Hillcrest's 'Young People's Voice' group helps young workers develop their potential
Posted Thursday 16th March by Admin User
Hillcrest shares how it is working with young people to develop their potential as well as enabling them to contribute to important decision making processes in the organisation.
By Hillcrest Homes
At Hillcrest, we take inclusion seriously and realise the importance of investing in a diverse workforce that includes a large number of younger employees and apprentices. Lesley English, our Apprenticeship Development Officer is instrumental in running our Young Workers programme and developing strategies to amplify the voice of our apprentices so that they not only develop their own potential, but also contribute to important decision making processes within our organisation.
A key investment to support our young people’s development is our ‘Young People’s Voice’ group. Lesley’s role is to facilitate this group and provide our young colleagues with a safe space to network and to share their ideas, views and opinions on changes happening within the business. During the summer of 2022 this group was key in the design of Hillcrest’s apprentice recruitment campaign and tailored it to encourage engagement with our next generation of Hillcrest employees. Hillcrest recruited a total of 11 apprentices in roles within our Maintenance teams, Housing and Corporate Service teams.
Providing support to more than 2,500 people across Dundee, Angus, Fife, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Perth and Kinross, Hillcrest Futures offers a range of services in the areas of physical and learning disabilities, autism, young people and older people. Further services include supporting positive mental health and wellbeing, homelessness, and drug and alcohol recovery. Hillcrest Futures has set up a task force to develop an apprentice recruitment strategy, with a plan for rollout in late Summer 2023.
Every August, around exam results time, we collaborate with Developing the Young Workforce on their No Wrong Path campaign, which aims to show young people the options that are available to them and that exams results are not necessarily the key to unlocking future success, which is particularly important following the recent Covid19 pandemic. Hillcrest apprentices have been recruited as Apprentice Ambassadors with Developing Young workforce Tay cities, their role is to present to schools sharing their apprentice journey to help influence young people’s career choices.
Over the last year, our Hillcrest Maintenance team joined forces with Future Skills College to offer pre-apprenticeship training to local young people, giving them the opportunity to receive hands-on experience in a trade of their choice.
The year-long pre-apprenticeship programme was designed for senior pupils at secondary schools in Dundee. The course prepares students for their future careers through a combination of studying at Dundee & Angus College, while working with local employers.
Hillcrest Maintenance is providing work placements for three 16 year old pre-apprentices in joinery and plumbing, and also offer week long work experience placements each week for local school pupils who express an interest in trades to support them make a more informed choice for their future career
Bob Jack, Head of Hillcrest Maintenance, explains: “The pre-apprentices spend one day each week with us, shadowing their journeypersons to learn a variety of skills. Offering work placements gives people the chance to gain a real insight into the working day of a tradesperson, become used to the expectations of employers and be ready to start an apprenticeship by the end of the course.
“Hillcrest Maintenance has a long history of providing employment opportunities to young people, which is reflected in our recent accreditation as a Young Person’s Guarantee employer. We recognise the importance of developing a strong future workforce and are committed to helping young people begin their careers.”
Brandon MacPhail is completing a pre-apprenticeship in joinery. He said: “I’m enjoying the course so far and am learning a lot on my placement. Being in a real work environment shows me exactly what the job is like. It’s a lot of responsibility but I’m really liking it and hope to do an apprenticeship with Hillcrest in the future.”
To mark this year’s Scottish Apprenticeship Week Hillcrest successfully showcased our young apprentices, four of our apprentices shared their experiences through videos and written blogs. These were shared on our website and social media channels to raise awareness of the opportunities for young people at Hillcrest.
2023 is shaping up to be another great year for our young workers in Hillcrest, should you wish to find out more please do not hesitate to contact Lesley English at LEnglish@hillcresthomes.org.uk.
