our FB page or email us at [email protected] and tell us the company that you would like to work for.
One last thing - next week we have an exciting surprise planned centred around drawing more attention to the issue of youth unemployment! I can’t say too much as it will give the game away – but watch this space...
Joseph
