Our Business Volunteers work with the Careers Hub and education institutions to inspire and prepare young people for the fast-changing world of work.
We offer a number of ways for employers and volunteers to get involved with the Careers Hub, from sharing your career journey and insights with young people in schools and colleges, offering experiences of your workplace, to supporting school leaders with their strategic careers programmes. However much time you can offer, your unique industry knowledge and experience is an invaluable resource to students and can help make a real difference to a young person’s future.
I’m a business that wants to get involved
CONTENT ABOUT BUSINESSES GETTING INVOLVED
I’m an individual that wants to get involved
Business Volunteers (BVs) support local schools and colleges to develop and implement an effective careers strategy, provide employer and workplace encounters for young people, and engage in bespoke projects – drawing upon their own business experiences to put opportunities with employers at the heart of a young person’s education.
Benefits for BVs include:
- The opportunity to develop your future workforce.
- A chance to raise awareness of your industry or company.
- The opportunity to enhance local business and education links, and invest in your local community.
- A forum for employers to discuss and work together to resolve local skills issues.
- Opportunities to develop your own employees who get involved.
There are lots of opportunities for you or your employees to get involved either as Business Volunteers or supporting other activities.
Don’t have enough time to commit to becoming a BV? The Give an Hour campaign enables individuals to share their experience with young people in shorter timeslots, and the Careers Hub projects may also provide flexible and innovative opportunities to engage with careers education.
FAQs
If you can give just a few hours per year and want to focus on delivering activities to young people, their parents and /or staff in schools then an agile BV role may be right for you. If you want to understand more about quality careers delivery, develop closer relationships with staff in schools and colleges and are able to give 1-3 hours per month to one school/college (or volunteer in several of them) then the strategic BV role is the right one for you. If your organisation recruits young people on a regular basis, and you can make a medium to long term commitment to careers outreach that’s built into your business plan with support at board level and the capacity to work in a strategic way, then the Cornerstone Employer role is the one we’d recommend.
Yes! Engagement with the BV network can be a commitment as low as a couple of hours a year
Yes, all BVs require an enhanced DBS check. This will be completed as part of the onboarding process with the Careers Hub
We provide DBS checks, an induction session, and a dedicated Employer Engagement Coordinator to ensure smooth introductions into the network. You'll also have opportunities to network with other BVs within the hub to help build confidence in your role and get inspired about what is possible
You will work closely with the Employer Engagement Enterprise Coordinator, Enterprise Coordinators, and Project Leads who are always on hand to connect, discuss, and feedback on the role
The Careers Hub team will introduce you to local secondary schools and colleges, and support the relationship to get it off the ground
Employer Standards helps businesses of all shapes and sizes to close their skills gaps. It is a powerful insight and analysis tool to help you learn, improve, prioritise and compare your results with industry leaders. The tool is online, and allows employers to identify, compare and improve engagement and performance against the nine standards within the assessment. You do not have to volunteer with us to use the Employer Standards assessment tool. 95% of employers plan to take action based on their results, with 33% motivated to take action within a month Contact us to find out more.
The equalex framework, developed by The Careers & Enterprise Company, plays a vital role in supporting the government's commitment to introduce 10 days' worth of modern work experience for every young person. Designed to meet the needs of young people, educators, employers, and providers, the framework enables a wide range of high quality activities through a whole-school approach, effectively bridging the gap between the curriculum and the world of work Contact us to find out more